Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . I'll try to summarize its main take-aways. Though BIG JIM seems on its surface to be one of those gut-busting spy-versus-spy spoofs not unlike Peter Sellers' original version of CASINO ROYALE, closer examination proves it to be a fiendishly clever (if only partially successful, given the mixed bag of people making up American movie goers) effort on the part of Warner Bros.' screenwriters and editors to expose the title character as a Real Life Communist operative. Why else make John Wayne the face of HUAC, just as that bunch of inept Witch Hunters are becoming a national laughing stock? Why else make Patriotic Americana so hokey (with Daniel Webster voice-overs, nonstop grade school Flag Day ditties, and a cameo by the USMC Band, for Cripe's sake!) that even Uncle Sam might barf from the sugary overdose? Why such a ludicrously implausible plot? (C'Mon, Pinko American Economics Professors shooting at U.S. Marines in Korea?! Give us a break!) Practically everything out of "Big Jim's" (John Wayne's) mouth comes off as a joke on him--he rhymes the plural of "subpoenae" with "weenies" (showing that even Warner's dialect coach was in-the-know about the plot to make Wayne seem more out-of-touch with Real Life America than usual). Honoring its heart-in-the-right-place attempt to unmask Wayne--who parrots a line here wishing that the U.S. Constitution apply just to rich "Conservatives," echoing the Stalinist take on Socialist Principles--Warner's 2007 DVD release for BIG JIM brackets Wayne between a scandalously mercenary "Joe McDoakes" and Daffy Duck, providing their verdict that "The Duke" was totally Looney Tunes.
David Edward Martin
It's interesting and difficult to assess films with extremist viewpoints that were made at times when their viewpoints were considered perfectly acceptable. BIRTH OF A NATION is one such flick, with its heroic Ku Klux Klansmen saving the day. BIG JIM MCCLAIN is another film of this ilk. It was made in a time when a small but unfortunately powerful political and media cabal successfully convinced the public that Commie Spies were infiltrating everywhere. To stop them, all we needed to do was rip up the Constitution and set up a secret police to arrest these evil foreigners and their native-born Fellow Travellers. That we had just spent five years stopping a similar system in Germany never entered into most folks' minds. But I digress.... Wayne and Arness star as agents of the secret police.... err, investigators for the House Un-American Activities Commission ferreting out a group of obviously intellectual and well-traveled Commies and Commie Dupes who use the Constitution to prevent their prosecution. That's pretty much sums up the film. The film is a sad recitation of various bugaboos held by the conservatives. The Commies are highly intelligent, well-educated, and philosophical, and possess a wide view of the relationship between nations and an even better understanding of the rights inherent in the Constitution. The Good Guys are common folk without any intellectual pretense, possess a strong nationalistic bias, and dislike the Constitution because it prevents their actions. Hmm, sounds like the Bush Adminstration....The film is ripe for revival. The same script performed now could be a riotous dark comedy. Maybe throw in a few catchy song and dance numbers.
Werner
As somebody rightfully remarked under Trivia, the German version runs the whole thing as a Drug Enforcement Story with J. Wayne and J. Arness following the trail of the drug ring to Hawaii. It is quite perplexing to see, that the whole story could be so easily streamed to a complete different thing with proper dubbing and off screen comment by the Duke. Just as perplexing is it, that something like this could be produced and distributed and carry such an a priori moralic attitude of the Government being right and the methods used as well, even if some basic laws need to be bended or broken along the way. That stuff is not worth more then 4/10.
inspectors71
Seen through the eyes and legitimate fears of early-50's Americans, one can understand why this movie hit a topical chord. The Red Menace was real and apologists for Communists can't make it unreal, no matter how many George Clooney movies get made.With that said, what was John Wayne thinking when he made this idiotic, cartoonish garbage? This is the sort of movie that, when made as pro-American propaganda, is so embarrassing that it drives people over to the other side and gives aid and comfort to this nation's enemies. All the people who are still alive and were involved in the production of the ludicrous anti-Commie Pinko, anti-intellect (not anti-intellectual), Reefer Madness-level trash should have to write an explanation for why they didn't read the script and just say no!Regardless of your politics, you've got to get a copy of Big Jim McLain and watch for its comedy value. I saw it thirty years ago on the afternoon movie on KXLY-TV in Spokane, and I still can't get the image of the young black Marine happily trucking up the gangplank of a troopship to head off to Korea.Wow, what fun!
