Big Jake (1971)

Richard Boone is John Fain, leader of a gang of nine ruffians who ride down on the McCandles ranch one day, gun down several people and kidnap young Jake McCandles.

And they’ll kill him too, Fain promises, if they don’t receive a $1 million ransom for his safe return.

His grandmother Martha (Maureen O’Hara) grants permission for Buck Dugan and his Rangers to try to set up an ambush for the kidnappers.

After all, the year in 1909, and the Rangers are using automobiles while the kidnappers are fleeing on horseback.

But she also summons her estranged husband John McCandles (John Wayne) to deliver the $1 million ransom just in case the ambush fails.

While, it fails. Miserably.

So it’s left to John McCandles, nicknamed “Big Jake,” to bring the boy back alive.

He’ll have help in the form of tracker Sam Sharpnose (Bruce Cabot), a faithful dog named “Dog” and two estranged sons, James (Patrick Wayne) and Michael (Christopher Mitchum).

But word has gotten out that they’re bound for the border with $1 million, so Fain and his gang might not be there only problem.

John Wayne as John ‘Big Jake’ McCandles, wondering if he should intervene in a lynching in Big Jake (1971)

Richard Boone as John Fain, lying down the rules for the exchange of ransom for kidnapped boy in Big Jake (1971)

Review:

An entertaining late Wayne Western — he would make just five more — that’s a bit more violent than you’d expect.

Along the way, it takes time to poke fun at technological advances (the Rangers automobiles are quickly put out of commission by a few well placed bullets) in a time where good old cowboy toughness would get the job done every time.

Another focus is the growing bond between Wayne and his sons as the journey progress. He hasn’t seen either for years, and they resent him for that. But Big Jake manages to win their admiration by the time the credits role.

Wayne’s introduction in the film is interesting too. It doesn’t come until nearly 19 minutes in. He’s stationed on a knoll, rifle in hand, wondering whether to intervene on behalf of a man being lynched in a setting reminiscent of Clint Eastwood saving Eli Wallach.

He’s pretty much decided not to intervene, until a member of the lynch mob gets rough with the young boy whose father has the noose around his neck.

The film is also noteable as the last time Wayne and Maureen O’Hara starred together (they’re sixth film) and the last time of 10 times Patrick Wayne appeared in one of his father’s films.

One of Lassie’s offspring was used for the role of “Dog.” And this marked the final feature film directed by George Sherman, who first directed Wayne in B Westerns back in the 1930s.

Patrick Wayne as James McCandles, admiring the party on the streets of Escondero in Big Jake (1971)

Christopher Mitchum as Michael McCandles, listening to a lecture from an elder in Big Jake (1971)

Directed by:
George Sherman

Cast:
John Wayne … John McCandles
Richard Boone … John Fain
Maureen O’Hara … Martha McCandles
Patrick Wayne … James McCandles
Christopher Mitchum …. Michael McCandles
Bobby Vinton … Jeff McCandles
Bruce Cabot …. Sam Sharpnose
Glenn Corbett … O’Brien
Harry Carey Jr. …. Pop Dawson
John Doucette … Buck Dugan
Jim Davis … Head of lynching party
John Agar … Bert Ryan
Gregg Palmer … John Goodfellow
Robert Warner … Will Faine
Dean Smith …. Kid Duffy
Jim Burk …. Trooper
Ethan Wayne … Little Jake McCandles
Virginia Capers … Delilah
Bill Walker … Moses Brown
Jerry Gatlin … Stubby
Hank Worden … Hank

Runtime: 114 min.

Bruce Cabot as Sam Sharpnose, Big Jake’s Indian tracker in Big Jake (1971)

Ethan Wayne as Little Jake McCandles,, startled by the Fain Gang’s raid in Big Jake (1971)

Memorable lines:

Breed: “Fain, I don’t like the name Breed.”
John Fain: “I’ll try to remember that.”

Martha McCandles: “I don’t think this is a job for the Rangers, Buck. Nor for the Army, sir. It is, I think, going to be a very harsh and unpleasant kind of business. And will, I think, require an extremely harsh and unpleasant kind of man. to see to it.”

Big Jake to James, the son he hasn’t seen for more than 9 years: “You can call me father. You can call me Jacob. You can call me Jake. You can call me a dirty son of a bitch. But if you ever call me daddy again, I’ll finish this fight.”

James McCandles: “I guess it’s kind of hard to keep in touch. I mean, you run out on your family that way.”
Big Jake: “You never heard that at home. You’re short on ears and long on mouth.”

James McCandles: “They’ll kill Little Jake for sure.”
Big Jakes: “Not if we kill them first.”

Big Jake: “Now you understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all, your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault, it don’t matter, I’m gonna blow your head off. It’s as simple as that.”

“I hear you killed two men in a fair fight tonight. Is that right?”
James McCandles: “No. Three, counting you.”

John Fain: “I thought you was dead.”
Big Jake: “Not hardly.”

Maureen O’Hara as Martha McCandles, reaching for a rifle during the raid on the ranch in Big Jake (1971)

John Agar as Bert Ryan, foreman of the McCandles ranch when it’s raided in Big Jake (1971)

Bobby Vinton as Jeff McCandles, wounded in the raid on the McCandles ranch in Big Jake (1971)

Glenn Corbett as O’Brien, a member of John Fain’s gang in Big Jake (1971)

Gregg Palmer as machete-wielding Fain gang member John Goodfellow in Big Jake (1971)

Harry Carey Jr. as Fain gang member Pop Dawson, inviting Big Jake to a meeting place in Big Jake (1971)

John Doucette as Buck Dugan, leader of the Ranger ambush party in Big Jake (1971)

John Wayne as gruff, shotgun-toting Big Jake, listening to John Fain’s demands in Big Jake (1971)