Of all the western outlaws, Jesse James and Billy the Kid have been the most filmed, but Billy the Kid has been in the much better movies ("Dirty Little Billy", "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid"). Most of the films about Jesse and Frank James have been B westerns at best, with only the occasional better than average film ("The Long Riders").
Jesse James has been played by just about everyone, including Tyrone Power (1939), Roy Rogers (1941), Clayton Moore (1947), Audie Murphy ( 1950 and 1969), Macdonald Carey (1951), Lee van Cleef (1954), Wendell Corey (1959), Robert Duvall (1972), James Keach (1980), Kris Kristofferson (1986), Rob Lowe (1994), J.D. Souther (1999), Colin Farrell (2001), and Brad Pitt (2007). My personal preference was Tyronne Power.
Frank James has been played by many notable actors, including Henry Fonda (1939), Jeffrey Hunter (1957), Stacy Keach (1980), Bill Paxton (1994), Leonard Nimoy (1995), Gabriel Macht (2001), and Sam Shepherd (2007). My personal favorite was Henry Fonda.
This made for TV film stars features well known singers – Kris Kristoferson as Jesse James, Johnny Cash as Frank James, and Willie Nelson as General Jo Shelby. The producers would have been better off to make a concert than a film. None of the three singers are known for their acting abilities, although on occasion each of them has turned in a good performance – Nelson in "Barbarosa" (1982), Kristofferson in "Pat Garrett
" (1973) and Cash in "Walk the Line" (2005). But none of them is very entertaining, and there is very little chemistry.
The direction is heavy and there isn't much action. The photography is OK as are the costumes, but when merely OK. Interestingly enough I didn't find the soundtrack entertaining.
Bottom line – a forgettable film.
