The elderly John Wayne as a Dirty Harry type renegade cop? It's hard to accept him in the seedy underworld of the 1970's - he seems a creature from another world, certainly another time. But this incongruity is the most interesting thing about this tired, cliched "corrupt cops and drugs" yarn, with its obligatory car chases and violence.
There is one scene though that shows how good an actor the Duke had become, and how well he may have responded to better material. That is the superb scene he has with the magnificent Colleen Dewhurst - a scene heavy with sexual tension and sub-text. Did he ever make a straight drama? This scene shows that he certainly could have. I am thankful that they cut away before the sex though - I don't think I could have taken seeing Wayne humiliate himself with the usual bare-assed seventies gratuitous sex scene!
There is one scene though that shows how good an actor the Duke had become, and how well he may have responded to better material. That is the superb scene he has with the magnificent Colleen Dewhurst - a scene heavy with sexual tension and sub-text. Did he ever make a straight drama? This scene shows that he certainly could have. I am thankful that they cut away before the sex though - I don't think I could have taken seeing Wayne humiliate himself with the usual bare-assed seventies gratuitous sex scene!