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Big Jim McLain (1952)

Director(s) Edward Ludwig
Producer(s) John Wayne (uncredited), Robert Fellows
Top Genres Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller/Suspense
Top Topics Spies
More Films Directed by Edward Ludwig More Films Produced by Robert Fellows More Films from 1952 More Films from the 1950s Top Classic Movies of the 1950s Top Spies Films

Big Jim McLain Overview:

Big Jim McLain (1952) was a Action - Crime Film directed by Edward Ludwig and produced by John Wayne and Robert Fellows.

SYNOPSIS

A no-nonsense federal agent and his war-hero partner are assigned to investigate the activities of a worldwide ring of communist terrorist spies based in Hawaii.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Big Jim McLain BlogHub Articles:

From the Archives: Big Jim McLain ( 1952 )

By The Metzinger Sisters on Sep 20, 2018 From Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers

Oh, just look how Nancy Olson is being mesmerized by John Wayne's gaze! This still photo is not in very good condition but the image captured is wonderful. From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been so... Read full article

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Big Jim McLain Quotes:

No Quote for this film.
Big Jim McLain Facts
Many scenes filmed in public places such as the restaurant scene with Gordon Jones appear to be "stolen", as the bystanders seem to be watching the scenes being played out rather than act like extras who normally do not pay attention to the action.
Nancy Olson hated the script but she figured six weeks in Hawaii and a chance to work with an icon like John Wayne seemed a good enough reason to accept. Besides, she thought the film would flop and nobody would see it. She was right to a degree - it wasn't one of Wayne's more successful pictures - but she didn't count on the constant TV exposure it has had and says people stop her all the time to say they've seen her in the film. Olson, a staunch liberal Democrat, said she and Wayne would often have political arguments but she would always let Wayne have the last word.
Edwin Layton has a cameo that was arranged by the studio as a favor for getting permission for John Ford to film the actual Midway battle. Layton was the Pacific Fleet's Fleet Intelligence Officer at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
John Wayne recorded an advertisement for Camel cigarettes on the set of Big Jim McLain.
The German title is "Mathuana". In this dubbed version for the German market John Wayne plays a hunter of marijuana smugglers, not an investigator for the Un-American Activities Commitee ferreting out Communists, as in the original film.
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