I suspect that western outlaws Jesse James and Billy the Kid will fascinate us and be subjects for an endless number of films. In this case the action of the film stops well short of his dramatic and sudden end. For that you view The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.
Probably the film closest to the actual facts is the one that starred Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter as Jesse and Frank James. American Outlaws however gives Cole Younger and his brothers their due. The Youngers were cousins of the James. Younger like Frank James lived past their outlaw days in the old west and died in bed.
Colin Farrell in the way he plays Jesse is very suggestive of Tyrone Power in his reckless swashbuckling manner where he takes up the outlaw trade after losing his mother to railroad greed in grabbing up farms for a right of way. They messed with the wrong brothers because these guys learned about waging war under William Quantrill and his raiders. Some of southern persuasion say the James and Younger brothers were just the last rebels to surrender. Gabriel Macht plays a more loquacious and educated version than the most famous Frank James of all Henry Fonda.
Scott Caan is Cole Younger and this is a man concerned with billing. No one is going to take any credit away from the Youngers in the exploits of the gang. Kathy Bates is the tragic James mother and Ali Larter is Jesse's wife Zerelda who in this version might have understudied Belle Starr.
Timothy Dalton is Allan Pinkerton charged by the railroad with bringing in the outlaws any way he can. Unlike in a lot of versions Pinkerton is shown as ruthless, but he has a healthy respect for the skill these outlaws employ. Harris Yulin plays the railroad president who is the author of all the miseries sustained by the James/Younger gang.
I'm actually surprised that another Jesse James film came out so soon after Rob Lowe essayed the part and did it well in his Jesse James film. Both are well done films in the spirit of the legend of Jesse James and his exploits.
American Outlaws ain't history, but it's a crackling good western.
Probably the film closest to the actual facts is the one that starred Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter as Jesse and Frank James. American Outlaws however gives Cole Younger and his brothers their due. The Youngers were cousins of the James. Younger like Frank James lived past their outlaw days in the old west and died in bed.
Colin Farrell in the way he plays Jesse is very suggestive of Tyrone Power in his reckless swashbuckling manner where he takes up the outlaw trade after losing his mother to railroad greed in grabbing up farms for a right of way. They messed with the wrong brothers because these guys learned about waging war under William Quantrill and his raiders. Some of southern persuasion say the James and Younger brothers were just the last rebels to surrender. Gabriel Macht plays a more loquacious and educated version than the most famous Frank James of all Henry Fonda.
Scott Caan is Cole Younger and this is a man concerned with billing. No one is going to take any credit away from the Youngers in the exploits of the gang. Kathy Bates is the tragic James mother and Ali Larter is Jesse's wife Zerelda who in this version might have understudied Belle Starr.
Timothy Dalton is Allan Pinkerton charged by the railroad with bringing in the outlaws any way he can. Unlike in a lot of versions Pinkerton is shown as ruthless, but he has a healthy respect for the skill these outlaws employ. Harris Yulin plays the railroad president who is the author of all the miseries sustained by the James/Younger gang.
I'm actually surprised that another Jesse James film came out so soon after Rob Lowe essayed the part and did it well in his Jesse James film. Both are well done films in the spirit of the legend of Jesse James and his exploits.
American Outlaws ain't history, but it's a crackling good western.