<Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $7.5 million (North American rentals) </Td> </Tr> <P> Big Jake is a 1971 Technicolor Western . It was the final film for George Sherman in a directing career of more than 30 years . It grossed $7.5 million in the US . </P> <P> In 1909, there is a raid on the McCandles family ranch by a gang of ruthless outlaws led by John Fain . They massacre the ranch hands and kidnap Little Jake, the grandson, leaving a ransom note and heading back for Mexico, where they have been hiding out . Martha, the head of the family, is offered the help of both the army and the Texas Rangers in hunting the gang . She replies that this will be "a harsh and unpleasant kind of business and will require an extremely harsh and unpleasant kind of person to see it through ." In consequence, she sends for her estranged husband, the aging Jacob "Big Jake" McCandles, a near - legendary gunfighter who wanders the west with his Rough Collie, simply named Dog . </P> <P> When Jake arrives by train, he and Martha discuss a plan to take the ransom to the kidnappers, a million dollars in a big red strongbox, although Jake warns that, "Pay or not, we run the risk of never seeing the boy again". Then his son Michael rides up on a motorcycle, bringing word that he has seen the kidnappers in the Chilicothe Canyon . The Texas Ranger captain is present and offers the services of his men, equipped with three REO touring cars . They, however, are ambushed and their cars put out of action . Jake, preferring the old ways, has followed on horseback, accompanied by an old Apache associate, Sam Sharpnose . He is now joined by his sons, Michael and James, with whom his relations are tense because of his desertion of the family ten years before . </P>

What kind of dog was dog in big jake