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Big Jake (John Wayne)

Directed by
George Sherman

Writing credits
Harry Julian Fink
Rita M. Fink

Genre: Western / Action

Tagline: They wanted gold. They gave them lead instead!

Plot Summary: John Wayne is Big Jake McCandles, on the trail on bandits in this action drama that stretches from Texas to Mexico. It's 1909, and the Old West is giving way to modern times. When the outlaw gang led bu vicious John Fain (Boone) raids Jake's ranch and kidnaps his 8-year-old grandson, Jake's wife (Maureen O'Hara), whom he hasn't seen in 18 years, sends for her husband to rescue the boy. While the law gives chase in rickety automobiles, Jake saddles up with an Indian scout, a faithful dog, and a box of money. But paying ransom isn't Jake's idea of good old frontier justice.

User Comments: Big Jake Holds His Own, Thank You

User Rating: 6.7/10 (1,521 votes)

Cast overview, first billed only:
	John Wayne	....	Jacob McCandles
	Richard Boone	....	John Fain (gang leader)
	Patrick Wayne	....	James McCandles
	Christopher Mitchum	....	Michael McCandles
	Bruce Cabot	....	Sam Sharpnose
	Bobby Vinton	....	Jeff McCandles
	Glenn Corbett	....	O'Brien, aka Breed (Fain gang member)
	John Doucette	....	Texas Ranger Capt. Buck Duggan
	Jim Davis	....	Head of lynching party
	John Agar	....	Bert Ryan (McCandles Ranch foreman)
	Harry Carey Jr.	....	Pop Dawson (Fain gang member) (as Harry Cary Jr.)
	Gregg Palmer	....	John Goodfellow (Fain gang member)
	Roy Jenson	....	Gunman at bathhouse in Escondero
	Virginia Capers	....	Delilah (McCandles' maid)
	Bill Walker	....	Moses Brown (McCandles' cook) (as William Walker)

Also Known As:
The Million Dollar Kidnapping (USA) (working title)
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for western violence. (re-rating)
Runtime: 110 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (Technicolor) Widescreen
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) / Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) / UK:15 (video rating) / UK:AA (original rating) / Australia:M / Finland:K-16 / Norway:16 / Sweden:15 / USA:GP (original rating) / USA:PG-13 (re-rating 2001) / Singapore:PG

Trivia: The boy that plays Big Jake's grandson is actually John Wayne's son in real life.

Goofs: Continuity: During the kidnapping, Little Jake pokes at O'Brian with a pitchfork and knocks off O'Brian's hat, but O'Brian has puncture wounds in his cheeks, much lower than the area where he was struck with the pitchfork.

Quotes: John Fain: You come close, mister, but no cigar!

User Comments:

Big Jake Holds His Own, Thank You, 1 November 2005

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Mark this down as a very entertaining western with more realistic gunfight scenes than most films, meaning the good guys get shot as well as the villains. John Wayne's "The Searchers," a very similar movie story-wise, gets a lot better press than this film but "Big Jake" is just as good, if not better.

To be fair, while the gunfights in here were well done, the fistfights were an insult. Whenever someone got slugged, such as Wayne belting his kids, it had no effect on them, except just to knock them down for a second or two. In real life, folks, chances are you will knocked unconscious if you are hit in the face, especially by a powerful man like Wayne. This has been a ludicrous fact-of-life, however, in all films for 100 years, not just here.

Other than that, the film is a straight hard-nosed one with Wayne and adversary Richard Boone both fascinating. The dialog between the two was especially fun to hear. Too bad there wasn't more of it. Boone did not have enough lines in this film. Wayne's real-life sons in this film didn't impress me with their acting but they weren't horrible either.

Bruce Cabot was a hoot as an old Indian friend of Wayne's. As with most westerns, there is some nice scenery so if you have the opportunity, watch this on widescreen DVD. It was nice-looking movie.

UPC 097363711544