Ian (Flash Review)John Wayne plays a cowboy named McCandles, great name, in this Western that highlights the trend away from horses to cars and motorcycle. It opens in 1909 with eight bandits who approach vast ranch estate and murder many workers and kidnap the mother's grandson for a random of $1mil. Not just any grandson, a grandson of McCandles who has been away from the family for many years. The mother calls back McCandles to handle the job of rescuing the grandson and make sure the ransom makes it to its destination safely. Will anyone doubt McCandles at accomplishing his task and will he have any tricks up his sleeve? This was a solid story as a basis some good shootouts, snappy dialog and splendid natural cinematography. Pure John Wayne.

SnoopyStyle It's 1909. A gang of outlaws from various background led by John Fain (Richard Boone) attack the McCandles ranch. They kidnap little Jacob McCandles for ransom. Grandmother Martha (Maureen O'Hara) is offered help from the Army and the Texas Rangers but she decides to call on her estrange husband Big Jake (John Wayne). He is a legendary gunfighter and "an extremely harsh and unpleasant kind of man to see it through." Martha gives him a million dollar for the ransom. His son James doesn't like him not having seen him for almost ten years. His other son Michael rides up on a motorcycle with a visual sighting of Jacob. While everybody takes off to hunt down the bandits, Big Jake goes by himself with the money on horseback. An aging Apache friend Sam Sharpnose joins him. The mechanized group is ambushed and their cars are all out of commission. Big Jake finds the group stranded. Michael angrily joins Jake and they find James with his crashed motorcycle.This should be much darker and bloodier. It takes too many detours into comedy which never actually pays off. It's like the movie forgets about the kidnapped boy. This is a lower grade western which seems to be from another era. The formula is getting as old as John Wayne. When the action and the story twist comes, it's not half bad. It just needs to stay out of the comedy. There's nothing funny about the story.

pcsimonson1651 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!

Spikeopath Big Jake is directed by George Sherman and written by Harry and Rita Fink. It stars John Wayne, Richard Boone, Patrick Wayne, Christopher Mitchum and Maureen O'Hara. Elmer Berstein scores the music and William H. Clothier is the cinematographer. It's shot in Panavision and Technicolor with the principal location for the shoot being Durango in Mexico. Plot finds Duke Wayne as tough old rancher/gunfighter Jake McCandles, who is estranged from his family and spends his days roaming the west with his trusty dog. However, when the McCandles family ranch is raided by a gang of outlaws led by John Fain (Boone), and Jake's grandson Little Jake is kidnapped for ransom, Big Jake gets the call from his separated wife Martha (O'Hara) to go find the boy. Which he sets off to do, with two of his sons in tow.There were many critics who felt John Wayne should have stopped making movies before the 1970's arrived. Which is a bit ignorant considering he would bow out with the heartfelt and poignant The Shootist in 1976. It's undeniable that of the ten 1970's film's he made before his death, half of them are disposable at best, Big Jake isn't one of them. Yes, the formula is hardly new, only here the blood quota is considerably higher than previous Duke Wayne outings, and yes, tonally the film is a bit too up and down for its own good. But it's a film that finds old hands Wayne and Boone turning in good shows and the action and thematic camaraderie on show more than compensates for the looming cloud of same old same old.Of worth, too, is the time setting of the story, coming as it does towards the back end of the Old West, we get to see many examples of the Wild West being tamed. Be it the railroad, or motor driven vehicle's, our protagonist and antagonist are old school characters framed by a changing West. This is where it pays to have Wayne and Boone in the main roles, turning it in in an old school, knowing, style. The names Clothier and Bernstein are synonymous with the Western genre, and they don't disappoint here, both the photography and score treat the eyes and the ears. And although not in it for very long, O'Hara adds a touch of class in what was the last of the five times she appeared on film with her friend Duke Wayne. In amongst the violence there's also plenty of fun, some intended courtesy of banter between Duke and his estranged sons, some not intended; such as watching the dog out act the siblings of Duke and Robert Mitchum! But all told, if you don't expect The Searchers or Hondo et all, then this holds up as a good way to spend an afternoon. 7/10Footnote: I wonder if John Carpenter watched and enjoyed this film so much he cribbed a reoccurring joke from it for Escape from New York? Big Jake keeps coming up against people who say that they thought he was dead, same thing happens to Snake Plissken in Carpenter's picture. A homage I'm sure.