Fresh
Though hardly Nicholas Ray's sturdiest effort, this 1957 'Scope western began as one of his more ambitious conceptions, with an unorthodox narrative structure and deliberately theatrical sets.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
The True Story of Jesse James
The real story… really told for the first time!
1957 · 1h 32m · Approved
Western
Directed by
Nicholas Ray
Overview
Having fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, Jesse James and his brother Frank dream of a farm life in Missouri. Harassed by Union sympathizers, they assemble a gang of outlaws, robbing trains and becoming folk heroes in the process. Jesse marries his sweetheart, Zee, and maintains an aura of domesticity, but after a group of lawmen launch an attack on his mother's house, Jesse plans one more great raid -- on a Minnesota bank.
Director and cast
- Nicholas Ray Director
- Robert Wagner as Jesse James
- Jeffrey Hunter as Frank James
- Hope Lange as Zee James
- Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Samuel
- Alan Hale Jr. as Cole Younger (as Alan Hale)
- Alan Baxter as Barney Remington
- John Carradine as Rev. Jethro Bailey
- Rachel Stephens as Anne James
- Barney Phillips as Dr. Samuel
- Biff Elliot Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
88%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Ray is one of the great natural filmmakers, a master of moral ambiguity and jittery mise-en-scene.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Rotten
On celluloid Jesse James has had more lives than a cat, and The True Story of Jesse James suggests it's time screenwriters let him roll over and play dead for real and reel.
Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh
A fine Western, the only regret being Robert Wagner. Imagining Dean in the central role makes it one of the great might-have-beens.
Time Out
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