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. Never take your eye off the ball, Max. If you do, either the sea'll get you or the whale will.
~ John Wesley to his son, Max.

John Wesley is the main antagonist of the 1997 film Free Willy 3: The Rescue. He is Max's father and a whaling ship captain disguised as a fisherman, and his job at whaling is to harvest the meat for the Japanese to eat, until the end where he redeems himself after Willy saves his life from drowning.

He was portrayed by Patrick Kilpatrick.

Biography[]

At the dream-like beginning of the movie, a pod of killer whales are seen being shot at by whalers (though John's face is not seen, one whale sees the whalers on the boat as it spy-hops). Late in the evening the next day, John invites his son Max on his trawler, the Botany Bay, and the next day, he introduces him to his henchmen, Kron the radio operator, his Swedish first mate Sanderson, and deckhand Eddie. When they initially set sail, Max believes they are simply fishing for salmon, unaware of the true nature of his family's business until they sight an orca pod (Willy and his pregnant mate Nicky are among the pod). John fatally shoots one of the whales with a harpoon. He then shoots and injures Willy in the tail with a spear gun. These shocking and violent actions cause Max to look at his father as though he's some deranged version of Ahab in pursuit of the white sperm whale (the black and white killer whale in this case). Willy then charges back towards the ship that attacked him and causes John to order it turned hard to starboard. The jolt of the sudden rapid movement knocks Max overboard and the whaling ship captain's son comes face to face with Willy, who quickly seems to realize that Max is not responsible for attacking him and leaves the boy in the water. Max is then retrieved by his father and the hunt ends, though he still orders his crew to keep up their attack on the "fish" if they can. Later that night, a traumatized and troubled Max stands on the ship's deck and encounters Willy at the surface again and he gestures him to go away before his father and the men can discover and kill him. John joins Max on the deck and asks his son to get him his spear gun for him as he's just sensed Willy's presence. Max grabs the weapon but slips and falls, causing John to miss his shot as he picks up the gun and shoots, narrowly missing the whale, who quickly swims away unharmed.

Kron, John's radio operator, later listens to mysterious sound in the water (which is the harmonica music that Jesse used to bring Willy) and Eddie gets suspicious of what the sound could be (he even doubts that his oscilloscope is working properly). John later listens to the sound himself and also grows suspicious of what it could be.

On their second hunt the next day, they spot the whales again. John begins to teach Max how to use the harpoon. He tells him to aim where the target's going to move to rather than where it's at (he says he'll definitely miss his shot if he aims right where his target's at). Max prematurely fires on purpose so as to miss Willy. John quickly reloads the second harpoon (the rope gets tangled up in Max's ankle) and takes aim at more whales. Suddenly, the research ship Noah appears, and Max alerts his father to it. Initially, John still aims at the whales, but Sanderson gives him a grim look and John orders the ship turned hard to port to avoid having its bough seen by the Noah crew, and quickly puts away the harpoon cannon. Jesse and his Native American friend Randolph come out on the Noah's deck and spot Willy splashing his tail fluke at John and his men. Having removed the spear from Willy's tail fluke earlier that day, Jesse suspects that they are whalers disguised as commercial fishermen and alerts his captain about this. Unfortunately, he refuses to believe him unless he receives hard evidence. Fortunately, both ships have to return to port. As the Botany Bay and Noah both set sail for home, the whalers realize that the noise they've been picking up is coming from the Noah and that the whales are drawn to it. John then realizes that if Jesse and his crew can attract the whales with the sound, they can do it too. They plan to broadcast the sound themselves to lure the whales into a trap. As they're sailing home, John preaches to his son about how whaling is believed by him and his presumably late father to be the work of God (possibly hinting that John and Max are descended from the Nantucket Christian Quakers that survived the sperm whale's sinking of the Essex in 1821). He also explains that he and his men harvest the whales' flesh and sell it to the Japanese for food (presumably on the black market), and how whale oil was used to light lanterns and that was what their work meant in the past. When Max asks his father what whaling means nowadays, he says it simply means one has a right to be what one is to simply make their living.

After the Noah and Botany Bay dock at the same harbor separated by the few docks, Jesse concludes that they'll have to sneak on board the Botany Bay to find any evidence. Despite Randolph's objections, Jesse sneaks on board the whaling ship and tries to search it, but is unsuccessful as Max discovers him on board. Jesse then lies to Max and tries to pass himself off as a wannabe whaler, but then comes face to face with John himself, who tells him that the Botany Bay doesn't need any more hands to her crew. Jesse and Max then both take their leave. John is also seen by Randolph at the fish factory, but they don't interact with each other. Jesse later confesses to Max that he lied to him and that he actually wants to protect the whales, since Willy is his one special friend. This prompts Jesse to introduce Max to Willy properly and have a positive interaction swimming with him through the ocean. After they return to Max's house, Jesse makes Max realize that John is still his father, even if what he's doing to the whales is illegal and unethical and proceeds to stop him himself.

