The True Story of Jesse James

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.

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.

Every re-telling of the Jesse James story has been flawed. This picture has neither the carelessly cobbled script of "The Long Riders" nor the Robert Duvall version's annoying quirkiness and skewed morality. However, it is a highly selective narrative omitting much of the suffering caused by the Jameses and with several outright distortions of the historical record. For example, when he was shot by Robert Ford, Jesse James was in the process of assembling a new gang, not about to retire to the life of a farmer as depicted here.

Robert Wagner is appropriately youthful in the title role. As brother Frank, the impossibly handsome Jeffrey Hunter has little to do but acts well. Agnes Moorehead plays Mrs. Samuel, the matriarch, as too saintly for my taste. But portraying a media-savvy Cole Younger, Alan Hale leads a particularly able supporting cast including, as an honorable Union soldier, the father of contemporary star Kurt Russell.

The narrative is anchored to the disastrous expedition to Northfield, Minnesota. One nice touch, copied in a later retelling, was the inclusion of a Swedish-speaking actor to play one of the two town residents killed by the gang.

The intent of this film remains a mystery to me. Was it to portray the notorious outlaw Jesse James as sympathetic, forced into his position as a bank robber due to the atrocities of the Civil War? Or was it to show how an honest man could eventually turn into a cold-blooded killer through motivations of greed and power?

Whatever the message is, it does not help that much of the film itself remains murky and mostly uninteresting. Robert Wagner has to be one of the least believable choices to play Jesse James, going more for the brooding, internally conflicted character rather than the passionate rebel. Jeffrey Hunter is adequate as brother Frank but mostly inoculate and the rest of the cast adds nothing to keep the audience interested.

Hard to believe this was directed by Nicholas Ray, a director known for his quirky traits and idiosyncratic cinematic style. None of that appears here. This is a rather forgettable film that only adds to the myth of Jesse James and his band rather than attempting at all to understand him.

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.