Big Jim McLain (1952, John Wayne, Nancy Olson, James Arness) – Classic Movie Review 9833

Director Edward Ludwig’s 1952 thriller Big Jim McLain is McCarthyite rightist propaganda from John Wayne’s production company, with John Wayne and James Arness as US government agents – House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter – pursuing a Communist Party spy ring in Hawaii.

It is uncomfortable politically and dud as entertainment too. It is also uncomfortable as Wayne’s first film playing a contemporary lawman instead of a Western one.

It is the first film from Wayne-Fellows Productions, later renamed Batjac Productions.

Also in the cast are Nancy Olson, Alan Napier, Veda Ann Borg, Hans Conried, John Hubbard, Sara Padden, Gayne Whitman, Robert Keys, Hal Baylor and Paul Hurst.

Liberal Democrat Olson hated the script and said she and Wayne often had political arguments but she always let him have the last word.

The film was redubbed and retitled Marijuana in some European countries, such as Italy and Germany, and made the villains drug dealers instead of Communists with Wayne playing a hunter of marijuana smugglers.

They filmed from 30 April 1952 to 16 June 1952 in Hawaii. Wayne shot an advert for Camel cigarettes on the set.

Wayne actively supported the Joseph McCarthy anti-Communist witch hunts for 20 years. He said he became a committed anti-Communist after reading about the Russian Revolution. ‘If it is for the FBI,’ he said, ‘I will do anything for them. If they want me to, I will even be photographed with an agent and point out a Communist for them. Tell Mr Hoover I am on his side.’

Big Jim McLain is directed by Edward Ludwig, runs 90 minutes, is made by Wayne-Fellows Productions, is released by Warner Bros, is written by James Edward Grant, Richard English and Eric Taylor, is shot in black and white by Archie Stout, is produced by Robert Fellows, is scored by Emil Newman, Arthur Lange and Paul Dunlap, and is designed by Alfred Ybarra.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9833

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