The Mighty Quinn is a 1989 American mystery comedy thriller film starring Denzel Washington in the title role, alongside Robert Townsend, James Fox, Mimi Rogers, M. Emmet Walsh, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

In the film, Washington plays Xavier Quinn, a police chief who tries to help his childhood friend Maubee (Townsend) after he becomes a murder suspect.

When Donald Pater, the millionaire owner of a luxury resort hotel, is found murdered, everyone assumes that the culprit is Maubee, a petty crook who also is Quinn's best friend.

Quinn's worries over the murder exacerbate his troubles at home; he is estranged from his wife, Lola, and rarely has time to see his son.

Against Chalk's instructions, Quinn has the body autopsied and finds that Pater died of a venomous snake bite and was already dead when his head was cut off.

Quinn discovers that Pater, a close associate of the President of the United States, brought stacks of $10,000 bills to the island to be picked up by Patina.

As he walks on the beach with his son, the camera pans down to show a line of barefoot prints emerging from the water, leading to a rock with a $10,000 bill sitting on it.

In October 1971, producer Robert Rosenthal enlisted Larry Cohen to pen a screenplay adapted from A. H. Z. Carr's novel, Finding Maubee, which was published posthumously.

Actors Sammy Davis Jr. and Lou Gossett signed on for roles, with Sy Marsh and Robert Rosenthal set to produce.

The website's critics consensus reads, "A deft hybrid of laughs, espionage, and music, The Mighty Quinn is a smart, pleasant entertainment that offers an early example of Denzel Washington's onscreen magnetism.

In an effortless way that reminds me of Robert Mitchum, Michael Caine or Sean Connery in the best of the Bond pictures, he is able to be tough and gentle at the same time, able to play a hero and yet not take himself too seriously.