The Great Missouri Raid (1951) User Reviews (10)

Frank and Jesse

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 3 November 2013]

Macdonald Carey and Wendell Corey play the roles of Jesse and Frank James in Paramount's The Great Missouri Raid. The James brothers story has never ceased to fascinate people and any number of Hollywood legends have taken a crack at one brother or the other.

Ray Rennahan who is the Mercedes Benz of color cinematographers lends his talents to a nicely photographed western, this is one of the best things about The Great Missouri Raid.

Part of the screen time here is shared with Ward Bond, first as a Union Cavalry Major and then as the head of a private detective agency Bond is obsessed with bringing in the James brothers after his brother James Millican is killed raiding the James farm. That was the way it was in Missouri, the James brothers rode with Quantrill who were border raiders, not regular troops. Bond sees no reason to extend any clemency to these two especially after Millican is killed.

Ellen Drew and Lois Chartrand are the women Jesse and Frank woo and wed and Anne Revere just before her blacklist hiatus days registers strongly as their mother who lost an arm in a rather ill conceived move by the authorities to get the James boys.

No new ground broken her, still western fans will enjoy this retelling of the Saga of the James Brothers.

The James and Younger bandits ride the outlaw trail again , taking off powerful bankers and railway people

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 22 June 2016]

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 .

"I don't like this idea of surrendering."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 12 April 2016]

There's no sense in bashing the film for it's historical inaccuracies, most of these early Westerns took liberal license with presenting the facts and went for action instead. It appears the title of the story is a play on a celebrated event in the history of The James/Younger Gang, that of the Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, also memorialized in the 1972 film of the same name starring Cliff Robertson and Robert Duvall. The failed bank robbery proved to be the undoing of the infamous outlaws, eventually leading to the capture of The Youngers.

The film takes an interesting approach in presenting the James Brothers that in some respects is accurate. Frank (Wendell Corey), as the older brother, tries to be the voice of reason among his outlaw brethren while taking a cautious approach to their planned robberies. In real life, Jesse (Macdonald Carey) had an outgoing personality and a style that made him likable, but that charisma never really comes through here. The closest representation of Jesse as a sociable bandit was when he handed a woman back her purse during one of their robberies while getting off a train.

As Major Trowbridge, Ward Bond obviously represents Allan Pinkerton of the famed Pinkerton Detective Agency, who held a furious grudge against the James Brothers and relentlessly hunted the Gang for personal as well as professional reasons. One of the cooler elements in the story turned out to be the staging of the horses coming off the railroad car to pursue the outlaws. Watching it will immediately call to mind a similar scene in the 1969 Western "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid". I'm curious if the director of that picture, George Roy Hill, ever saw this one because he made a conscious decision to film his scene by having horse and rider emerge from the train car on the run. He could only do that by keeping both doors of the car open so the horses could get a running start, though the viewer is never in on that secret while watching. One has to admit the latter film had the more exciting presentation.

There are quite a few other scenes that appear to be a blend of fact and fiction throughout the story but no need to get waylaid by all of them. I had more than a comical reaction to the name of one of the later outlaws who came on board near the close of the movie. He was approached by Trowbridge with a ten thousand dollar bounty to turn in the James Brothers, but passed on the offer by pointing the Major to Bob Ford. All the while I kept thinking to myself, if you're a guy, how do you go through life with a name like Dick Liddil?

Entertaining, Pedestrian.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 8 June 2017]

Roughly, the story of Jesse James' career as a post-war bandit or, more accurately, the story of Frank James, as the less impulsive older brother, because Wendell Corey has more screen time than MacDonald Carey.

I use the term "roughly" because some of what we see is historical fact. Jesse's mother, the chiseled Ann Revere, does have her arm amputated because of an attack on the house by agents of social control. The Pinkerton Agency is never mentioned. Instead we have an enduring hatred of the James boys by Major Trowbridge, Ward Bond, who will stop at nothing to capture and kill them. Of course the dialog is the offspring of some screenwriter's imagination.

Except for the fact that this is supposed to be about the James gang, and apart from the list of players that includes almost every reliable character on the lot (check out that cast list), this is pretty routine stuff with lots of shooting. You could change the names of the leads, leave the story as is, and you have a 1950s western -- not bad, not memorable.

Director Gorden Douglas has nary a surprise up his sleeve. Compare this with the more fake but far more colorful story of the gang in Henry King's "Jesse James" with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda.

Okay Western, but Little More

[dougdoepke · 7 August 2016]

Following the Civil War the James brothers are constrained to take up banditry in order to survive. Nonetheless, old grudges from the war follow them and their gang, making a bad situation worse.

Entertaining Technicolor western, but nothing memorable. There's plenty of action though the locations never leave greater LA. The big pluses are Ward Bond at his most compelling and Ann Revere at her most motherly. On the downside, James's arch-nemesis Ward Bond is so persuasive that Carey and Corey as the James brothers pale in comparison. Frankly, neither of those two actors projects the kind of charisma or even screen presence to engage tension with their enemy, Bond. To me, this undercuts suspense between the two sides.

