Big Jake/The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Finally! The man who started it all arrives! For the next few weeks John Wayne movies will be pouring in and out of my mailbox and I couldn't be happier about having The Tall Man come to call!

Big Jake was great...up until Dog was viciously killed by a psycho with a machete. Maureen O'Hara (love her!) only has a bit part in this movie, which was a little disappointing because I love the two of them together! She plays Jake's wife, but they haven't seen each other in many years. They have three sons together and one of those sons has a son. One day some riders come in, shoot up their ranch and kidnap the grandson. The ransom demand was one million dollars. Maureen sends for Jake. He and the two sons who weren't shot set out after the kidnappers, eventually rescuing the grandson without any exchange of money. Great flick-going on the purchase list!

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was ok and different from his other movies because it was told as a flashback. It also co-stars Jimmy Stewart and I don't really care to much for him. Jimmy plays a Senator who's returned to town with his wife to bury John. A newspaper reporter asks what's so special about John and they flash back to when Jimmy first arrived in town. He'd been on a stagecoach that was jumped by Liberty Valance and his gang. He'd been beaten and robbed. John found him and brought him into town. He took a job at the diner and fell in love with John's girl, whom John intended to marry after he'd put the addition on his house. Jimmy was the only one in town who would stand up to Liberty. This was set at the time when the ranchers and the farmers were battling over whether Texas should become a state or remain a territory and Jimmy encouraged the town to get involved and vote for statehood. Eventually the battle with Liberty came to a duel. He'd avoided using a gun for a long time, thinking to settle it with the law, but when it became clear that wasn't going to happen he picked up a gun. He thought he killed Liberty, but it was actually John. And after that John encouraged Jimmy to marry his girl and head to Washington. Probably not going to buy this one, but glad I saw it!