Big Bad John

A good ol' boy film is almost required to have moonshine, car chases, a storyline that has a vague resemblance to "plot" and at least one very pretty country gal, barefoot with short shorts and a low top. The pretty gal is here (dressed in designer jeans)-- but the redneck prerequisites stop there. Jimmy Dean is a natural as a sausage spokesman but as a tough guy former sheriff, he comes up way short. Big John is big, but he isn't convincing with the "bad" part of his moniker. Bug-eyed Jack Elam is a hoot as always and Bo Hopkins has been playing this same part for decades; Ned Beatty also does his part in a small role... but there is no STORY. It smells more like an episode of In The Heat Of The Night than a feature film. Cornball cornpone with easily predictable sentiment. Perhaps the most glaring problem with this movie is Charlie Daniels singing the theme. You know the one; it was made famous by... Jimmy Dean.

The popular song by Jimmy Dean in the 1950s leads to this really terrible motion picture that never does make a whole lot of sense. Two young people decide to elope to escape her abusive step-father in this cut-and-paste mess that looks like it was thrown together on a boring weekend for the film-makers. The film includes the likes of Doug English (in the titled role), the usually dependable Ned Beatty (I don't know what he is doing in this film) and of course Jimmy Dean himself. Do anything other than sit and watch this. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).

I'm a sucker for these kinds of movies but I really enjoyed Big Bad John. I'm sure no one has ever heard of it and I seriously doubt if any one will EVER read this review but since no one has bothered, I think I will "do the honors".

I first saw this movie when I was nine years old. Well, I'm twenty now. It was cool then and it's cool now. I usually like anything with Bo Hopkins in it and this is no exception. Even though he is one of the baddies.

This is just an old-fashioned, good ole boy flick. If that's your sort of thing and you can actually find a copy of this, give it a run

Doug English as Big Bad John steals the movie. He definitely deserved more recognition but as one of only 4 men to hold the record for most career safeties in the NFL (4) I think he did all right! As far as the plot, direction, and sound effects this movie was very middle of the road for it's day. The love scenes were cut for budgetary reasons but rumor has it all the females on set were totally into Big Bad John, often referring to Doug English as Big Good Dougie Doug, way before Dougie Doug was even a thing.

So in summary, good luck finding this movie on DVD. Supposedly it's a cult classic in the North Korea but Kim Jong Un has all the copies locked up in his palace.

The cast is game for a good old country boy tale. It actually has very little to do with Jimmy Dean's title song. "Big Bad John" is more like "Big Good John.", who runs off with Ned Beatty's step daughter to save her from evil Ned. In Pursuit are Jimmy Dean and his friend Jack Elam. They are being followed by Bo Hopkins, who Beatty has hired to bring home the fleeing step daughter. The plot is thin, Dean's dog is great, and the Colorado scenery is another plus. So if you like these hixsploitation movies, you could do a lot worse than "Big Bad John." Recommended for the cast, the song, the scenery, and if you can get passed the simplistic road movie script, the movie is entertaining. Good of it's type. - MERK