Rogue cop who is "out of control" (in a now-cliché'd Dirty Harry sort of way) John Wayne goes to England to retrieve the Sheriff from KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE. Once there, the chief/old guy from JURASSIC PARK assigns him to the possessed alien mom from INSEMINOID as his flirty tease of a partner. While on the case, they shake down the warden from ALIEN 3 while spied on by the cowardly soldier "Hookie" from ZULU, here teamed up with one of the Death Star generals from STAR WARS. However his only real lead comes in the form of a shifty lawyer, the guy who married Audrey Hepburn before going blind and trying to poison Caesar in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
As you can see, the cast of this movie is just marvelous and features a lot of "that guy"s from other movies you've seen. The chemistry between Wayne and the guy who directed GANDHI works really well as they have to team up from such opposite viewpoints to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for those seeking lots of action (Wayne enters the movie by kicking down a door and hitting a guy in the head with a 2x4), there's not much here. Wayne merely gets in one mediocre car chase and has a few close calls with a creepy hit man who tries to sneak up on people with the most conspicuous car possible and who would be a better shot if he hadn't hacked his broom handle Mauser pistol to fire full-auto.
More often than not, the film decides to protract what would be smaller scenes in an American movie into 20 minute episodes. For instance, did we really need to witness every darn detail with the first money drop sequence? Or would our time have been better spend seeing Wayne (who looks quite tired) beating up a few more henchmen and spouting one-liners?
All in all it's only made watchable by the cast and director Douglas Hickox's assured ability to enliven a lot of scenes that would otherwise have dragged far worse. There's a few nice surprises and some suspense, but you'd be better off just watching an full-blown Euro-crime movie than this tame and watered-down cross-pond excursion.
As you can see, the cast of this movie is just marvelous and features a lot of "that guy"s from other movies you've seen. The chemistry between Wayne and the guy who directed GANDHI works really well as they have to team up from such opposite viewpoints to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for those seeking lots of action (Wayne enters the movie by kicking down a door and hitting a guy in the head with a 2x4), there's not much here. Wayne merely gets in one mediocre car chase and has a few close calls with a creepy hit man who tries to sneak up on people with the most conspicuous car possible and who would be a better shot if he hadn't hacked his broom handle Mauser pistol to fire full-auto.
More often than not, the film decides to protract what would be smaller scenes in an American movie into 20 minute episodes. For instance, did we really need to witness every darn detail with the first money drop sequence? Or would our time have been better spend seeing Wayne (who looks quite tired) beating up a few more henchmen and spouting one-liners?
All in all it's only made watchable by the cast and director Douglas Hickox's assured ability to enliven a lot of scenes that would otherwise have dragged far worse. There's a few nice surprises and some suspense, but you'd be better off just watching an full-blown Euro-crime movie than this tame and watered-down cross-pond excursion.