John Wayne was arguably Hollywood’s undisputed Western cowboy, known for playing tough lawmen and fearless gunfighters. From Stagecoach to Red River to Rio Grande, he represented the spirit of frontier justice, becoming the face of a genre that defined American cinema. Audiences expected him on horseback, rifle in hand, bringing order to lawless lands. But in 1952, Wayne stepped out of the Old West and into modern America’s political battlefield.
Big Jim McLain was a big departure from the films that made Wayne a star. Set in Hawaii, the film cast Wayne as a Cold War enforcer, eliminating traitors and exposing threats to national security. It was a role that aligned with his real-life politics, but it also marked a rare moment in his career. And while the film performed well at the box office, it would be more than two decades before Wayne played another modern-day officer.
Big Jim McLain was Wayne’s First Role as a Law Enforcement Officer
By the early 50s, John Wayne was already well established in the Western genre, best known for playing Old West lawmen. But in 1952, he stepped into different shoes with Big Jim McLain, a Cold War-era political thriller that saw him as a law enforcement officer.
The film follows Jim McLain, an investigator for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He and his partner, Mal Baxter (James Arness), are sent to Hawaii to investigate Party operations. After getting a valuable tip from reporter Phil Briggs (Vernon “Red” McQueen), the agents start tracking Willie Nomaka, a former Party treasurer undergoing treatment with psychiatrist Dr. Gelster (Gayne Whitman). But when Nomaka turns out to be a dead end, and Baxter is kidnapped by communist agents, McLain fight to bring the conspirators to justice.
Wayne delivered exactly what audiences expected of the Western star. But, instead of leading a cavalry charge, he was chasing down suspected rebels in offices and back alleys. This shift made Big Jim McLain unique in Wayne’s filmography at the time. However, critics were not kind to Big Jim McLain. Many saw it as a blunt piece of Cold War propaganda rather than a thriller. The film’s clumsy politics and lack of tone made it a target for negative reviews, with some critics calling it more of a lecture than a story. Still, Wayne’s fans appreciated his performance, and the film performed well at the box office.
John Wayne Was Best Known as a Western Star
John Wayne was Hollywood’s undisputed king of Westerns. His name was one and the same with frontier justice, western landscapes and the lone lawman standing against anarchy. By the time Big Jim McLain was released, Wayne had spent the previous two decades making his name in the genre. His breakthrough came with Stagecoach, where he played the outlaw-turned-hero Ringo Kid. From there, he went on to star in films like Red River, where he played a cattle driver, and Fort Apache, where he played a cavalry officer. And, by the time Big Jim McLain hit theaters, Wayne was fresh off Rio Grande and Hondo. So, it’s no surprise that audiences expected him in a Stetson, riding through the dust with a rifle in hand.
However, instead of battling outlaws in the Wild West, Wayne was taking on communists in modern-day Hawaii. Instead of six-shooters and horseback chases, the film had government investigations and interrogations. Unlike his Western characters, McLain was an enforcer of government power, hunting down enemies of the state. In many ways, the role was an extension of Wayne’s own political views. A firm anti-communist, he was a vocal supporter of HUAC and its efforts to source out suspected traitors in Hollywood and beyond. While his cowboys fought for personal justice, McLain was fighting for national security. Yet, Big Jim McLain still played to Wayne’s strengths. The film’s portrayal of law enforcement was less about investigation and more about action, with McLain tracking down and taking enemies out, much like a Western hero replacing his revolver with a government badge.
Wayne Played Two More Police Roles Later in his Career
For more than two decades after Big Jim McLain, Wayne stayed away from law enforcement roles, returning to familiar ground with Western and War films. But in the 70s, as Hollywood shifted towards more action films, Wayne stepped back into the role of a modern-day cop.
In McQ, Wayne played Lon McQ, a veteran Seattle police detective investigating the murder of his partner. The film, directed by John Sturges, was a direct response to the rise of cop movies like Dirty Harry and The French Connection. But where Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman played younger antiheroes, Wayne’s McQ was an old-school officer in a changing world. He operated outside the system, working on his own after being suspended from the force. Armed with a submachine gun instead of a six-shooter, McQ was taking on the institution itself.
Much like Big Jim McLain, critics were divided on McQ. Some praised its action and Wayne’s effort to update his image, but others felt he was miscast in a genre that had passed him by. The film did decently at the box office, proving Wayne could still draw a crowd, but it failed to achieve the cultural impact of Dirty Harry.
A year later, Wayne played another detective in Brannigan, this time as Jim Brannigan, a Chicago cop sent to London to return an American mobster. Directed by Douglas Hickox, the film is a crime-thriller with a fish-out-of-water premise. Brannigan was a classic Wayne character – strong-willed, blunt, and unafraid to get physical. But, with the titular character forced to work alongside British detectives who disapproved of his methods, Brannigan had a lighter, more comedic edge than McQ. Though it still delivered plenty of action-packed scenes, including car chases and barroom brawls.
Critics were once again indifferent. Many saw Brannigan as an aging star’s attempt to stay relevant in a genre that had evolved. Others appreciated its entertainment value but found it formulaic. At the box office, the film performed modestly, but like McQ, it never reached the status of the more successful cop films of the era.
After Brannigan, Wayne never played a law enforcement officer again. His final films returned to familiar Western and action territory, ending with The Shootist, where he played an aging gunfighter facing the end of his days. It was a fitting farewell, as the role echoed both Wayne’s career and his real-life battle with illness.
John Wayne’s venture into law enforcement with Big Jim McLain was an unusual and short-lived break from his defining Western roles. But, just as in his Westerns, he was the tough and relentless officer chasing down the bad guys, only this time they were communists instead of outlaws. For more than twenty years after Big Jim McLain, Wayne returned to Westerns, and later once again tried his hand at playing modern-day detectives in McQ and Brannigan. However, none of the films quite lived up to his earlier successes, and Wayne made his final return to where he truly belonged. And The Shootist was a fitting send-off for an actor whose legacy was inseparable from the gunslingers he brought to life on the frontier.