Big Jake

The McCandles Family

Jacob "Big Jake" McCandles – The tough, estranged patriarch.

Martha McCandles – Jake's fierce, wealthy wife who calls him back to save the family.

James McCandles – Jake's eldest son and a sharp-shooting rope expert.

Michael McCandles – Jake's younger son, an early adopter of motorcycles and modern weaponry.

Jeff McCandles – Jake's youngest son, a skilled scout and tracker.

Little Jake McCandles – The kidnapped grandson who proves as tough as his grandfather.

The Fain Gang & Adversaries

John Fain – The ruthless leader of the outlaw gang.

Pop Dawson – A member of Fain's gang.

Buck Dugan – An outlaw in the gang.Will Fain played by Robert Warner – A member of the Fain clan.

Allies and Companions

Sam Sharpnose – Jake's loyal Native American friend.

O'Brien – A companion assisting the rescue party.

Moses Brown – A trusted family hand on the McCandles ranch.

John Fain corners the weaponless grandfather and grandson outside the stable, but Michael, having come down from his perch, shoots Fain from behind a stone wall. As Fain dies, Big Jake finally reveals his true identity to him, and to Little Jake, who has never met his grandfather before. Reunited at last, the family acknowledges their renewed bond and prepares to go home.

On arrival, the family checks into a hotel and lays a trap for the bandits, killing them. During the attack, the strongbox is accidentally opened, revealing the money has been replaced by newspaper clippings. Both boys believe Jake has stolen the money, until Jake explains that neither he nor Martha had ever intended to give the Fain Gang any payment after so many McCandles ranch people were either killed or wounded.

Pop Dawson arrives with a message to meet the gang with the money in an old fort outside town. He tells them the conditions - they are to ride together, and not try anything until after the gang has left with the money, because the gang's sharpshooter Duffy is hidden far away with a rifle trained on Little Jake at all times. Big Jake convinces Dawson that Michael was killed by the bandits, so he, James, Sam, and Dog follow Dawson to the fort.

Fain reveals he is the ringleader and reiterates Dawson's threats. Jake throws the key to Fain while Michael gets into position atop the fort's old water tower with his own rifle. Just as Fain opens the chest and realizes the deception, Big Jake opens fire and kills Fain's brother Will, who is holding Little Jake. Michael takes out Duffy, Sam kills Trooper, and James shoots down Dawson, Young Billy Devries, and O'Brien but breaks his left arm.

Fain and Big Jake find themselves both wounded and in a stalemate from behind their respective hiding places, and Big Jake tells his grandson to run to James. Goodfellow slashes Sam and Dog with his machete, killing the Indian, and pursues Little Jake into a stable, where Dog attacks Goodfellow a second time and is killed. Big Jake, out of bullets, makes a run for it and kills Goodfellow with a pitchfork in the stables.

In 1909, near the Mexico-United States border, Martha McCandles runs a massive ranch with the help of her sons Jeff, Michael, and James. The Fain Gang (The Fain Brothers, the Devries Brothers, John Goodfellow, Kid Duffy, Breed O'Brien, Pop Dawson, and Trooper) attacks the ranch, slaying many members of the staff. Jeff kills the elder of the Devries brothers but is badly wounded; his son, Jacob ("Little Jake") is kidnapped before the gang flees to Mexico, leaving behind a ransom note for $1 million.

Martha places the ransom in a strongbox, and delegates from both the United States Army and the Texas Rangers offer to take the box for her. Martha decides instead to send for her estranged husband Jacob "Big Jake" McCandles, who is generally thought to be dead but is really wandering the west as a gunfighter. Jake arrives with his black Rough Collie mix, simply named "Dog," and they confer in secret about what to do with the box.

Michael McCandles arrives on a motorcycle with news he has found the kidnappers. Martha decides to allow him and his older brother James to set off with the Rangers in REO Runabouts to try to overtake the kidnappers. Jake disapproves and sets off with the box, a mule, packhorses, and his elderly Apache friend Sam Sharpnose, preferring to do things the old-fashioned way. After the kidnappers ambush the Rangers, putting the cars out of commission, Jake allows his two sons to accompany him, although relations are strained between them.

John Fain, pretending to be only a messenger boy, intercepts the group and warns them that bandits are now after the box. He tells them the gang will kill Little Jake if Big Jake (who is pretending to be a hired hand) doesn't do things exactly the gang's way. He also arranges for the exchange to take place in the town of Escondero.