Passable Western with a good cast , dealing with the most colorful bandit who ever lived . This is the usual tale of hard-bitten gunslingers assembling a detail of misfit rebels to hold-off rampaging law pursuers and a mean Union Army Major . Spectacular as well as exciting Western talks the lives of Jesse and Frank James . This is a slight and intelligent biopic about Jesse James who ranks with Billy the Kid as the most famous of Western outlaws . Legend and folklore have cast him as a Robin Hood , a good boy forced by circumstances to follow a criminal life . The picture provides a good portrait of Jesse and his band , as they move from Civil War to there territory becoming into semi-legends . As showing his home life in Missouri , his experiences with Quantrill's raiders and his career of banditry . As Jesse (MacDonald Carey) and Frank (Wendell Corey) along with cousins Cole (Bruce Bennett) , Bob and Jim Younger (Bill Williams) and Jim return from War to find their mommy (Anne Revere) , her husband (Edgar Buchanan) and family threatened by Union soldiers and railway chiefs . As Maj. Marshal Trowbridge (War Bond) created a detective agency , being hired by the powerful bankers to hunt down Jesse and Frank . So James Brothers commence to robbin' banks and trains to help out the poor folks who been done wrong . In the course of their crimes , they will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West . Along the way , Jesse courts attractive young (Ellen Drew) . As their fame grows , so will the legend of their leader , a young outlaw by the name of Jesse James . At the end , he is betrayed by the Ford brothers , Charlie and Bob (Whit Bissell) .
This is a sprawling and glamorous Western with nice performances from MacDonald MCarey and Wendell Corey . The film gets spectacular shoot em'up , thrills and exciting horse pursuits . A glimmer Western with a wild bunch look-alike that ends up into a fateful final . Packs colorful scenarios , moving pace and slick edition . This is a decent look about the known story of the West's greatest bandit , Jesse James , along with Frank , Cole Younger and brothers with acceptable performances and compelling direction creating some good action scenes . The picture shows nice as well as spectacular frames , as when both Jesse and Frank are relentlessly chased . Taut excitement throughout , and beautifully photographed by Ray Rennahan . Thrilling as well as atmospheric musical score by Paul Sawtell . The motion picture was professionally directed by Gordon Douglas . He's an expert on adventures genre , such as ¨Black arrow¨ , ¨Fortunes of Captain Blood¨ and Western , as he proved in the films starred by Clint Walker such as ¨Fort Dobbs¨, ¨Yellowstone Kelly¨ , ¨Gold of seven Saints¨ , Gregory Peck as ¨Only the valiant¨ , Richard Boone as ¨Rio Conchos¨ considered the best , ¨Chuka¨, and ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ , among others .
This story has been adapted several times , the main rendition was : ¨Jesse James¨ by Henry King with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda ; followed by a sequel : ¨The return of Frank James¨ (1950) by Fritz Lang with Henry Fonda . Other films about this legendary outlaw are : ¨I shot Jesse James¨ by Samuel Fuller with John Ireland as Bob Ford ; ¨Jesse James vs the Dalton (1954)¨ by William Castle with John Ireland . ¨The true story of Jesse James¨ (1957) by Nicholas Ray with Robert Wagner , Jeffrey Hunter , Hope Lange , Agnes Moorehead ; in which footage from the original 1939 production was used when Frank and Jesse go over a cliff on horseback into a river and when they crashed , on horseback, through a store window during the "Northfield Minnesota Raid" . And contemporary-style Western such as "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" by Philip Kaufman with Cliff Robertson , Robert Duvall , Luke Askew , ¨Frank and Jesse¨ by Robert Boris with Rob Lowe as Jesse James , Bill Paxton as Frank James and Randy Travis as Younger ; ¨American outlaws¨ by Les Mayfield with Colin Farrell , Gabriel Macht , Terry O'Quinn , Harris Yulin and Ali Larter ; and ¨The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford¨ (2007) by Andrew Dominik with Brad Pitt , Sam Shepard , Mary Louise Parker , Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell.
The picture well produced by Nat Holt was based on actual events , these are the followings : At the war's end in 1865 , Jesse rode in to surrender and was shot and seriously wounded by a Union soldier . Jesse and his brother joined the Confederate guerrillas of Quantrill and learned to kill in ruthless company . It is believed that Jesse took part in his first robbery in 1866 when a dozen men held up the bank in Liberty , Missouri . A bank cashier was killed in the raid and a reward was offered for each of the James brothers . In 1873 Jesse and his band derailed and robbed a train on the Rock Island line . Jesse married his cousin Zerelda , who bore him two children . Pinkerton detectives were contracted to chase Jesse and Frank , the agents surrounded the home , believing they to be there , tossed a bomb and the explosion killed Jesse's young half-brother . This outrage brought much sympathy for the brothers . On 1876 Jesse and Frank in company the three Younger Brothers , attempted a bank robbery at Northfield , Minnnesota , and walked in disaster . The alerted citizens opened fire on the raiders , of the eight bandits involved , three were killed and three Younger brothers were captured .
