Frank & Jesse

I'm a huge fan of the likes of The James, Doc Holliday, Wild Bill, Billy The Kid, and Wyatt Earp. This was a great movie, I really enjoyed it. But I still have questions for authenticity. At the very beginning of the movie, Jesse standing there swearing allegiance to the Union, Jesse & Frank road with Bloody Bill Anderson many years after the end of the Civil War, tried surrendering to Union forces and was shot at. Then we have Arch Clements with his speaking problem, which he did have very authentic...only problem of course is that he died before the Civil War ended. Then I don't recall Bob Younger being deaf, no mention that Zee was his cousin and named after his mother, Cole didn't have to shoot Bob they were both caught along with John Younger after the Minnesota robbery cause they were all three caught alive. And of course they have the wrong Ford killing him at the end. And despite what it depicts, they hardly robbed from the Rock Central Railroad, they only robbed them maybe twice. Most of there jobs were Express Trains.

I don't know why they had to change facts, did having Arch Clements in it make it a better movie, was having Bob deaf a better character. Did his death instead of capture make for a better movie. And why not have the real Ford brother acknowledged, and maybe show his deal with the government. Jesse James life could have made a great movie without all the changes. Don't get me wrong I still loved the movie, just don't feel it was very accurate. I'm sure there are many more flaws, I just can't remember much of them now.

But other than getting the names correct this movie totally ignore history. The Northfield portion was ridicules. They didn't plan to be in Northfield, it was a backup bank. The Pinkerton's weren't there. Heck the fact is Jesse and Frank probably weren't even there. It shows Cole riding off after shooting his brother. He was shot over 50 times and Northfield, and 90 times in his life. He then went to prison and was released in the early 1900's He died of old age. Shot 90 time and lived. What an amazing man. The real criminals of the ear was the railroads. The killed and stole from the average folks. That is why Jesse and Frank were heroes.

This film in my opinion is the best told story of the outlaw legends frank and jesse james. Rob Lowe gives and outstanding performance as jesse james and Bill Paxton gives, in my opinion , the best performance of his career as frank james.

Also watch for performances by Randy Travis as cole younger and William Atherton as the pinkerton man. This film keeps a great story line and Robert Boris does an outstanding job in the directing. Also, be sure to listen for the great music score and for some songs sung by Randy Travis. This rates on my top 5 favorite films of all time. It is a truly enjoyable film to watch.

Frank And Jesse is rated R for strong violence,brief nudity,and some mild language. Id just thought id go on ahead and tell ya.

This was the second Jesse James film I ever saw. I first saw American Outlaws and realized that it wasn't very accurate. This is not a great film like Dances With Wolves or Tombstone, but is very good in my book. It shows a lot about what the former confederates had to go through after the war. The movie really shows the darker side of Jesse James and how passionate he was about what he did. Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton, and Randy Travis are great. But why do they have to change things like Bob Younger being a mute, their first bank robbery being in 1869 when it was in 1866, the fact that Jesse was shot once in the head and the second shot missed, and Bob Younger being shot by his brother Cole when he was actually captured with Cole after the North Field Raid. I believe that these things could have been changed and made a even better movie. Besides some other little things this is a fine historical movie and one of my personal favorites. If you like it see The Long Riders.

Regarded as a paraphrase rather than a real docudrama, this film does reveal some truths amid the fiction. Whatever one may think about the exploits of the James brothers and their various gangs, one cannot but have grave misgivings about the proto-fascist activities of Alan Pinkerton as the paid lackey of the railroad and banking interests in the post Civil War era. This "great detective" hired by the U.S. government to organise espionage against the Confederacy has been reliably reported as "manufacturing" most of the information submitted to President Lincoln.

The characters ascribed to the James brothers here is likely close to the truth, but why the contradictions of known facts. Their step-father Samuels was hanged by Pinkerton agents, not shot. Bob Ford, not Charlie, is the known assassin of Jesse James. This could have been a fine historical film, but some truth does emerge as initially said. The railroads and banks of the post Civil War era were proto-fascism at work in a very vicious form, and Alan Pinkerton was their "Himmler".