Big Jim McLain
| Big Jim McLain | |
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| Directed by | Edward Ludwig |
| Produced by |
Robert M. Fellows John Wayne |
| Written by | Richard English (story) James Edward Grant Eric Taylor |
| Starring |
John Wayne Nancy Olson James Arness Alan Napier Veda Ann Borg |
| Music by |
Paul Dunlap Arthur Lange Emil Newman |
| Cinematography | Archie J. Stout |
| Edited by | Jack Murray |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.6 million (US rentals) |
Big Jim McLain is a 1952 Film Noir political thriller film starring John Wayne and James Arness as HUAC investigators hunting down communists in the post-war Hawaii organized labor scene. Edward Ludwig directed.
This was the first film in which Wayne played a contemporary law enforcement officer, instead of an Old West lawman. Near the end of his career, in the mid-1970s, he took on two more such roles, each time playing an urban cop.
House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain (John Wayne) and Mal Baxter (James Arness) come to Hawaii to track American Communist Party activities. They are interested in everything from insurance fraud to the sabotage of a U.S. naval vessel.
After receiving useful information from reporter Phil Briggs (Vernon "Red" McQueen), the agents begin searching for Willie Nomaka, a former party treasurer, who has allegedly experienced a nervous breakdown and attends the clinic of psychiatrist Dr. Gelster (Gayne Whitman). The doctor's secretary, Nancy Vallon (Nancy Olson), is helpful as well. McLain asks her on a date and a romance develops.
Nomaka's landlady, Madge (Veda Ann Borg), assists in the investigation, flirting with McLain. Nomaka's ex-wife (Madame Soo Yong) also helps McLain. Nomaka is eventually found to be staying in a sanitorium, heavily drugged and unable to speak. Party leader Sturak (Alan Napier) gives orders to Dr. Gelster to get rid of him. Gelster also kills McLain's partner Baxter, by mistake, when he succumbs to an injection of truth serum.
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