Big Jake

Big Jake (1971)

15 mistakes

(9 votes)

Continuity mistake: When the gang of bad guys ride to the ranch there are nine of them. When they leave, and throughout the rest of the movie there are only seven, despite only one being shot off his horse at the ranch. (00:15:15)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where John Wayne picks up the red box of money he lifts it onto his back and walks to an open door. As he goes out the door the camera moves to outside and we see John Wayne come out of the building. Now the red box is completely on his shoulder, rather than his back.

Factual error: The scene where Jon Wayne's Son is shooting the deer at 600 yards, he swings his rifle about 20-25 inches in about 2 seconds - by my calculations the deer must have been travelling around 250 mph.

Factual error: The semi-auto handgun is not a real Bergmann 1911. It is a Walther P-38 that was modified to look like a 1911 Bergmann, but when Michael shows it, he puts the magazine in the grip rather than in front of the trigger, as a Bergmann would require.

Revealing mistake: Early in the movie when the maid is opening the drapes to let in the morning sun, the sun lights the room a half a second before the drapes are actually opened.

Continuity mistake: When the Duke is in the shower at the barber shop, and he shoots his shotgun through the shower door to kill the bad guy, it blows the door apart, but the bad guy doesn't even have a little blood on the front of his body after he is killed by the mighty blast.

Continuity mistake: The dog changes from a regular color collie to a dark almost black collie several times throughout the movie.

Continuity mistake: When Jake's younger son Michael decides to show daddy his expertise with a rifle, he picks his target as "that tall tree over there, the edge of the small broken branch", and the Duke says, "Son, that's over 400 yards!" Michael says, "Nearer 500." There's no way the Duke could have seen that branch at 500 yards, because they clearly showed earlier in the movie that his eyesight was really bad. [He's long-sighted, not short sighted]

Factual error: The motorcycle that Michael McCandles rides is far too modern for the era of the film. It has twin coiled rear suspension and offroad tyres on it from a more modern 60/70s era.

manco

Continuity mistake: As James is being hassled in the bar, one of the bad guys goes through the window into the hotel room. Sam shoots him and he falls backwards through the balcony railing. The next time the railing is shown, it's put back together.

Continuity mistake: There are four men in the third car when crossing the bridge. When going through the stream there are now five men, and when the ambush happens only three jump out, leaving one dead man to go over the cliff. (00:40:30)

Audio problem: When Michael kills the sharpshooter in the bell-tower, the man is clearly dead when he falls out of the tower, but we can hear him scream on the way down to the ground.

Continuity mistake: When James goes to help up Michael after Jake punches him, they walk off to the horses without picking up Michael's rifle that was next to him on the ground. He somehow has it to use later on in killing the man in the bell tower. (00:50:50)

Revealing mistake: When "Dog" is chewing on one of the men on horseback's arms, after he lets go, the blood on the guy's arm couldn't look any more phoney.

Other mistake: A shootout occurs in a hotel, where a shotgun blast apparently opens the money box. None of the perpetrators fired into the room.

Jacob 'Big Jake' McCandles: And now you understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all... your fault, my fault, nobody's fault... it won't matter - I'm gonna blow your head off. It's as simple as that. No matter what else happens, no matter who gets killed I'm gonna blow your head off.

More quotes from Big Jake

Question: At the beginning of the move it is established that Big Jake has not seen his sons for 10 years, but it appears he is close enough geographically to be found, summoned and arrive before the bad guys can get more than a days' ride away from the ranch. Was he really that bad of a dad or is his arrival at the ranch a bit too magical?

Answer: He has been gone for 10 years but knows "Juan and the little boy", not 10 years old I assume.

Answer: It doesn't help explain locating Big Jake or time involved, but as to helping some with the quickness of him coming to help, remember he came in on a train, he didn't ride back home.

Answer: Jake was a very rough character when he was a younger man, and his wife did not want him around. After the grandson is rescued, the family realises he has changed and they reunite.

raywest

More questions & answers from Big Jake

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.