Truly Dreadful Film

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

From my favorite movies..

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This basic idea of this movie had potential but, the acting was stiff, everyone seemed like they were just saying lines for the sake of saying them, no pathos, no feeling, nothing convincing about the acting or lines can be found in this. Way too much stupid stuff was portrayed by all. The "Rangers" who were supposed to be these great shots, had a hard time even getting close to the ambushers, and they were standing up, like they wanted to get shot! And of course,the ambushers were picking off the Rangers real easy. Way too many unbelievable moments were had by all. Way too many dumb, unconvincing lines by actors that were great in other Wayne films!

Aging Texas cattleman Jake McCandles(John Wayne)is looked upon by some of his peers as being too old to cut the mustard; but this man's man musters into action when ruthless cutthroats led by John Fain(Richard Boone) kidnap his grandson. Big Jake returns to join his estranged family in the search of the youngster called Little Jake. Once again The Duke is paired with the beautiful Maureen O'Hara as his wife; real life son Patrick plays sharpshooting son James. Robert Mitchum's son Christopher plays Big Jake's son Michael. Boone is the perfect villain. And his minions are faithful, but dumb enough to die for him. Plenty of gun play and violence to befit a Wayne western. Beautiful, but rugged scenery filmed entirely in Mexico. Other players include: Glenn Corbett, John Doucette, Jim Davis, Harry Carey, Jr., Bruce Cabot and Wayne's own son Ethan plays Little Jake. Maybe not a big money maker as some, but one of The Duke's most popular movies. I personally consider it one of his best.

I believe it was the last film I saw in the old Bayshore 5th avenue drive-in (not the bayshore sunrise drive-in). Websites claim the drive-in's last season was 1964, but to those that remember it closed much later. I think during or after that summer (1971)when the screen was torn in half by a tree after a storm. Either way, this film was a good old-fashioned western that came out in a time when westerns became revisionist garbage ("Doc"), or had political undertones that paralleled the view of some on the Vietnam war (Ulzana's raid, soldier blue, pat garrett and billy the kid)- not to say these were bad films, but it was the direction many films were going at that time. "Big Jake" made a statement about the changing times and how certain old tried-and-true methods were tried-and-true for a reason. Wayne knew full well what he was doing; his popularity was so for many reasons, one of which was tried-and-true movie-making. Good was good, bad was bad and people just wanted to sit back and enjoy rooting for the hero. This is not to say he didn't make westerns with gray areas, but when he did it was more a case in character study than political statements for the purpose of revision.

Big Jake is a traditional John Wayne Western with a strangely unacknowledged level of modern savagery. It's got all the adventure and comic relief you'd expect, but every so often the level and intensity of the violence exceeds anything you'd anticipate. Sometimes that contrast appears to be intentional. Sometimes it's just odd. What it does is give this film an edge that makes it stand out from the many other Wayne Westerns.Set in 1909 as 20th Century civilization has finally taken root on the East Coast, this story concerns the still largely untamed American Southwest along the border with Mexico. John Fain (Richard Boone) leads a crew of 8 other vicious killers on a raid of the McCandles ranch, massacring a number of people and kidnapping the grandson of ranch owner Martha McCandles (Maureen O'Hara). Confronted with a million dollar ransom demand for the boy's return, Martha summons her long absent husband Jacob (John Wayne) to deliver the money and get his grandson back. Joined by his faithful dog, his sons James and Michael (Patrick Wayne and Christopher Mitchum) and his old Indian friend Sam Sharpnose (Bruce Cabot), Big Jake McAndles heads out through the beautiful countryside to battle Fain's raiders, greedy cowboys and the bitter resentment of his son James.Amidst the shootouts, brawls, scenery, gags and other elements of the Wayne Western, an interesting theme is woven through Big Jake. This is a tale about how the folks who lived and prospered in the Wild West, both good and bad, weren't all that pleasant. Jacob McAndles is a hard man. His Indian friend is a hard man. His wife is a hard woman. Even his dog is a hard beast. These are people (and an animal) of unflinching will who will risk and inflict death without hesitation. Michael McAndles, whose nicer manners and love of the latest 1909 technology represents the new era, has trouble accepting his father's ruthless violence. Big Jake serves as both an ode to the uncompromising strength needed to tame the frontier, yet doesn't shy away from the rough and unappealing aspects of that strength.That bluntness explains some of the graphic violence in this movie. It's not quite at the level of Sam Peckinpah, but Big Jake is bloodier and more cold blooded than most other Westerns. Not all of the moments of barbarism fit that explanation. For example, two characters meet extremely brutal ends without them having any emotional impact on the other characters.The best parts of this movie are Wayne (unsurprisingly) and his interactions with Bruce Cabot and Richard Boone. Wayne and Cabot mine a lot of humor out of their age, while Wayne and Boone perfectly capture the idea of men who are so tough they don't feel any need to show off. Wayne's scenes with his younger co-stars don't come off as well, particularly when Big Jake has to deal with the obviously forced and exaggerated anger from James, though perhaps that generation gap was on purpose.Big Jake is about a legendary Wild West figure who's so legendary everybody knows him, but they all think he's already dead. But though the movie accepts that the time and place for someone like Big Jake may have been ending, it argues there's still a little more room for that sort of spirit.