Big Jim McLain is a 1950s museum piece of a film. What previous reviewers have not mentioned is that John Wayne was a friendly witness at the House Un-American Activities Committee and he and his best friend Ward Bond were founders of a pro-blacklist group in Hollywood, the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. He saw HUAC as a positive force, keeping the country safe from Communist subversion.
Most people today know HUAC because of the investigations into Hollywood and that's not by accident. The members of that Committee went to investigated motion pictures because that's where the celebrities were. Lots of headlines back home when John Wayne, Ward Bond, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou testified there. Good photo ops we would now say. No publicity value in investigating plumbers.
One previous reviewer said that their probably could be a good movie written about the Communist Party efforts to take over labor unions. They certainly were active on that front in the 1930s and 1940s. But this ain't that movie.
What saves the film from being a total waste of time is the presence of Veda Ann Borg. She plays her usual brassy broad with real flair in this one. Wayne, strictly in the line of duty, has to date her to get some vital information and then has to explain this to Nancy Olson who he's really romancing.
Wayne's first lead takes him to a doctor who's secretary is Nancy Olson and Wayne takes time to romance her. What's fascinating here is that Ms. Olson plays a doctor's secretary, personal confidante and all that. But she has no problem in informing on her employer to HUAC investigator Wayne. And Wayne who if he really did get involved romantically with the secretary of a Commie would be completely compromised as an investigator.
One little known fact about this film is that Wayne gave a last pay day to character actor Paul Hurst. Hurst, who was terminally ill with cancer at the time that this film was made, played the father of a rising labor leader in Hawaii that HUAC was looking into. You can see how ill he was in the one scene he played with Wayne. Hurst committed suicide after the film was completed. Whatever you think of John Wayne's politics, the Duke was a man capable of a lot of personal kindness. This was not the first or the last time he helped out colleagues down on their luck.
Big Jim McLain is one of the lamest movies John Wayne ever did. He saw the world in simple terms, black and white, good and evil, etc. I recommend a movie called Trial that Glenn Ford made in 1955. It presents a far more balanced view of the period in that it reserves condemnation for both right and left wing extremism. But if you want to see Veda Ann Borg play the brassiest of broads, well this is your flick.
Most people today know HUAC because of the investigations into Hollywood and that's not by accident. The members of that Committee went to investigated motion pictures because that's where the celebrities were. Lots of headlines back home when John Wayne, Ward Bond, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou testified there. Good photo ops we would now say. No publicity value in investigating plumbers.
One previous reviewer said that their probably could be a good movie written about the Communist Party efforts to take over labor unions. They certainly were active on that front in the 1930s and 1940s. But this ain't that movie.
What saves the film from being a total waste of time is the presence of Veda Ann Borg. She plays her usual brassy broad with real flair in this one. Wayne, strictly in the line of duty, has to date her to get some vital information and then has to explain this to Nancy Olson who he's really romancing.
Wayne's first lead takes him to a doctor who's secretary is Nancy Olson and Wayne takes time to romance her. What's fascinating here is that Ms. Olson plays a doctor's secretary, personal confidante and all that. But she has no problem in informing on her employer to HUAC investigator Wayne. And Wayne who if he really did get involved romantically with the secretary of a Commie would be completely compromised as an investigator.
One little known fact about this film is that Wayne gave a last pay day to character actor Paul Hurst. Hurst, who was terminally ill with cancer at the time that this film was made, played the father of a rising labor leader in Hawaii that HUAC was looking into. You can see how ill he was in the one scene he played with Wayne. Hurst committed suicide after the film was completed. Whatever you think of John Wayne's politics, the Duke was a man capable of a lot of personal kindness. This was not the first or the last time he helped out colleagues down on their luck.
Big Jim McLain is one of the lamest movies John Wayne ever did. He saw the world in simple terms, black and white, good and evil, etc. I recommend a movie called Trial that Glenn Ford made in 1955. It presents a far more balanced view of the period in that it reserves condemnation for both right and left wing extremism. But if you want to see Veda Ann Borg play the brassiest of broads, well this is your flick.