MOVIE REVIEW: McQ

Jimmy Don Ventura’s Monthly Movie Review: McQ (1974)

Stockton Telegram-Dispatch | Captain My Captain Blog

You can’t spell “John Wayne” without “JW,” and you can’t spell “JW” without thinking of whiskey, wide-brimmed hats, and a face carved out of a sandstone bluff. But in 1974, the Duke holstered his six-shooters, parked the horse at the hitchin’ post, and climbed behind the wheel of a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.

Yep, that’s right—a man known for ridin’ the high plains traded in his stallion for a screaming chicken hood decal.

Now, the movie is McQ, Wayne’s attempt at playing the hard-nosed, no-nonsense urban cop. The premise is straight out of the Dirty Harry school of scriptwriting: a grizzled detective (Duke, naturally) tries to sniff out corruption and murder in Seattle while the rain drips off every awning like the city’s been crying since 1899. Only this time, Clint Eastwood ain’t the one scowling—it’s Wayne, older, heavier, slower, but still with that peculiar magic that makes you lean forward in your chair and say, “Well, by God, that’s John Wayne.”

And more importantly—it’s got cars.

The Trans Am: Duke’s Four-Wheeled Horse

Let’s talk about that Pontiac Trans Am. You can’t miss it—finished in Brewster Green, with that gold screaming chicken splayed across the hood like a heraldic crest, shaker hood scoop bobbing with every stomp of Wayne’s boot on the accelerator.

Now, technically, the Trans Am Wayne drives isn’t exactly the same trim as Burt Reynolds would famously whip around in Smokey and the Bandit just a few years later, but the bones are there. You see it roll across the screen, and you can practically smell the gasoline fumes mixed with Aqua Net hair spray of every ’70s teenager who dreamed about one.

And here’s the thing: Wayne looked natural behind the wheel. This wasn’t a man pretending to be cool in a muscle car. He was cool in that car. It might as well have been another horse, one with a Quadrajet carburetor and a limited-slip differential. When he rumbles down the street, you can almost hear the Duke whispering, “Giddyup.”

Other Iron on the Screen

Of course, the Trans Am wasn’t the only player. You’ve got a fleet of Chevrolets filling out the cast list. The star among them? A Chevrolet Impala that performed one of the most jaw-dropping stunts in Hollywood history. More on that in a minute.

Then there’s the Ford sedans and Plymouths, the utilitarian squad cars of their day, flashing red beacons and squealing bias-ply tires. They don’t shine like the Trans Am, but they frame the movie in that very specific ’70s cop-show grit.

The Chase Scenes: Sand, Asphalt, and Cannon Fire

Now, folks talk about the acting, the story, and Wayne trying to update himself for a new generation. But the real reason this movie sticks in people’s minds is the stunt work—especially those chase scenes.

The Beach Chase: There’s something poetic about John Wayne, America’s cowboy, driving hell-for-leather across wet sand with seagulls scattering and the Pacific pounding away. It’s as if the Duke said, “Fine, you took away my horse, but by God, you gave me an ocean.” The roar of that Brewster Green Trans Am against the surf is enough to make you grab a bucket of popcorn and stand to salute.

The Alley Chase: Tight, brutal, claustrophobic—sheet metal gets turned into confetti. You feel every scrape, every dent. This isn’t CGI nonsense—this is Detroit steel slamming into brick walls.

The Cannon Roll: And then comes the pièce de résistance.

Hal Needham’s Gift to Cinema

Legendary stuntman Hal Needham cooked up something the world had never seen before: the first cannon-assisted rollover. Up until then, if you wanted a car to flip, you had to rely on luck, ramps, or the stubbornness of physics. Needham said, “Nah, let’s mount a cannon in the trunk, fire it downward, and blast this Impala into the sky like Evel Knievel in a steel coffin.”

And boy, did it work. The car flips five times, a balletic tumble of glass, chrome, and twisted fenders. The crowd gasped. Critics gasped. Wayne probably gasped. Hollywood took notes. That one stunt rewrote the playbook, setting the stage for every over-the-top car wreck in action movies to come. You don’t get The Fast and the Furious without McQ.

