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22 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
A highly romanticized account of the infamous desperado…, 30 November 2007

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

Splendid in his first Western and his first Technicolor movie, Power portrayed Jesse James as a sympathetic hero and the most charming bank robber of the Old West…

Teamed with Henry Fonda, and stalwart Randolph Scott, Henry King came with a Western classic, considered as one the best Jesse James of the series…

The film opens in Pineville with hothead Jesse and temperate Frank as a couple of Missouri brothers who, embittered by the ruthless tactics of a railroad agent, got a warrant and had to skip out, hiding out until Major Rufus Cobb (Henry Hull) can get the governor to give them a fair trial … But the railroad's got too much at stake to let two farmer boys bollix things up…

After they had thrown Barshee (Brian Donlevy), the brutal railroad representative off the farm of their widowed mother (Jane Darwell) when she refused to sign over her property, Jesse and Frank later learn that she had been killed by a bomb tossed into their home by Barshee himself… Jesse returns, shoots Barshee, and vows revenge on the railroad, with the complete sympathy of the Missouri populace…

Jesse's sweetheart, Zee and her uncle, publisher Major Rufus, are among the James' supporters, as is U. S. Marshal Will Wright (Scott), but he has a job to do and is forced to track down the two brothers…

Jesse and Frank have expanded their operation from merely harassing the St. Louis Midland with a series of holdups to robbing banks…

Pursuaded by railroad president McCoy (Donald Meek) to talk Jesse into surrendering, Wright extracts a written promise of a light sentence for the desperado… Zee then urges Jesse to give himself up following their wedding…

Of course, Henry King tries to show how Jesse hated the railroads and from that hate he presented a charismatic hero… But this hero was not going to last… The more luck he had, the worse he gets… It'll be his appetite for shooting and robbing until something happens to him…

He also shows a worried fiancée keeping thinking of an outlaw all the time out there in the hills just going on and on to nowhere just trying to keep alive with everybody after him, wanting to kill him to get that money…

There's a scene near the end where Zee (Nancy Kelly) after delivering her baby is lying in bed with her creature, with the presence of the Marshal, so to speak, between herself and her uncle that suddenly made clear to me what the entire film was about… Her feelings as a woman: "I'm so tired to care. This is the way it always is. We live like animals, scared animals. We move. We hide. We don't dare to go out… "

Obviously she is a sensitive woman who exposes her being on screen without losing sight of reality… That's quite a great scene from King, and key in this great Western, as it's really all about her character, Zee Cobb, a struggling woman in love now a mother with a baby to take care of…

So please don't miss it!

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14 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Power Brings Jesse James To Life, 8 December 2001

Author: jhclues from Salem, Oregon

A real life legend of the Old West comes to life in this 1939 film, which may not be historically accurate or honest enough for purists, but nevertheless tells a good story while leaving any moral judgments up to the audience. `Jesse James,' directed by Henry King, stars Tyrone Power as the man heralded by some as the Robin Hood of cowboys. Whether or not he was actually a hero is debatable, and what this movie does is supply the motivation for the wrong-doing on Jesse's part-- at least up to a point. At the time this film was made, it was necessary for the filmmaker to present a story like this in a way that reflected a reckoning of sorts for a character engaged in any form of moral turpitude; and this film is no exception. But in this case, it's done with subtlety, and in a way that still allows the viewer's sympathies to be with the protagonist, regardless of his crimes.

At the heart of the matter is basically another version of the oft-told David and Goliath tale. In this story, Goliath is the railroad, expanding ever-westward and growing bigger and stronger by the day. When they encounter the farm on which Jesse, his brother, Frank (Henry Fonda) and their mother (Jane Darwell) reside and make their living, the railroad does what any self-respecting conglomerate would do-- they take it, pay the owners a pittance and lay their rail without giving it another thought. Only this time, the railroad messed with the wrong people. Not one to take it lying down, Jesse forms a gang-- which includes Frank-- and strikes back in the only way he knows how: By robbing the trains. And, just as Bonnie and Clyde would become, in a sense, local heroes a few years later, many began looking up to James as something of a redeemer; the man who stood up for all the others who were either unwilling or unable to do it for themselves after being wronged, as well, by the ruthless machinery of progress.

Power gives an outstanding performance as Jesse James, to whom he brings an intensity that seethes beneath his rugged good looks and determined attitude. Like Beatty did with Clyde, Power makes Jesse an outlaw you can't help but like, and actually admire. Because the James Power presents is nothing more nor less than a good man seeking reparation for the injury visited not only upon himself, but upon his family, to whom he feels justice is now due. It's a very credible and believable portrayal, though under close scrutiny his Jesse may come across as somewhat idealistically unflawed. Then again, within the time frame of this story, we are seeing a man adamant and single-minded of purpose, and the depth Power brings to the character more than accounts for what may be construed as a flawless nature.

