Big Jim McLain (1952)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Edward Ludwig

Writers:

Richard English (short story)
James Edward Grant (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Crime | Romance

Tagline:

He's a Go-Get-'Em Guy for the U.S.A. on a Treason Trail that leads Half-a-World Away!

Plot:

U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter attempt to break...

Plot Keywords:

Communist Party | Hawaii | Injection | Sabotage | Racial Slur

Cast

John Wayne	...	Jim McLain
Nancy Olson	...	Nancy Vallon
James Arness	...	Mal Baxter
Alan Napier	...	Sturak
Veda Ann Borg	...	Madge
Hans Conried	...	Robert Henried
Hal Baylor	...	Poke
Gayne Whitman	...	Dr. Gelster
Gordon Jones	...	Olaf
Robert Keys	...	Edwin White
John Hubbard	...	Lt. Cmdr. Clint Grey
Soo Yong	...	Mrs. Namaka (as Madame Soo Yong)
Dan Liu	...	Dan Liu, Honolulu Chief of Police (as Honolulu Chief of Police Dan Liu)
Vernon 'Red' McQueen	...	Phil Briggs (as Red McQueen)

Also Known As:

Jim McLain

Runtime:

90 min | West Germany:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #16057) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Wayne-Fellows Productions

Trivia:

The German title is "Mathuana". In this dubbed version for the German market John Wayne plays a hunter of marijuana smugglers, not an investigator for the Un-American Activities Commitee ferreting out Communists, as in the original film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Olaf comes out of the house and sees Jim talking to Madge, the background changes between the wide shot of the three of them and the close-up of Olaf getting the axe.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ed Wood (1994)

Soundtrack:

Auld Lang Syne

Honest Story of the Communist Threat

While the brainwashed elite criticize this story of how Communism threatened the security of America in the 1950s, any unbiased viewer will understand a piece of history that has since been revised.

This movie was made while the liberal elite defended their liberalism by making a straw man of Senator McCarthy. John Wayne understood the real threat of Communism and their spies in America. Making this movie was unpopular then, nevertheless now; Wayne was a brave patriot who should be commended for doing the principled thing, however unpopular.

The liberal politicians and the media has waged war on the fight against communism for 40 years. That repeated mantra of group thinking has obscured the real attitudes of that era. This movie is valuable for the independent minded; it shows a history and culture that Hollywood wants to deny and ignore in the same way the Klan wants to deny and ignore the Holocaust.

It is not Wayne's best film. It is probably the least seen. However, a student of history or a student of Wayne's character should view the movie.