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| Genre: | Thriller |
| Year: | 1968 |
| Rating: | NR |
| Length: | 1 Hour 41 Minutes |
| Cast: | Don Siegel, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens |
Richard Widmark stars as Daniel Madigan, a tough NYC detective who spends most of the film making up for a serious error committed in the first scene. Surprising hood Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat) in his bedroom, Madigan and partner Detective Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino) allow themselves to be distracted by Benesch's nude girlfriend, whereupon the crook gets the drop on them and makes his escape. Police commissioner Anthony X. Russell (Henry Fonda) gives Madigan just 72 hours to bring in Benesch -- and to recover his weapon, which the hood "appropriated". The fact that Madigan had strayed from his own district to make the arrest in the first place is just one of many woes plaguing the commissioner: he's got enough trouble with his restless mistress Tricia Bentley (Susan Clark), with black-activist minister Dr. Taylor (Raymond St. Jacques), and with on-the-take detective Charles Kane (James Whitmore). Acting on a lead given them by bookie Midget Castiglione (Michael Dunn), Madigan and Detective Bonaro finally trace Benesch to Spanish Harlem. In the ensuing gun battle, Madigan is killed, whereupon his estranged wife Julia (Inger Stevens) gives the beleaguered commissioner a scalding tongue-lashing. Though titled Madigan, the film's true central character is Police Commissioner Russell (Fonda), a living personification of Harry Truman's credo "The Buck Stops Here." Despite the fact that Richard Widmark is pushing up daisies at the end of the film, Universal engaged Widmark's services as star of a 1972 Madigan TV series. Hal Erickson
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