Western Wednesdays: Big Jake (1971)

     Big Jake was released on May 26th, 1971. It is directed by George Sherman and written by Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink. In it Jacob "Big Jake" McCandles (John Wayne), an aging gunfighter, is asked by his estranged wife (Maureen O'Hara) to track down the outlaws who kidnapped their grandson "Little" Jake (Ethan Wayne). McCandles sets out to rescue his grandson, along with his two sons James (Patrick Wayne) and Micheal (Christopher Mitchum).

     Big Jake has a simple premise: McCandles must rescue his kidnapped grandson. It delivers about what you'd expect, an entertaining, if fairly straight forward action romp. It does feature an interesting faux-documentary prologue, contrasting the untamed American West of the early 20th century with the refined world of the east. The use of old black and white photographs and tin pan alley style music in this sequence brought Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to mind. The Fink's (who also wrote Dirt Harry) deliver a pretty decent script with a lot of memorable hard boiled dialogue, "Dead? Next man says that I'm gonna shoot, so help me." "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." The film moves at a steady, leisurely pace which serves the narrative well. The action is minimalistic but impressively mounted and very coherent. It's also considerably bloodier than your average John Wayne vehicle.

     Like The Comancheros which I reviewed two weeks ago, Big Jake is the final film of its director, in this case George Sherman. Sherman, who interestingly enough also produced The Comancheros, was in poor health during much of this film's production and, as with The Comancheros, Wayne ended up directing much of the film, though he insisted that Sherman receive the sole credit. This film also shares the same cinematographer and composer as The Comancheros, William H. Clothier and Elmer Bernstien respectively. Unsurprisingly the film features an excellent score, sometimes reminiscent of Aaron Copland, and beautiful cinematography. Clothier is really able to capture the stark beauty of Southern Mexico.

     The performances are a bit of a mixed bag. Wayne is his usual swaggering and, at this point, ornery self. Richard Boone is great as the hard-nosed leader of the outlaws who kidnap Little Jake. Maureen O'Hara shines in her brief role as McCandles estranged wife, remaining one of the few people who could hold their own in a scene with Wayne. On the other hand Patrick Wayne comes off a little stilted as the elder son with a chip on his shoulder and Christopher Mitchum is rather bland as the younger, more rash Micheal. Rounding out the main cast is Bruce Cabot who can't help but feel a little anachronistic as Jake's old Indian pal Sam Sharpnose, though he plays the part well enough.

     It may not offer anything revelatory for the genre but Big Jake is still a solid, entertaining western nonetheless.

Score: 8/10