Big Jake (1971)

Director:

George Sherman
(more)

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (writer)
Rita M. Fink (writer)

Release Date:

26 May 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Action

Tagline:

They wanted gold. They gave them lead instead!

Plot:

The McCandles ranch is run over by a gang of cutthroats led by the evil John Fain. They kidnap little...

Plot Keywords:

Ransom | Presumed Dead | Motorcycle | Locomotive | Mexican

Cast

John Wayne	...	Jacob McCandles
Richard Boone	...	John Fain
Patrick Wayne	...	James McCandles
Christopher Mitchum	...	Michael McCandles
Bruce Cabot	...	Sam Sharpnose
Bobby Vinton	...	Jeff McCandles
Glenn Corbett	...	O'Brien, aka Breed
John Doucette	...	Texas Ranger Capt. Buck Duggan
Jim Davis	...	Head of lynching party
John Agar	...	Bert Ryan
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Pop Dawson (as Harry Cary Jr.)
Gregg Palmer	...	John Goodfellow
Roy Jenson	...	Gunman at bathhouse in Escondero
Virginia Capers	...	Delilah
Bill Walker	...	Moses Brown (as William Walker)
John McLiam	...	Army Officer
Bernard Fox	...	Scottish Shepherd
Don Epperson	...	Saloon bully in Escondero
Jim Burk	...	Trooper (Fain gang member)
Dean Smith	...	James William 'Kid' Duffy
Ethan Wayne	...	Little Jake McCandles
Hank Worden	...	Hank
Tom Hennesy	...	Mr. Sweet
Robert Warner	...	Will Fain
Jeff Wingfield	...	Billy Devries
Jerry Gatlin	...	Stubby
Everett Creach	...	Walt Devries
Maureen O'Hara	...	Martha McCandles
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael E. Burgess	...	Little Boy (uncredited)
George Fenneman	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	...	Texas Ranger (uncredited)
Jerry Summers	...	Escondero Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)

Directed by
George Sherman
John Wayne		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Harry Julian Fink		writer
Rita M. Fink		writer

Produced by
Michael Wayne	....	producer

Original Music by
Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier

Film Editing by
Harry W. Gerstad

Casting by
Hoyt Bowers

Art Direction by
Carl Anderson

Set Decoration by
Ray Moyer

Makeup Department
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Joseph C. Behm	....	unit manager
Lee Lukather	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Newt Arnold	....	assistant director
Cliff Lyons	....	second unit director

Art Department
Ray Thompson	....	property master

Sound Department
John Ferguson	....	sound

Special Effects by
Howard Jensen	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Albert Whitlock	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
Denny Arnold	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Babcock	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Burk	....	stunts (uncredited)
Everett Creach	....	stunts (uncredited)
Eddy Donno	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Leonard	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunt double: John Wayne (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Dean Smith	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Summers	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buddy Van Horn	....	stunts (uncredited)
Robert Warner	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dave Sutton	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Luster Bayless	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer

Transportation Department
George Coleman	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Charlsie Bryant	....	script supervisor
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer: main title
'Chema' Hernandez	....	livestock coordinator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Batjac Productions
• Cinema Center Films

Distributors

• National General Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• Centfox (1971) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Prodis (1971) (France) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Company (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• Fox Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1976) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Opção (????) (Brazil) (VHS) (as "O Grande Jake")
• Paramount Filmes do Brasil (2004) (Brazil) (DVD) (as "Jake Grandão")
• Paramount Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Paramount Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2007) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Million Dollar Kidnapping (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for western violence. (re-rating)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:G (home video version) | USA:G (original rating) | West Germany:12 (f) (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1972) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating 2001) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

70mm blow-up version released in Spain under the title "El Gran Jack".

Goofs:

Continuity: The windshield glass in the first automobile disappears during the close-up shots.

Quotes:

James McCandles: Do this, do that! I'm gonna do whatever I want!
Sam Sharpnose: You do what he tells you, every time he tells you and we might come through this alive! Might even save the boy. Otherwise you're gonna get yourself killed. Don't matter to me, but you'll probably get him killed too, and that does.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The O'Reilly Factor: (2008-02-18)" (2008)

"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…