That night, Jesse manages to sneak on board the Botany Bay to steal a sample of the spear guns that are used to shoot the whales, and despite nearly getting caught by the whalers several times, succeeds (with some help from Max who sneaks on board to aid Jesse). While this is happening, Randolph acts drunk so as to act friendly toward John at first, only to suddenly explode and attack John, starting a brawl in the bar that ends with John telling Randolph to "ride out on the boat he came in on" before leaving. Jesse also discovers that the whalers are heading back out to go after Willy and his pod. Jesse then jumps off the ship and swims back to the harbor. He meets Randolph and Drew, another of his crew, at a bar before showing the captain the proof they need. The captain finally believes them, and begins making plans to call for the Marine Patrol's help in stopping the whalers the next day. Jesse, Randolph, and Drew, however, realize that it will be far too little and late by then, so they steal the Noah to go after the whalers themselves. From then on that night and into the next day, which starts out foggy, Max aids the heroes as an inside man on his father's boat. While they are working on oiling and maneuvering the harpoon cannon, Max questions his father about whether or not to use violence to accomplish his ends, and in response, his father tells him that humans have rights, whether he likes them or not. Down in the hull, Max tries to reason with his father that whales might deserve just as much rights as humans, since the two are very much alike. His father responds that whales are nothing more than animals put in the water by God for whalers to kill, and that Max shouldn't be upset that some of his favorite foods, like cheeseburgers, come from animals. John then claims that whales are just giant fish incapable of feeling like humans. This angers Max so much that he finally stands up to his father and tells him he's wrong and that his whale poaching crimes are no less unethical than violence against fellow humans. John is equally angry and denies all this, but before their argument can go any further, Sanderson informs his captain that he has found evidence of fouling in the engine room, which angers John even more as he believes Max tried to sabotage the boat's engine (it was actually Jesse who did that).

John locks Max in his cabin and proceeds to go after Willy with the rest of his crew. Using the sound signal they've stolen from Jesse, they begin to attract the pod. Jesse captains the Noah with Randolph and Drew and they sail her faster and faster to catch up with the whalers, but are not quite fast enough. Max manages to escape his makeshift prison using his father's knife and jumps off the boat to buy more time for Jesse and his crew to catch up. After some angry persuading, Max grabs the life ring and is pulled back aboard where his father tells him to get back in his cabin and stay there. Jesse, Randolph and Drew initially use their boat's P.A. system to try to intimidate the whalers into stopping. Drew also fires the ship's flare gun at the Botany Bay. However, this fails to impress the whalers and they keep up their attack on the whales under the guise of fishing for salmon. Jesse then resorts to Plan B, calling for the Marine Patrol's help before ramming the Botany Bay's stern with the Noah's bough. The sudden impact causes the harpoon to narrowly miss Willy and the swinging net hits John and throws him overboard. Willy detects his assailant in the water and is furious at the deception. John and Willy engage in an intense underwater fight, where John tries to stab the whale with his knife. The killer whale easily overpowers the whaler, however, and prepares to kill him at the surface. John yells for his men to shoot Willy, which they are just about to do. Max and Jesse yell for Willy to stop the fight and the former gets Willy's attention by rubbing his fingers against the moist ship's railing. After staring into the whale's eyes for what seems like an eternity, Max and Jesse convince their whale friend to spare John's life. Unfortunately, as Willy swims back beneath the surface, the net breaks off and falls on John, trapping and pinning him down in the water. He nearly drowns as the net drags him down further and he ultimately comes face to face with Willy himself. This time, instead of finishing him off however, Willy saves John by pushing him to the surface and holds him there long enough for Jesse and Randolph to get the net off him and rescue him as they pull him back into their raft. As father and son stare at each other, the father shocked by what has just happened, the Marine Patrol arrives, catching the whalers (who are stunned by Willy rescuing their boss) in the act, and subsequently arrest them. John is wrapped in a towel to dry him off and Max comes over to him, jokingly telling him that the "cheeseburger" saved his life. This makes John smile for the first time in what seems like a long time. He then glances at his partially damaged boat, which is presumably being seized by the Marine Patrol, before looking back at his son with a shamed look. Finally, he admits that Max was right and he was wrong. Max, however, hugs his father and assures that he doesn't have to continue being a whaler anymore in response to his father's question of where he could go from here. With this, father and son reconcile and Jesse, Randolph, Drew, and Max later witness the birth of Willy's son, whom they name Max after the human Max himself for his bravery. After this, it is unclear what happens to John, though it does feel safe to presume he was sentenced to spend time in jail, but not permanently. He may have spent some years in prison before being let out and reconciling with his son more.

Personality[]

Like many hunters are who obsessive with deer or elk, John Wesley can be ruthless and repulsive to anyone who tries to get in his way, even to his only son Max, who accused him of sabotaging the engine room after one of his men found the necklace that he gave to max earlier in the film. Despite his cruel nature as a whaler, John loves his son and wife and will do anything to keep them out of danger. since his grandfather was a whaler, he became obsessive with whaling and is smart enough to pose as a fisherman in order from being caught, because of his history of whaling, he has many pictures of whaling in his house and his wife knows about this and even intends to keep him out of trouble as well.

Trivia[]

  • Although whaling in the United States of America has been banned, it is still used by the Japanese and it is unclear where John got the harpoon from. probably the Japanese had offered it to him for his whaling skills.
  • John Weasley isn't necessarily evil, but he was just doing the wrong thing, in which he thought Willy and his pod were fish, until the end.

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