McQ

Perhaps the first commercial film to show the indirect influence of Watergate. It's also the best of the current spate of cop movies, despite the presence of an overage and cumbersome Wayne. He plays a Seattle lieutenant who goes on the rampage when his best friend gets killed, only to discover that it's the force itself that is corrupt, even to the point where they can double-cross the local crime syndicate in a dope deal. Wayne comes over not so much the lone crusader as an anachronism in a world of institutionalised crime. Rather than solve the plot, Wayne merely reveals that everything he has stood for is corrupt. The accusing finger even rests on him for a while; a pity, then, that he's too thick-skinned to let it register.