Big Jim McLain (1952) Reviews

	John H.

2 out of  2  people found this review helpful

This is a forgotten jem of John Wayne's from the early 1950's. This film has a lot of history packed into it; the U.S.S. Arizona war memorial as we know it today had not be built over the remains of the ship. The story, however, gets a little bogged down in the romance between John Wayne and Nancy Olson. The final scene some may find overly patriotic, but if you know the history of the time it was quite appropriate. Well worth a repeat viewing.

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	Gregory V.

3 out of  4  people found this review helpful

Crackheads should not write summeries. Classic John Wayne movie.

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	Thomas B.

1 out of  1  people found this review helpful

Big Jim McLain is an excellent film about two investigators (John Wayne and James Arness) for the United States Congress' Un-American Activities Committee. It is to bad that it was shot in black and white since the picture was located in Hawaii. There were great location scenes while Duke was wearing many Hawaii shirts and courting Nancy Olson.The two had some of the best romantic lines in recent memory. This was a very patriotic picture with several shots of Pearl Harbor and the Arizona. There were some additional comic moments between Wayne and Veld Ann Borg as a brassy blond landlady named Madge. The seriousness of this movie can't be overlooked. It was about the hunt for communist cells operating in America and the key territory of Hawaii. Many disregard this picture as simply Mccarthyism but it was made during the beginnings of the Cold war and during the Korean war. The threat of communism was real and dangerous as this movie correctly pointed out.

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	Walter R.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

Made up too much like a documentary. Not one of John's best movies.For a john Wayne movie, there wasn't much action.

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	Gregory M.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

Sit back and watch the man do his thing. John Wayne was consistently good in most of his movies. He always surrounded himself with great character actors as well. By the way McCarthy was proven more right than wrong by the Moscow papers. He was just a big jerk and got out of control with power.

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	Lee G.

0 out of  2  people found this review helpful

I have always had a problem with John Wayne as anything but a cowboy or soldier. I recall that JW was a big believer in McCarthy's communist hunt. Hunting and finding the commies rates right up there with the Salem witch hunts, both were ridiculous and many innocent folks suffered. Movie was just OK.

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