Tue 4 Aug 2020
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: BIG JAKE (1971).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[10] Comments
REVIEWED BY DAN STUMPF:
BIG JAKE. Batjac/CinemaCenter Films, 1971. John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O’Hara, Patrick Wayne, Christopher Mitchum, Bruce Cabot, Harry Carey Jr, Hank Worden, Glenn Corbett, Jim Davis, and John Agar. Narrated by George Fenneman. Written by Harry & Rita Fink. Directed by George Sherman.
George Sherman’s final feature film makes an altogether fitting end for a career that stretched back to the Three Mesquiteers: just as silly, just as vigorous and just as much fun.
That’s not to say Big Jake is a very good movie – it ain’t. The first half is barely tolerable, what with “trendy†borrowings from Butch Cassidy and a story that slows to a grind in order to bring on the Duke and show us how tough he us. Duke’s acting here is painfully self-indulgent, and despite plenty of dramatic potential (an estranged father must work with his two sons to rescue his kidnapped grandchild) the screenplay goes out of its way to avoid anything like emotional conflict.
But that’s just the first half. Once Duke and his party reach the rendezvous point, where Richard Boone waits with a small army of bad guys, Big Jake turns into a real scrapper. I particularly enjoyed the diminuendo effect of the final set-to, so let me see if I can explain that.
In Laurel & Hardy Movies, action moves to a crescendo. The boys start out spilling coffee on someone and end up demolishing his car in a series of comic escalations. But Big Jake’s climactic battle opens with phalanxes of warriors, armed with shotguns, machetes, high-powered rifles and a semi-automatic pistol, then grinds them down till by the ending, the combatants are throwing lanterns and popping derringers at each other.
Add to this that in Richard Boone, John Wayne finds an adversary worthy of him, and you get a movie that is, finally, enjoyable on the level of the old Republic B-Westerns. No more, but certainly no less.
August 4th, 2020 at 8:46 pm
This production has a soul. I saw it in theatre and felt like cheering at the conclusion.
August 5th, 2020 at 7:06 am
A rousing endorsement, Barry. I’ve seen only the first 30 minutes while channel browsing. I will have to search the movie out and finally see the ending!
August 5th, 2020 at 8:09 am
I love this movie for much the same reason I love THE COMANCHEROS: where and when I saw it and who I saw it with. But I also think it’s very well-done. The scene that introduces Wayne’s character is one of my all-time favorites. There are a couple of late deaths that still bother me, and I think the writers should have handled that differently, but the movie’s still full of great lines and action scenes.
August 5th, 2020 at 8:31 am
Or as I’ve always thought of it, A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS FOR HONDO, as the Duke patched together a stew of familiar ingredients from his classic earlier films and seasoned it with trendy Spaghetti Western elements. As usual, the snot-nosed younger characters have to be brought into line with tough love (more tough than love) from Big Jake.
August 5th, 2020 at 6:14 pm
Maureen O’Hara looked stunning as usual. I want a dog like the one Wayne had. It knows when to attack the bad guys and when to save the boy. The only command you have to give is “dog”.
August 5th, 2020 at 7:59 pm
It is a great old fashioned Western all dressed up with a modern feel that somehow ends up drawing attention to its more old fashioned roots, and even minor flaws somehow feel perfect to the overall feel of the film that ends with one of the best scenes possible featuring two aging pros finally matched perfectly.
It is that confilct between Wayne and Boone that lifts this film and while it can’t match the classic clash between Randolph Scott and Boone, it has some of the same feel to it.
The comparison to THE COMANCHEROS, and I would add RIO CONCHOS, is a good one, especially as the former was also the last film of an old pro.
Meanwhile the two scions of classic Western stars, Wayne and Mitchun, have meatier and better roles than they usually got as well, with their own showdowns well done. Even Bruce Cabot gets a solid role and sendoff.
Like Barry I felt like cheering the first time I saw it, if only because it stepped up and produced an ending worthy of a screen duel between Wayne and Boone.
But I don’t disagree with Dan that it meanders a bit for the first hour before delivering big time once they reach their destination.
August 5th, 2020 at 8:36 pm
I have found the movie streaming on Amazon, and I will finally finish watching it by the end of the week. As I recall, I saw the film up through the time John Wayne tosses one of his sons into a pig pond, right before he and his crew ride off to rescue his grandson.
August 5th, 2020 at 8:39 pm
To be clear, I liked Big Jake from the opening montage and narration to the ending, and I do not mean the face down with Boone, but the reunification with his sons and grandson. Sometime after Jake’s release Claude and I moved into a new condo in Toronto, and a young man, in his teens helped us get set up. His father had just passed, but Peter could not stop talking about Big Jake and you can imagine in what context. I felt the same way, and my father did not go on until May of 2011, so no correlation, but plenty of it, just the same.
August 5th, 2020 at 11:10 pm
What can I say? Everything everyone has said about this movie is true. I’m glad I finally got the chance to see it all the way through.
August 9th, 2020 at 9:54 pm
An additional benefit of the reconciliation theme is it is managed without getting too sentimental or sticky as so many other films might have. It is well within the range of the characters as they are shown in the film.
And the opening montage is indeed worth noting.
However the idea that Texas Rangers would have charged off into Mexico in a car at that time was and is just silly, but it’s a movie, and for the needs of the film it’s a small grin and bear it moment. Within the context of the story they are trying to tell it is both needed and works, and so long as the film stays true to its internal logic, as this does, it’s a minor quibble.
Best dog in a Wayne film since HONDO.