Big Jack

"Big Jack" is Wallace Beery's final film and it's generally enjoyable but the ending...well...it's not especially good nor satisfying. Additionally, it has an incredibly odd plot...one of the strangest of the era!

The film is set in the Maryland/Virginia area in the very early 19th century. Big Jack (Beery) is a crook who is the boss of a pack of thieves. One day, he's shot (an occupational hazard) and his men force Dr. Meade (Richard Conte) to operate on Jack's leg. Fortunately for the doctor, Jack fully recovers and soon he adores Meade and wants him by his side through his adventures. However, Meade is much more interested in dissections and learning the be a better surgeon. But at the time, bodies to work on are hard to come by....so he resorts to stealing corpses! Jack offers to help...and is willing to create as many corpses as Meade wants! Meade, fortunately, is aghast and convinces Big Jack NOT to create corpses for him! What's next? See the film.

A few times, this film made me smile despite VERY uneven writing. It was especially a problem at the end....and featured the characters behaving quite strangely and unconvincingly. Still, the weirdness of the story make the film worth seeing...but don't set your expectations very high!