Big Jim McLain (1952)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Edward Ludwig

Writers:

Richard English (short story)
James Edward Grant (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Crime | Romance

Tagline:

He's a Go-Get-'Em Guy for the U.S.A. on a Treason Trail that leads Half-a-World Away!

Plot:

U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter attempt to break...

Plot Keywords:

Communist Party | Hawaii | Injection | Sabotage | Racial Slur

Cast

John Wayne	...	Jim McLain
Nancy Olson	...	Nancy Vallon
James Arness	...	Mal Baxter
Alan Napier	...	Sturak
Veda Ann Borg	...	Madge
Hans Conried	...	Robert Henried
Hal Baylor	...	Poke
Gayne Whitman	...	Dr. Gelster
Gordon Jones	...	Olaf
Robert Keys	...	Edwin White
John Hubbard	...	Lt. Cmdr. Clint Grey
Soo Yong	...	Mrs. Namaka (as Madame Soo Yong)
Dan Liu	...	Dan Liu, Honolulu Chief of Police (as Honolulu Chief of Police Dan Liu)
Vernon 'Red' McQueen	...	Phil Briggs (as Red McQueen)

Also Known As:

Jim McLain

Runtime:

90 min | West Germany:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #16057) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Wayne-Fellows Productions

Trivia:

Nancy Olson hated the script but she figured six weeks in Hawaii and a chance to work with an icon like John Wayne seemed a good enough reason to accept. Besides, she thought the film would flop and nobody would see it. She was right to a degree--it wasn't one of Wayne's more successful pictures--but she didn't count on the constant TV exposure it has had and says people stop her all the time to say they've seen her in the film. Olson, a staunch liberal Democrat, said she and Wayne would often have political arguments but she would always let Wayne have the last word.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jim returns one morning from looking for Baxter's murderer, he finds Nancy asleep. The amount of the rug covering Nancy changes between when he kisses her and when she wakes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ed Wood (1994)

Soundtrack:

Anchors Aweigh

A more gentlemanly John Wayne

The Duke (in ties and jackets?) ferrets out Commies in Hawaii along with strapping partner James Arness. For a movie so obviously filled to the brim with machismo, the results surprise us with just a scene or two of fisticuffs and much more romance between Wayne and Nancy Olson (who moves quickly, and can you blame her?). The black-and-white cinematography is quite beautiful, with silvery shots of the tropics in all their '50s splendor. "Big Jim McLain" features one of John Wayne's best walk-throughs; he looks a little sheepish, but he's so amiable you forget he's really not in character. The drama at hand is tidied up rather quickly, yet the film is directed with a steady hand and has an easy-going pace. Its flag-waving stance is 100% purple heart-patriotic, but that's certainly in keeping with the era, as well as with Wayne's all-American persona. *** from ****