Il grande Jake

This was a John Wayne film I greatly enjoy and was surprised at the wonderful old automobiles from the 1900's driving up and down every trail and even motorcycles. John Wayne played the role as Jacob McCandles who was looked up to as a man you did not mess with and respected. Maureen O'Hare, (Martha McCandles) seeks the help of her husband after years of being separated when their grandchild is kidnapped for a ransom for One Million Dollars. The gang of crooks is headed by Richard Boone, (John Fain) who will kill women and children in cold blood and think nothing of it. Patrick Waynes son has a role in this film along with the Polish Prince of Music and Song, Bobby Vinton. Maureen O'Hara had a very brief appearance only in the beginning and end of this film and this was also the last film that Wayne and O'Hara appeared together. Very entertaining film, you will not want to miss this great film Classic from 1971.

First I have to say that I am a huge JW fan. In this film JW is his classic Kick A** self. There is some sentimental stuff in here, about the old man's relationship with his grown sons. Basically it is good old John Wayne Action. When the bad guys get the drop on him, all you can think is "Big mistake" This film is set in the early 1900s. There is an interesting parallel between the passing of the baton from one generation to the next (Jake and his grown sons) and the passing of technology. We see new fangled weapons and a motor car. (Naturally Jake rejects these)

Finally: You got to love the idea of Big Jake owning a dog named ..... DOG.

A later John Wayne western that contains a surprising amount of graphic violence. This is by no means another "Wild Bunch" but there are more bloody gunshot wounds than usual.

The plot concerns the search and rescue of a kidnapped grandson that Wayne has never seen.

The banter between Jacob McCandles(Wayne) and his estranged sons is the source of many of the film's great lines. When Patrick Wayne tries to provoke the Duke by calling him "Daddy", the retort by the old man is priceless.

A good villan(Richard Boone), another pairing with Maureen O'Hara, some great one-liners and several references to older Wayne films make this a great choice from the westerns section at Blockbuster. Elmer Bernstein's music is wonderful too, sounding much like his "Magnificent Seven" score.

Some comments here have mentioned how much the Western "Big Jake" reminds them of "Dirty Harry." Actually, both films were written by the same screenwriters -- Harry and Rita Fink -- though additional writers were brought in on "Dirty Harry." Both films were developed and shot around the same time. "Big Jake" came out in summer 1971, and "Dirty Harry" came out at Christmas 1971. John Wayne said he was offered "Dirty Harry" before Eastwood took it (but Dirty Harry was also supposedly offered to Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, Bill Cosby and Walter Matthau before Eastwood, too!)

The twice-repeated "do you feel lucky?" speech in "Dirty Harry" and the twice-repeated "your fault, my fault, nobody's fault" speech in "Big Jake" prove to me that the same writers worked on both scripts.

Also, Richard Boone must be singled out. This powerful, amusing actor always made a great villain. Wayne had tried to get him as the villain for several films before "Big Jake" (he'd done a cameo in "The Alamo"). Boone finally said "yes" to "Big Jake" and the verbal showdowns between Big John and Big Boone in "Big Jake" are a wonder to behold.

BTW, Boone turned down a lot of movie parts during the 70's (like the Robert Shaw part in "The Sting") but came to help out his old friend Wayne twice in that decade: "Big Jake" and "The Shootist" (1976.)

A very entertaining John Wayne western. Richard Boone makes a great villian. It's action packed much more in the style of a Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry picture than a vintage John Wayne. Most highly recommended of Wayne's movies in the post-True Grit period.