Big Jake Details

It might just as well have been titled Big John, because that's all this is, really: close-ups of the grizzled John Wayne, in the twilight of his career, nostalgically paired (for the fifth and, sadly, last time) with an elegantly ageing Maureen O'Hara, and surrounded by relatives and buddies such as son Patrick and old sparring partner Bruce Cabot. There's precious little plot, though, and George Sherman's direction is lazy and untidy, lacking the zest of all those “Three Mesquiteers” programme fillers he directed Wayne in some 30 years earlier. Still, William Clothier's outdoor photography is worth a look and Richard Boone makes a fine larger-than-life baddie. But, really, the whole sad enterprise is altogether too routine, and the leads just look too old.

A late Wayne Western, depending heavily on recycling better (and no better) earlier pictures. Strung together in a... read more on Time Out