Big Jake [Blu-ray]

Director: George Sherman, John Wayne George Sherman

Overview

When his grandson (played by real-life son Ethan Wayne) is kidnapped by scurrilous baddie Richard Boone, Big Jake (John Wayne) sets out to deliver the $1 million ransom. On the off-chance that there'll be gunplay, Jake brings along his sons Patrick Wayne and Chris Mitchum. Maureen O'Hara plays Jake's estranged wife and Bruce Cabot provides comedy relief as a scraggly Indian Scout.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/31/2011
UPC:	0097361451947
Original Release:	1971
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Paramount
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:49:00
Sales rank:	15,878

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Wayne	Jacob McCandles,James McCandles,Little Jake
Richard Boone	John Fain
Maureen O'Hara	Martha McCandles
Christopher Mitchum	Michael McCandles,Actor
Bobby Vinton	Jeff McCandles
Bruce Cabot	Sam Sharpnose
Glenn Corbett	O'Brien
Harry Carey Jr.	Pop Dawson
John Doucette	Buck Dugan
John Agar	Bert Ryan
Gregg Palmer	John Goodfellow
Robert Warner	Will Fain
Jim Burke	Trooper
Dean Smith	Kid Duffy
Virginia Capers	Delilah
William Walker	Moses Brown
Jerry Gatlin	Stubby
Tom Hennessy	Saloon Brawler
Don Epperson	Saloon Bully
Everett Creach	Walt Devries
Jeff Wingfield	Billy Devries
Hank Worden	Hank
Roy Jenson	Gunman at bathhouse in Escondero
John McLiam	Army Officer
Bernard Fox	Scottish Shepherd
Jim Burk	Trooper (Fain gang member)
Chuck Roberson	Texas Ranger
George Fenneman	Narrator
'Chico' Hernandez	Boy on Town
Jerry Summers	Escondero Hotel Desk Clerk
Harry Carey	Actor
Chuck Robertson	Actor
Jimmy Davis	Head of Lynching Party
Elmer Bernstein	Composer

Technical Credits

Rita M. Fink

George Sherman	Director
Rita M. Fink	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Michael Wayne	Producer,Director
Howard Jensen	Special Effects
Albert Whitlock	Special Effects
Robert Warner	Stunts
John Ferguson	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This suspenseful, action-packed 1971 western was a real nostalgia trip for John Wayne. Not only was it directed by George Sherman -- the man behind the camera on several of the Duke's B-western quickies back in the '30s -- but it also teamed him (for the last time) with perennial leading lady Maureen O'Hara. The Wayne of Big Jake is the iconic figure familiar to most baby-boom moviegoers: gravelly voiced, craggy, larger than life, taciturn, and yet oddly avuncular. He plays one of his typically rugged individualists, a long-gone husband who returns to abandoned wife O'Hara when their eight-year-old grandson (played by John Ethan Wayne, in real life the Duke's youngest son) is abducted. Big Jake hits the vengeance trail, hell-bent for leather and in hot pursuit of the kidnappers led by Richard Boone. There's plenty of hard riding and gunslinging before the score is settled, with nary a dull moment. Sherman's direction is facile, his job undoubtedly made easier by a well-developed script with surprisingly tart dialogue. Wayne is pretty much the same as he was in most of his '60s and '70s films, revealing his tender side in scenes with O'Hara but reverting to his hard-boiled persona in the clashes with Boone, who delivers one of his best big-screen performances. Not exactly a formula western, Big Jake nonetheless hews closely to the basic pattern of Wayne's latter-day horse operas. Slick and fast moving, it shows the legendary star still shining brightly in his twilight years.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

The style and content of Hollywood films changed considerably during the early 1970's and this had a trickle-down effect to the veteran stars of previous eras. Even John Wayne, who mostly stuck to his classic style during these times, had to bend his formula to fit the times. Big Jake is an interesting example of how Wayne rolled with the changes of 1970's Hollywood. It mirrors the influence that Sam Peckinpah and other revisionist filmmakers were having on the Western genre by including a theme of old ways (and heroes) being left behind by a changing generation. It's also much more violent than old school westerns, with an opening assault on a ranch and a dramatic standoff finale getting surprisingly bloody for a John Wayne vehicle. However, Big Jake retains a Hollywood feel via its classic ransom
escue plot and a familiar macho mindset (a theme of sons learning to obey their father - and thus learning how to be men - is key to the story). George Sherman directs with an appropriately stately style and Elmer Bernstein supplies a rousing score that harkens back to his classic work on The Magnificent Seven. Wayne delivers a typically convincing performance, using his formidable persona to sell the script's reverence for tradition. There is also solid support work from Patrick Wayne as a resentful but brave son and a creepy turn from Richard Boone as the quietly psychopathic villain. In short, Big Jake offers a unique mix of the old and the new that makes it worth viewing for all kinds of Western fans.

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