IMDb RATING
5.1/10
2.4K
YOUR RATING
In the post-war Hawaii, House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter hunt down Communists.In the post-war Hawaii, House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter hunt down Communists.In the post-war Hawaii, House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter hunt down Communists.
Soo Yong
- Mrs. Namaka
- (as Madame Soo Yong)
Vernon 'Red' McQueen
- Phil Briggs
- (as Red McQueen)
Leon Alton
- Reporter
- (uncredited)
Charles Baptiste
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
Lulu Mae Bohrman
- Nightclub Patron
- (uncredited)
Peter Brocco
- Dr. Carter
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaNancy Olson hated the script, but figured six weeks in Hawaii and a chance to work with an icon like John Wayne seemed like 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 television 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 him have the last word.
- GoofsWhen the plane taking McLain to another island begins taxiing, the door is still partly open.
- Quotes
Jim McLain: Lot of wonderful things written into our constitution that were meant for honest decent citizens. I resent the fact that it can be used and abused by the very people who want to destroy it.
- Crazy creditsClosing credits epilogue: The Incidents in this motion picture are based on the files of the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Congress of the United States. Names and places have been changed. We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of this Committee.
- Alternate versionsThe version released in Italy and some other European countries is retitled Marijuana and has John Wayne chasing drug smugglers instead of communists.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The John Wayne Anthology (1991)
- SoundtracksYankee Doodle
(uncredited)
Traditional
[Played during the opening credits]
Featured review
Hysterical propaganda spy yarn
An American political thriller; A story about two U.S. federal agents who are assigned the task of breaking up a ring of Communist Party troublemakers in Hawaii.
This film has a propaganda tone, dealing with a subject matter such as House Un-American Activities Committee investigations (The HUAC was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties), a major news item in late 1940s America. The script is blatant in portraying communists as inadequate, pseudo-intellectuals, error prone gangsters, and agents of the Kremlin and declares that incidents in the film were based on the files of the HUAC Committee, without questioning its power to jail people for contempt of court, or its damaging effects on the careers of many artists it summoned.
This melodramatic movie uses comic relief as well as mystery and a love story set against a travelogue of locations in Hawaii. Its subject matter was timely but crude, failing to be even-handed in its telling of a fictionalized spy story. Its depictions of anti-communists blurred the line of intent between serious documentary-drama, and arousing and entertainment fact-based fiction.
John Wayne gave his character potency but other characters are often wooden. The screenplay is inconsistent in story flow and the story thrust gets muddled as new characters are introducted. The dialogue snaps well to narrative, but Wayne's snarling attitude is misplaced and awkward, and overall the story is inaccurate in its hysterical attempts to educate the public.
helpful•104
- shakercoola
- Dec 28, 2019
- How long is Big Jim McLain?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $826,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content