The Big Bounce (1969 film)  The Big Bounce is a 1969 American drama film directed by Alex March, based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard and starring Ryan O'Neal, Van Heflin, and Leigh Taylor-Young in what was the first of several films based on Leonard's crime novels. Taylor-Young was nominated for a Laurel Award for her performance in the film. The film was shot on location in Monterey and Carmel, California. The book was also adapted into a film in 2004 with the same name. Jack Ryan (Ryan O'Neal) is a Vietnam veteran with a criminal record who is employed as a migrant laborer on a California produce farm. When Camacho, one of his Mexican coworkers, tries to knife him during a softball game, Jack hits him in the face with a baseball bat. Jack is thrown in jail, but sprung out by the unscrupulous owner of the farm, Ray Ritchie (James Daly) and his head foreman, Bob Rodgers (Robert Webber) because they need to get the crop in on time and want no trouble with the police and the workers. However, they fire Jack, and Rodgers advises Jack to get out of town because otherwise, Camacho will surely come looking for him once he is out of the hospital. En route to the migrant camp to collect his gear, Jack meets the beautiful Nancy Barker (Leigh Taylor-Young, then O'Neal's wife), the secretary and mistress to Mr. Ritchie. Sam Mirakian (Van Heflin), a local justice of the peace who has taken a liking to Jack, offers him a job as a handyman. Jack accepts the offer, a decision that earns him Rodgers' anger. Meanwhile, the volatile and scheming Nancy is bored by her current lot in life and wishes to move on. She tries to seduce Rodgers, but when Jack stands up to him, his defiance impresses her and she sets her sights on Jack instead. Jack has a one-night stand with a divorcee and single mother Joanne (Lee Grant) who is staying at the motel in which Jack works. Joanne wishes their relationship to develop, but Jack stalls her since he has his eye on Nancy now. Nancy and Jack have several nighttime escapades along the beach, where she displays her penchant for antisocial and disruptive behavior, such as vandalism and breaking and entering. They soon become lovers. When Mr. Ritchie asks Nancy to sleep with a senator, presumably in exchange for some favor to his business, Nancy decides that she has had it and sets the next part of her plan in motion.