Do you want to watch a movie where everybody kisses John Wayne's ass for an hour and 30 minutes? Then boy howdy do I have the perfect movie for you. Big Jack is such a glorified egoboost of a film.
I don't know how much input John Wayne had with this movie but I've got to assume it was quite a bit. It almost feels like he's trying to make up for his waning success in his later years.
Clint Eastwood is coming into the picture along with guys like Steve McQueen. A whole new generation of more action orientated young Stars who have taken John Wayne's ''Glory'' away from him. And that's what this whole movie feels like.
There's all these young guys who are supposed to be John Wayne's kids and they're rough-and-tumble dudes, some of which are really good of motorcycles and other ones are crack shots of a rifle (actually that's the same guy come to think of it).
And they're all secondary to the Mastery that is John Wayne.
His old traditional ways are far superior to all this newfangled technology and these young up-and-coming Greensleeves kids.
So this group of thugs attacks this wealthy Plantation kills half of the people and steals a young kid knowing that the owner of the estate will pay highly for his return. This lady plans to give the kidnappers $1000000 and to send it via John Wayne's protection.
There's a whole thing with the Army and the police are getting involved and they have motorized cars which they totally never would have used it this time, in this scenario because those things were borderline undrivable out in the country. But you have to have John Wayne proving how cool he is with his horse and how stupid it is that everybody else has to advance with the times.
Anyways John Wayne is actually the grandfather of the kid who's been kidnapped and him and his presumably ex-wife have decided not to pay the kidnappers. ''Which is an incredibly stupid thing when you think about it.''
You're almost guarantee that this kids going to die from the onset. You could have gotten him back and then gone chasing after them after your kid was safely return to you.
I mean you have a magical Native American man who can track anything because he's a living stereotype.
But instead he gets butchered to death by a fat guy with a machete. Much like Green Berets this film feels like it's 15 years out of date.
Not that I think the Native American stereotype would have been much better in 1955.
I wish we could have had a movie from the bandits perspective.
They're the only people who didn't kiss John Wayne's ass and even than they coward in fear at the end of it when John Wayne has the big Showdown .
He sends his one kid up into a bell tower to snipe everybody.
Also John Wayne has a killer dog who can bring down practically anybody.
He doesn't even need a gun. Just tell the dog to attack who you want them to and that's the end of the fight.
So despite everything I've said is the movie any good?
Yeah it's okay.
It's a competently made Western, it's very out-of-date and if you can't get past John Wayne's ego that I wouldn't bother with this one.
The first 10 minutes are easily the best part before John Wayne's even introduced.
It's just the bandits attacking the estate and it's the best filmed, best acted and best flowing part of the whole darn thing.
Yes John Wayne made his own movie worse because he just can't get over the fact that he's no longer the centre of Hollywood's masculine universe.
And now we kind of have Clint Eastwood doing the same thing today. At least he can direct a film halfway confidently.
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