Big Jake, The Conflict of Change

I first saw this movie many years ago, as it was released in 1971. As with some other pictures starring John Wayne in that general era, it had a theme of old versus new; a subject that really never goes away, as change and the fear of change drive many of the adversarial relationships in the world. With the movie, it is not only because of Wayne's age (he was in his mid 60s when he made this film), but also because of the turbulence of the mid to late 1960s and into the early 1970s, when talk of  "the generation gap" was quite common. The changing attitudes of society on many subjects, and the conflict with previous generations over these changes, are reflected in the movie. In this western, by this time a film genre itself straining under advanced age, and set in 1909, Wayne plays "Jacob McCandles," an aging rough and tumble cowboy, estranged from his wife, Martha, who is played by long time friend and often co-star, Maureen O'Hara (their last film together), who has made their ranch into a multimillion dollar operation. Here we have a successful businesswoman versus Wayne's not so financially successful character, who is seen wandering around on horseback, accompanied by his dog, which he calls, well, "Dog" (don't forget, Tarzan called his adopted son, "Boy"). Anyway, rising "feminism" was one of the great changes, and fears, of the era in which this picture was made, a change not easily accepted by many men, even to this day (think Donald Trump).

Anyway, Jacob's 8 year old grandson, played by Wayne's real life son, Ethan, is kidnapped by a ruthless band, led by John Thane, played by Richard Boone. McCandles is unaware he has a grandson... hey, I told you he was wandering around, which is likely a good thing, since if he'd been around, the boy might have been named ... "Grandson." Martha contacts Jacob, who has been ... oh, I think I told you he's been wandering around on horseback. He goes to meet Martha by train, and as his horse is being brought off, one of his sons, Michael, played by Robert Mitchum's son, Christopher, is riding along on a motorcycle (horse, motorcycle ... change, get it?). The kidnappers have demanded one million dollars, a staggering amount for 1909, but Martha reassures the questioning Jacob that, "we have that much, and many times that amount." Since Jacob's sons have not seen him since they were kids, Martha introduces Jacob to Michael and James, played by another of Wayne's real life sons, Patrick. Jacob's oldest son, Jeffrey, played by Bobby Vinton, has been badly wounded by the kidnappers and, thus, is not with Martha. Jeffrey is the kidnapped boy's father.

When alone, Martha shows Jacob a large trunk holding the ransom. Jacob is to take the trunk and follow a map left by the kidnappers for delivery of the ransom at a town in Mexico, and bring the boy home safely. After some trouble, which I won't get into,* both James and Michael accompany their father. It is then we see Michael has a new automatic pistol he brings along. It fires several shots in just seconds, and it is contrasted with the old fashioned six shooter. Michael also has with him a new rifle with a telescopic sight for long range targets. This is contrasted with Jacob's "Greener," a type of shotgun produced in England by a company of that name (still in existence). Shotguns are for short range targets. Jacob also is accompanied by his long time friend, Sam Sharpnose, an aging Apache, played by John Wayne's close personal friend, Bruce Cabot, who died within about a year of making this picture. He too carries a Greener, as well as a knife, and he tells Jacob his eyes are too old to see far off targets.

I won't go further, except to say, the little group sets off, but many people know about the one million dollar ransom, and when the leader of the kidnappers, John Thane, meets the group, he tells them they have to keep the ransom money safe, until they hand it over for exchange of the boy, or that they will kill the boy. Thane is unaware Jacob is the boy's grandfather. Jacob has been out of that part of Texas for so long (we're told 9 years and 4 months), that throughout the film, when people find out he is Jacob McCandles, they always say, "I thought you were dead," bringing various remarks from Jacob like, "That'll be the day," or, "Not hardly."

This is a good movie, and it shows the strains on society in those times, including the very nature of the overall movie; that is, there ARE bad guys in the world, and combatting them is dangerous and requires people who will risk their lives and be tough to defeat them. Both James and Michael are "squeamish," I believe was the word used by Jacob, about having to kill other men. This is an issue still with us today, as now decades later, the world is connected like never before, but this has also provided an opportunity for all sorts of "bad guys" to hurt others, through scamming, or outright killing, including terrorism.

* The Texas Rangers have bought several automobiles and a segment of the story covers the old versus new theme by contrasting the use of these automobiles with horses.

Photo is from the 2003 Paramount Home Entertainment DVD


 WORD HISTORY:
Old-This common word, related to the second part of wor"ld" (the ending was once spelled both "old" and "uld," before the contracted "ld") and it is also distantly related to the first part of "altitude," goes back to Indo European "altos," which had the notion of "grown up, tall." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "altaz," also meaning "grown up." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "eald" and "ald," depending upon dialect, and these later became "old." The other Germanic languages have:
German "alt," Low German Saxon "oolt," West Frisian "âld," Dutch "oud" (no "L"), Danish "ældre" (elder, older, elderly), Norwegian "elder" (elder, older), Icelandic "eldri" (older, elder), Swedish "äldre" (older, elder).