Then too, the massed gunplay appears poorly staged with volley after volley that appears to cause little or no damage to anyone or anything, especially with Jesse's unbloodied white shirt after being shot in the back. Thus, that crucial scene fails to persuade at even an elementary level. And please, why did Hollywood insist that every western leading lady had to look like she just stepped out of a beauty salon. Note here how spotless Drew and Chartrand appear no matter grimy the conditions or how unkempt the men. Anyway, it's a good chance to catch a big chunk of ace supporting players that fill out a big cast. Old movie fans may have a challenge picking out ones like Bruce Bennett or Bill Williams under all the whiskers and grime.

All in all, it's a western that never drags, nor spares on hiring extras, and is unfailingly good to look at. But unfortunately, the 80-minute entirety fails to rise above the mainly routine.

Competent Handling Of Oft-Told Tale

[boblipton · 6/10 · 22 December 2021]

Here's another of the Paramount Shaky A westerns from the 1950s, when B westerns were no longer profitable, but true A westerns were very chancy. So they got Technicolor, another 20 minutes of screen time to tell a story, some actors who could also get hied for non-western work.

This one might be called "The life and death of Jesse James", since the Great Missouri Raid makes up a small bit of it as we watch the whole gang of ex-Quatrill Raiders from the end of the Civil to the death of Jesse, as portrayed by MacDonald Carey. It's not their fault they were villains; no one gave them a chance, particularly nasty old Ward Bond, who pursued them like they had pled the Fifth before HUAC. The writing by Frank Gruber is good, if fanciful; the direction by Gordon Douglas is plebian. Ray Rennahan's camerawork is excellent. That's hardly surprising, since he had been a leading expert on it since the 1920s. The net result is good, although I've seen the story so many times in so many versions that I'm bored by it. When are they making another one about Billy the Kid?

Ward Bond gets mean!

[kingsgo4th · 8/10 · 13 April 2016]

The story of the James and Younger gang has been filmed often. This lesser-known version is a minor gem. It offers a powerhouse performance by Ward Bond as Major Trowbridge, a vindictive officer whose grudge against the James family and their allies escalated to his going private, obtaining railroad and bank contracts to fund his relentless pursuit of Jesse and Frank. Later in a great scene, his scathing assault on his failing subordinates is a side of Bond rarely seen. Carey and Corey as Jesse and Frank handled their roles smoothly. They had a fine director in Gordon Douglas (Rio Conchos). Anne Revere who endeared herself in many 'mom' screen roles was really at home here and Buchanan as her second husband, a caring and sober man was agreeably cast against type. Ellen Drew and Lois Chartrand are the love interests in brief segments. The key to this film is action—fast chases and raging gun battles superbly filmed by Ray Rennahan. There's no comic relief. If you want action, here it is.

Unhistorical but very entertaining Jesse James Western

[hdchuck · 8/10 · 4 January 1999]

Entertaining "A" Western

A lively little shoot-em-up with a great cast!

[louis-godena · 10/10 · 14 September 2005]

This is one of my all-time favorite westerns! I love MacDonald Carey Ellen Drew and Wendell Corey (even though he was a Republican!). Their characterizations of Jesse James, his wife Zee, and Frank James are absolutely first-rate. Gordon Douglas directed some great westerns (Fort Dobbs, The Big Land, Doolins of Oklahoma) and also some real turkeys (1966's Stagecoach should have been barred by statute from being made!). In The Great Missouri Raid, he did a fantastic job! Of course, the story as told here is not too accurate (the "great raid" is actually a railroad hold-up gone awry - an obvious reference to the real-live raid on Northfield, Minnesota), but is quite entertaining (why is it that westerns that adhere strictly to facts also end up so dad-blamed DULL?). Ward Bond is very good as Jesse's nemesis, Major Trowbridge (although his sudden exit near the end of the movie is a bit strange). But watch, too, for great supporting work from the other cast, especially James Griffith (as an undercover detective) and Edgar Buchanan (as Jesse stepfather). James Millican has an early role as a union sergeant who comes to an untimely demise. And don't forget Tom Tyler, a fixture in westerns large and small from the 1920s to the 50s.!

Underrated James Bros adventures

[searchanddestroy-1 · 16 June 2023]

I nearly forgot this Gordon Douglas' feature, made in the early fifties, the most prestigious for this director, and looked like a Warner Bros production but was actually a Nat Holt's for Paramount release. Anyway this is a terrific little western, with Ward Bond as the heavy. All characters are in their places, their roles, the cast flawless. This western is fast paced, tremendous, with a beautiful color support. There are several Gordon Douglas's films that I still have to review, because I have all of them in my library. At least in this western, James and Younger brothers don't meet Billy The Kid, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hicokck or the Frankenstein' creature.....As in so many westerns craps which I prefer not to mention here. Read my previous comments.