Jesse James (1939)

John Chard

8.0

May 6, 2017

Special cast, special movie, just don't expect a history lesson. We are at the time of the Iron Horse birth, the railroads are buying out the farm land at ridiculously low prices, even resorting to bully tactics to get the signature rights. When one particularly nasty railroad agent tries his strong arm tactics on the mother of the James brothers, he gets more than he bargained for. In an act of almost vengeful negligence, the agent causes the death of Mrs James and thus sets the wheels in motion for what was to become folklore notoriety, Jesse James, his brother Frank, and a gang of seemin…

DanDare

5.0

May 17, 2018

The film looks good in Technicolor but also becomes increasingly sluggish as it goes on. Nunnally Johnson's screenplay ignores the truth and presents us with the legend. Jesse James (Tyrone Power) and Frank James (Henry Fonda) are just simple country folks. The railroad crooked agents have come round to buy up land on the cheap by using force. Jesse and Frank become outlaws by robbing trains and banks only because the greedy railroad bosses were responsible for the death of their mother. Jesse tries to settle down to a life of domestic bliss but his old friends keep calling to try to…

CinemaSerf

6.0

Apr 4, 2022

The all conquering railroad marches across the West dispossessing all that get in it's way. When Jesse and Frank James' mother falls foul of land-grabber "Barshee" (Brian Donlevy) the two brothers declare war on the railway. In best Robin Hood tradition, Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda hit the trains big style. Never with the aim of harming anyone, nor of stealing anything of sentimental value. They just take cash that Donald Meek ("McCoy") and his railroad will have to pay back. Fuelled by enthusiastic local newspaper man "Maj. Cobb" (Henry Hull) who tries to portray them as more heroes than ban…