Just Don't Call Him Daddy!
Regardless about how one feels about his arch-conservative politics,
there really isn't any secret as to why John Wayne personified what it meant to be a star in Hollywood for decades on end. And even though he seemed to settle into a routine of making films under his Batjac production banner in the last decade and a half of his life without the strong guiding hand of a John Ford, a Howard Hawks, or a Henry Hathaway, he still put out what everyone had come to expect of the man. Case in point, BIG JAKE. Written by the same writers who gave Eastwood DIRTY HARRY, BIG JAKE stars Wayne as Jake McCandles, a Texas rancher whom everyone thought was dead because no one had seen him in eighteen years (as always, rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated). But he is called back into action by his estranged wife (Maureen O'Hara) after a gang of ruthless outlaws, led by Richard Boone, shoot up his ranch, kill much of the hired help, and kidnap his grandson (Ethan Wayne). Wayne, not surprisingly, takes up the challenge. But he also has to keep his sons (Glenn Corbett; Chris Mitchum) in line when they call him Daddy (obviously, this gets a burr up the Duke's backside). They all must venture across the Rio Grande to Boone's hideout on the Mexican side, helped out by Wayne's trusty Indian aide (Bruce Cabot). And it all comes down to an eminently satisfying and traditional showdown between Wayne and Boone. BIG JAKE is very much in the style of Wayne's other Batjac westerns (CHISUM; THE UNDEFEATED; THE WAR WAGON; CAHILL, U.S. MARSHAL) in its being somewhat predictable, but that predictability is precisely what makes it a success; people want Wayne to win, and who can blame them? Fortunately, he gets a vicious enough antagonist in Boone, who had had a minor role in the Duke's own 1960 directorial opus THE ALAMO and who does sagebrush villainy as well as anyone else. George Sherman, who had directed Wayne in several B-westerns prior to the Duke's ascension to stardom via Ford's STAGECOACH, shows he still has the directorial goods here despite the poor health he suffered during its making (Wayne reportedly directed significant sequences, but refused to take credit or have Sherman taken off). BIG JAKE also has superlative cinematography by William Clothier, no stranger to Westerns he, all of which was done on location in what had become the Duke's favorite Western locale--the landscape around Durango, Mexico. The only really serious disappointment with BIG JAKE is that Wayne and O'Hara barely have any screen time together, given how well they worked under Ford, particularly on 1952's THE QUIET MAN, and seeing as how this was their last joint appearance on screen (Wayne died in 1979, and O'Hara wouldn't make another feature film until ONLY THE LONELY in 1991). Still, just about everything else one expects from the Duke on screen happens here in BIG JAKE, including those little bits of humor revolving around being called "Daddy" and being thought dead. It's just a lesson to you: You don't mess with the Duke. And you definitely don't call him Daddy either!. d2ka watch Pretty Woman movie
A Team Very good action in this movie. A little unrealistic but kept my attention
WallStreet Excellant movie Micheal Douglas play his role perfect .
jbsilverwing watch The Innocents movie
A good J Wayne flick.
jsjs1313 watch Thank God It's Friday movie
Rio Lobo is same story line as Eldorado..
toby_mansfield@yahoo.com watch Carlin At Carnegie movie
Great movie, next to The Searchers is one of John Wayne's greatest..
elknight watch Minotaur movie
I can't watch "Big Jake" enough. John Wayne displays so much courage and morals..
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llarsonmd
wonderful scenery, weak plot..
teez0
Apollo 18 - very, very interesting. worth a watch.
Finding Neverland - Good family movie. .
kellytye
great movie site . this must be to prove im a person not a thing
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PLASTICFAB
VERY GOOD MOVIE, ONE OF THE BEST.
\"No matter what else happens, no matter who gets killed I'm gonna blow your head off.\"
There has been no tougher or more formidable Western heavy than Richard
Boone… He has occasionally depicted hard-bitten nobility, as his portrayal of General Sam Houston in "The Alamo" or the ageing cavalry officer in "A Thunder of Drums"—but more often his grim, craggy features have led him to villainy… He was Randolph Scott's intelligent, embittered adversary, smooth as a rattlesnake and twice as treacherous, in the Tall T; he wrapped non-conforming farmers in barbed wire in Man Without a Star; as mean, sadistic Major Salinas, he persecuted Rory Calhoun in Way of a Gaucho; and he gave Paul Newman a rough ride in Hombre. In "Big Jake," he was—as always—a powerful presence and one of the screen's most efficient scene-stealer… George Sherman's "Big Jake" was the Duke fifth and final film played opposite the lovely redheaded Maureen O'Hara who plays, here, his wife Martha McCandles… The movie opens in 1909 where nine men crossing the Rio Bravo into Texas… Their leader—a sadistic gunrunner—John Fain (Richard Boone) is ready for his bloody McCandles' raid where ten people were slaughtered and Big Jakes's grandson, the 8-year-old Little Jacob (Ethan Wayne) is kidnapped, and a ransom note is left demanding one million dollars in $20 Bills for Jacob's safe return… Martha—quite sure that this job requires an extremely harsh and special kind of man to attend it— called back her husband, absent for many years, to pay the ransom, and take back home the little boy alive… Jacob McCandles (Wayne)—who has never seen his grandson—responds to his wife's call and organizes a hunting party to track down the dangerous and violent men… With his two sons, his faithful Indian scout (Bruce Cabot), his loyal dog, and with a large red strongbox packed to the back of a good mule, McCandles initiates his very daring hunt… There are some hard feelings among Wayne's resentful boys, and as the film progresses, Wayne's blue eyes were gentle and revealing a wonderful caring father but also his eyes turn to blue steel as he took that decision to get alive his grandson… The heart of the film is Wayne interacting with his wife and what he has in store for his sons next... Patrick Wayne plays Wayne's older son who is short on ears and long on mouth… Christopher Mitchum rides a 'crazy bicycle,' carries a Bergman 1911, and a rifle with one fancy new telescope... With great action scenes, great photography and with a terrific Elmer Bernstein musical score, "Big Jake" is one of Wayne best Westerns…. |
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