The Mighty Quinn

The Mighty Quinn (1989)

  • 88% of critics liked it
    (16 reviews)

  • 48% of users liked it
    (6,046 ratings)

Xavier Quinn (Denzel Washington) is police chief of a tiny Caribbean island. Quinn's efforts to straddle the fence between the local blacks and the moneyed whites have lost him the respect of both groups. When a murder is committed, Quinn suspects that the killer is Maubee (Robert Townsend), a… More

Play Trailer

In Theaters
Feb 16, 1989 Wide
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

  • Vincent Canby, New York Times

    [Washington] gives the kind of smooth, funny, laid-back performance that could help make him the first black matinee idol since Sidney Poitier.

  • Rita Kempley, Washington Post

    With Fancher's dialogue and Washington's comedic timing, The Mighty Quinn is more fun than a cabana full of bananas.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    The Mighty Quinn is a spy thriller, a buddy movie, a musical, a comedy and a picture that is wise about human nature. And yet with all of those qualities, it never seems to strain.

  • Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    Pleasing comical murder mystery that takes place on a small Caribbean island.

  • Clint Morris, Tsunami Magazine

    An award-worthy performance by Washington

Read all 9 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Deb S


    The smooth and charming Denzel Washington plays a Caribbean cop investigating a murder that his childhood friend Maubee (Robert Townsend) may be implicated in. Townsend plays the role of a carefree individual who does just what he pleases and mostly the wrong side of the law and is… More

  • Brian R


    I really enjoyed watching "The Mighty Quinn". The picture is very well directed and well casted. Denzel Washington plays a West Indies chief Xavier Quinn (cool name) handling a murder case and is facing a problem since his good friend Maubee (Robert Townsend) may have been… More

  • Chosen 7


    Very entertaining, good performances by Townsend and Washington. Good ending.

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