That Impala may not have been the star, but it stole the show.

Tangent Time: John Wayne Museum in Fort Worth

Now, I gotta veer off the road for a minute, like I always do. You see, if you head up I-35 to the Stockyards in Fort Worth, you can find the John Wayne Museum. They’ve got memorabilia, costumes, letters, movie posters—all the trappings of a man whose shadow still covers the American West like a thundercloud.

But here’s what gets me: they’ve also got his car. And not just any car. They’ve got his customized Pontiac station wagon on display. That’s right—the Duke himself had a family hauler, personalized with enough style to make even the soccer moms of the ’70s whistle low and slow.

Think about that for a second. The man who defined cowboy masculinity wasn’t afraid to cruise the boulevard in a Pontiac wagon, loaded down with kids, groceries, and maybe a rifle or two tucked under the blanket in the back. You can go see it yourself—park right outside, grab some barbecue, and then stroll through the museum where the Cowboy and the Indians both come with four wheels and tailgates.

Back to McQ

Alright, back on track. The movie itself? It’s uneven. Wayne, in his mid-60s, isn’t exactly sprinting across rooftops anymore. The dialogue feels like it was patched together from rejected Dragnet scripts. And some of the acting around him—well, let’s just say the Trans Am delivered more emotion.

But you don’t watch McQ for the story. You watch it because it’s a curiosity, a bridge between two worlds. On one side, you’ve got the Duke, the quintessential Western hero. On the other, you’ve got the rise of the modern cop thriller, all grit and cynicism. McQ tries to plant a foot in both camps, and while it stumbles, it stumbles in style.

And style matters. Especially when your style includes a Brewster Green Trans Am and a five-time cannon roll.

The Cars as Characters

If you really want to get fancy about it, you could argue the cars are the real characters in McQ. The Trans Am isn’t just a vehicle—it’s Wayne’s steed, carrying him into the new cinematic frontier. The Impala isn’t just a piece of scrap metal—it’s a martyr, sacrificed for the advancement of stunt technology. Even the battered squad cars serve as the Greek chorus, wailing their sirens in approval or dismay as the plot creaks along.

And in a way, that’s fitting. Wayne was always about mythmaking, and cars are America’s modern myths. They carry our dreams, our dangers, and our need to see what happens when rubber meets road.

Final Thoughts

So how do you judge McQ? As a movie, it’s middling. As a piece of cinema history, it’s priceless. It gave us Wayne in a muscle car, it gave us Needham’s cannon roll, and it gave us an excuse to remember that the line between cowboy and cop isn’t so wide after all. Both wear badges, both ride into danger, and both—at least in 1974—look good with Pontiac stamped across the grille.

If you’re a fan of Wayne, you watch it for curiosity. If you’re a fan of cars, you watch it for history. If you’re a fan of stunts, you watch it for the future it created.

And if you’re me, Jimmy Don Ventura, you watch it with a Dr Pepper, a bag of pork rinds, and a pause button so you can replay that Impala roll over and over again until you’re grinning like a fool.

Because sometimes the movies don’t need to be perfect—they just need to flip a Chevy five times in front of God and everybody.

Jimmy Don’s Rating:

As a movie: 2.5 out of 5 stars
As a car showcase: 4.5 out of 5 stars
As stunt history: Solid 5 out of 5 cannon rolls

Car Spotter’s Corner 🚗

For the gearheads who need the details, here’s the breakdown of the featured iron in McQ:

1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (Brewster Green)

Engine: 455ci V8 with shaker hood scoop
Color: Rare Brewster Green, gold screaming chicken hood decal
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Role: McQ’s personal ride, his four-wheeled stallion

1973 Chevrolet Impala (Stunt Car)

Engine: Small-block V8 (typical for stunt prep)
Color: Plain sedan finish, destined for destruction
Notable: Performed Hollywood’s first cannon-assisted rollover, flipping five times

Pontiac Safari Wagon (Wayne’s Personal Car, Museum Piece)