YMMV / Big Jake

• Awesome Music: The score is classic Western-movie stuff, by the great Elmer Bernstein.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Polite, sharpshooting motorcycle rider Michael is the most popular character of the film for some.
  • Dog might not be the only Canine Companion in a western movie, but he makes a bigger impression than most others.
• Moral Event Horizon: The gang of kidnappers cross this at the very beginning of the movie, when they murder half the staff of the McCandles ranch, including two children, in cold blood.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The kidnappers murder nearly half the staff of the McCandles ranch, and attempted murder of Jake's third son in the film's opening.
  • Poor Sam getting chopped up by the machete-wielding psychopath.
  • Poor Dog commits a Heroic Sacrifice to protect Little Jake. Then he gets chopped up by the machete-wielding psychopath. It's hearing that last yawl that hits you in the gut.

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