Big Jake - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Big Jake or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Big Jake

[christina]

Another one of the pictures shown in the opening montage is of "The Breakers," a mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, completed in 1895, the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr..

[terry]

Tenth out of ten John Wayne films co-starring Bruce Cabot, and the only one where they actually play father and son.

[manuel]

Many of the actors in the cast were members of John Wayne's well known "stock company" of regular actors, including: Chuck Roberson (21+ actor, 30+ stunts); Hank Worden (15+); Bruce Cabot (10); Patrick Wayne (10); Harry Carey Jr. (9); Dean Smith (7 actor, 10 stunts); John Agar (6); Gregg Palmer (6); Maureen O'Hara (5); Jim Burk (5 actor, 14 stunts); Jerry Gatlin (5 actor, 11 stunts); Tom Hennesy (5 actor, 10 stunts); Richard Boone (3); Christopher Mitchum (3); John Doucette (3); Jim Davis (3); plus at least two others with two John Wayne movie acting credits.

[nicholas]

Gene Hackman was to be offered the role of John Fain if Richard Boone was unavailable.

[steve]

Cinema Center Films (CCF) also produced The Boys in the Band (1970), a film that examined gay men, the year before "Big Jake"--a subject matter that would not have been palatable, for a business partner, to John Wayne, had he known about it.

[linda]

Of all the members of Fain's gang, only Fain, O'Brien, and Pop have audible dialog. Some of the others grunt and mumble.

[ava]

Cinema Center Films (CCF), one of the film's two production companies (the other being John Wayne's Batjac Productions), was founded, wholly owned, and operated as a theatrical film production subsidiary of the CBS Television network. CCF only operated from 1967-72, credited with producing 30 films.

[ronnie]

Final (for 20 years) feature film for Maureen O'Hara, before she was lured out of retirement for one last feature film, Only the Lonely (1991), to play the mother of John Candy. Four years later she made the first of three contracted TV movies, The Christmas Box (1995).

[jim]

Tenth out of ten John Wayne films co-starring his son, Patrick Wayne.

[chad]

According to a Daily Variety news item, Trinidad Villa, the son of early twentieth century Mexican revolutionary and bandit Francisco "Pancho" Villa, was cast in a small role, but his appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.

[victoria]

Two collies, trained by Robert Weatherwax and Rudd Weatherwax, played Dog, John Wayne's faithful companion: Silver and Laddie (Lassie Jr.) for the stunts. Eventually Laddie won a PATSY award for his performance in this film. he wooden base with a tile and a small brass placard read "Award of Excellence - 1971 / Laddie (Dog) / Bobby Weatherwax, Owner-Trainer / Big Jake". "Streaks and tip" from an aerosol can were used to make their coats darker.

[duane]

John Wayne's last film with Christopher Mitchum. The two actors fell out when Mitchum disagreed with Wayne's conservative views during a television interview, and they never spoke again. Mitchum tried to get in touch with Wayne in 1979 when the veteran star was dying of cancer, but did not receive any response.

[kristina]

When Burt Ryan (John Agar), the ranch foreman, tells Martha that he is 42 years old - Agar himself was actually 49 - and he'd fought in the Lincoln County War, there are several mixed messages in that statement. First, a fictionalized version of the Lincoln County War was the subject of Chisum (1970), also starring John Wayne, and Agar also appeared in that film, in the role of Amos Patton. Second, the Lincoln County War took place primarily in 1878, which was 31 years prior to the fictionalized events that take place in this film, set in 1909. This meant that Burt Ryan was 11 years old when the Lincoln County War was fought, and it would have been a stretch for an 11-year-old to have fought in that conflict. Third, the McCandles Ranch was based on the King Ranch, which still exists, but which is over 740 miles from Lincoln, New Mexico, and not likely to be described, as Burt describes it, as someplace close by. In 1909 it was difficult to travel easily over such a distance, making that comparison unlikely - unless, of course, some of the same actors and producers made a film about Lincoln County and its War just one year before.

[duane]

The ranch house used for the McCandles ranch is the same house used for the Chisum ranch in Chisum (1970), a John Wayne western made a year earlier. Note the scenery around the ranch.

[ruby]

John Wayne's brother Robert E. Morrison had died of lung cancer shortly before production began.

[leo]

There were at least two motorcycles used in the movie. One was a Harley Davidson with a Montesa engine.

[miriam]

A major theme in this film is the use of modern technology. The year following this movie saw the debut of the Hec Ramsey (1972) television series starring the main villain in Big Jake, Richard Boone. This series was also set at the turn of the twentieth century and focused on Ransey's use of modern technology in his policework.

[russell]

Prospero's soliloquy in The Tempest closes with "We are such stuff As dreams are made on...," which signifies the ephemeral nature of things wished for and never realized. This line was appropriated by Humphrey Bogart's character Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon when he says "That's the stuff dreams are made of," and was suggested to director John Huston by Bogart while the characters are unwrapping the bogus Maltese Falcon in the final scene. This parallel is echoed in the final scene, when Jacob McCandles says the same thing as John Fain is opening a bogus chest full of "newspaper clippings" instead of one million dollars.

[bernard]

In the scene where John Wayne thinks his son (Christopher Mitchum) may be dead from wrecking his motorcycle but finds he was just "playing dead", Duke punches him twice for scaring him. Following each punch, as Mitchum is falling, you can clearly hear a camera taking several pictures of the scene.