The True Story of Jesse James

20th Century-Fox and screenwriter Nunnaly Johnson's belated follow-up to their high-spirited and excellent 1939 smash hit JESSE JAMES has returned on DVD to annoy and bore another generation.

The 1957 True Story of Jesse James isn't such a bad movie, but it's inferior in every way to the 1939 movie as well as the 1940 sequel Return of Frank James. Also, the "true story" is no more historically factual than the revisionist history original. Just do a Google search and see what I mean.

Robert Wagoner and Jeffery Hunter were the pretty boys of 1957 but can't hold a candle to the excellent portrayals of Frank and Jesse by Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda. Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson wrote both, but was obviously more fired-up with inspiration in 1939, as that film had nary a dull 5 seconds. It was brilliantly staffed with one rich characterization after another, good guys as well as bad. Even the Technicolor was better in the original. They used 3-strip Technicolor and those cameras which were 1/2 the size of a Pontiac --- to produce a brilliantly rich color still unmatched in 2007.

The 1939 Jesse James was the obvious inspiration for 1972's great hit, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The 1957 version inspired only a Z-session.

As an actor, Robert Wagner has shown remarkable staying power, especially when one considers that his success in the cinema was effected almost entirely through his dark, boyish good looks…

In "The True Story of Jesse James", Robert Wagner (Jesse) is proud of his name… His name means something, especially when those Yankee bankers hear it, they start shaking… Jesse James was the shooting spokesman for everyone whose life was quietly desperate… To ones, he was a thief… To others he was already becoming a legend, one that kindles a fire in their hearts…

Jesse has planned the very last robbery perfectly to make enough money to retire on… But in spite that he never struck a bank in Northfield, the Minnesota banks were anxiously waiting for him… So something went wrong…

Mrs. Samuel (Agnes Moorehead) recalls the past… The Yankees came riding down on her farm, and her neighbors dragged her out of the kitchen… Her elder son Frank (Jeffrey Hunter) was fighting for the South… The State of Missouri has taken sides with the North… Any man from this state who joins the South was considered a traitor…

For Zee (Hope Lange), Jesse had a dream for the future… But that night, his neighbors, who were Northern sympathizers, broke his reverie…

All begins when the war has sapped the two brothers and their friends bone-dry… Every bank in the state of Missouri was owned by a Yankee man who hates their hide and wants them to get out… Those banks have got a lot of Northern money rolling in… Jesse wanted one or two robberies to get enough money to leave for his mother, for his sweetheart, for protecting the farm… But then he becomes addicted to the exciting life of robbing banks and trains…

The film—well paced by director Nicholas Ray—was beautifully acted by all its stars

OK-to-dull. Really doesn't add anything to the Jesse James story. Yes, I know it was released in 1957 but I doubt anyone in 1957 felt more informed about Jesse James by seeing this movie. Pretty much a paint-by-numbers docu-drama.

Also feels like some details are left out. Ending seems abrupt - pacing is a bit off.

Good action sequences, so goodish purely as a western.

Robert Wagner is miscast as Jesse James. Far too straight-laced for the role. Hope Lange gives a fairly wooden performance. Supporting cast aren't too bad though.

Although the ending of this Nicholas Ray movie is very similar to Andrew Dominik's much, much finer version, (or should that be vice-versa?), there is no comparison between the two films. This is mostly a dull affair with very little of the psychological insights into troubled personalities that have distinguished Ray's best films; all the more mystifying considering the complexity of the central character.

Perhaps it was the weak casting. Robert Wagner is pretty as in pretty vacant and is totally out of his depth. (Contrast his performance with that of another 'pretty boy', Brad Pitt, in the most recent version). As his brother Frank, Jeffrey Hunter has little to do but growl on the sidelines while Hope Lange is hardly even a pretty presence as Jesse's wife. Ray also misses the opportunity to use the widescreen for dramatic effect so the movie is handsome without engaging us in any way. No one's finest hour.

The True Story of Jesse James is directed by Nicholas Ray and adapted to screenplay by Walter Newman from a 1939 screenplay written by Nunnally Johnson. It stars Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Hope Lange, Agnes Moorhead and Alan Hale Junior. Out of 20th Century Fox, it's a CinemaScope/De Luxe colour production with music scored by Leigh Harline and cinematography by Joe MacDonald.

20th Century Fox choose to remake their own 1939 movie that starred Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda as Jesse and Frank respectively, that film itself was historically dubious, this version, with flashbacks a go go, is a dizzying mess structurally as much as it is factually. With Nicholas Ray at the end of his Fox contract, so therefore using this film as his contract filler, the picture lacks the pizazz so evident in some of his earlier movies. Undoubtedly hampered by studio interference, one can only wonder just how good the film could have been under Ray's total command. There is even some footage from the 39 film inserted into this version, yes the film is that lazy at times. It's rather bizarre to see Wagner and Hunter jump through a window on horseback, only for them to morph into Power and Fonda before completing their escape!

Picture is dealing in the main points of the James' boys life, how and why they became the notorious crims that they were. However, in an attempt to beef up this new updated remake, we are asked to try and involve ourselves with Jesse by way of a complex narrative structure that is just too complex for its own good. Jesse James in his numerous film incarnations has always had an aura of romanticism about him, which is strange since he was a murdering armed robber! But the audience has always been coerced into caring about what happens to him, fully involved in the story of the man himself. Here, though, nobody is sure what to think once the eventuality comes to pass. Somewhere in the mix he was vengeful and driven, elsewhere he was an egotist who drank in the power of leading men, but in an attempt to make sense of the man and legend, the makers also made it a trifle dull. The blend shot to pieces by those flashbacks and too many cooks spoiling the broth.

It's not all a wash out, though. It looks tremendous, beautiful scenery in CinemaScope with the De Luxe colour really soothing the eyes. A few scenes are good value and expertly staged by Ray and his team, with the Northfield raid and a night time train robbery in the glow of the moon particularly standing tall and proud. Cast performances vary, but even though Wagner and Hunter are pale shadows of Power and Fonda, they are not bad at all, and they make for a handsome pair and do come off as brothers. Carradine was in the 39 version as Robert Ford, here he plays a Reverend with his usual grace and smile. Hale Jr is oddly subdued as Cole Younger, Lange looks out of place in a Western setting and Moorehead fans are short changed by her screen time.

Disappointing and only carrying curiosity value these days. Best advice is to stick with the 39 version instead. 6/10