As Frank James, Henry Fonda presents a man perhaps more laid-back than his brother, but every bit as volatile and adamant in his quest for justice. There's a coolness in his eyes and in his manner that belies the tenacity of his character. Fonda conveys the sense that Frank is a lion; he's no trouble without provocation, but once aroused he will demand satisfaction and stay with the scent until he has it. And it's that sense of dogged determination that Fonda and Power bring to their respective characters that makes them so engaging and accessible. Goliath is the real bad guy here, and you want to see him fall; and these are the guys you want to see bring him down.

In a supporting role, John Carradine gives a noteworthy performance as Jesse's own personal Judas, Bob Ford, a man who made history by demonstrating that there is, indeed, no honor among thieves. Carradine brings Ford to life in a sly and sinister way that leaves no doubt as to who the real villain of the story is.

The supporting cast includes Nancy Kelly (Zee), Randolph Scott (Will), Slim Summerville (Jailer), Brian Donlevy (Barshee), Donald Meek (McCoy), Charles Tannen (Charlie Ford), Claire Du Brey (Mrs. Ford) and Henry Hull, in an energetic and memorable performance as Major Rufus Cobb. Compared to many of the westerns made in the past couple of decades or so, this film is rather antiseptic in it's presentation; that is to say it lacks the graphic visuals of say, `The Wild Bunch' or Eastwood's `Unforgiven.' But `Jesse James' is satisfying entertainment that doesn't require or rely upon shocking realism to tell the story, but rather the talent and finesse of a great cast and a savvy director. It's a movie that will keep you involved, and Power and Fonda make it an especially enriching cinematic experience. In a very classic sense, this is the magic of the movies. I rate this one 8/10.

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10 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
The Jesse We Somehow Have Gotten to Want to Remember, 21 April 2007

Author: theowinthrop from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It was the luck of Tyrone Power that he became the pet male star of Producer Genius Daryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox. He was constantly finding decent adventure film properties for Power to use, resulting in a huge public following for the star.

Unfortunately in 1938 Power was lent to MGM to appear in the extravaganza historical film MARIE ANTOINETTE with Norma Shearer. He gave a fine performance as her friend/probable lover Count Axel Fersen, but his fans were puzzled, and some critics had a field day. It was like a problem a decade and a half earlier suffered by silent idol Rudolf Valentino, when he made some costume films like MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE. Then Valentino suggested the choice of these rolls proved Valentino was a "powder puff" (i.e. homosexual). Now they suggested the same (after one film only!) for Power.

To recoup meant taking Power into a particular historical film - a western. Long before the idea of a homosexual cowboy found any open acceptance on the screen, most actors found that the most masculine American role was as a cowboy. And if Power was going to play a westerner, he should play one who did not take nonsense - indeed was downright dangerous to people he disliked. Such a person was Jesse Woodson James (1848 - 1882). Zanuck's genius at picking the right properties showed up here to such great affect, that a year later MGM copied the idea for their resident star with a huge female following, Robert Taylor, with the film BILLY THE KID.

In first rate Technicolor, we watch a screen-writer's version of Jesse's complicated and violent life, in the last days of the Civil War (for the South), fighting carpetbaggers, banks, and railroads from the North, turning bandit against these aggressors, and then controlling the best bank and train robbing gang from 1868 - 1876 in the Mississippi/Missouri Valley. It also follows the love and marriage and tribulations of Jesse and his wife Zee Cobb (Nancy Kelly), and the events leading to his assassination (which more of below) by Robert Ford (John Carridine) a member of his gang. His brother and gang partner Frank is played by Henry Fonda. His love rival but occasional ally, the Marshall is Randolph Scott. Besides Carridine, the villains are a half-way comic banker/railroad owner played by Donald Meek, and his agent played by J. Edward Bromberg (possibly his best known role). And as for that "great" editor, Col. Rufus Cobb (Henry Hull) anyone who does not think him a great character should be taken outside and hanged like a dog!

Henry King, a good journeyman director used by Power and Zanauck in several films, turned in a first rate job, even as the screenplay really improves Jesse's record. It is questionable if he was in the Confederate army or even served with Quantrill (as Frank and the missing Cole Younger, his cousin, did). But he was thoroughly tied to the lost cause, and the post war poverty that hit his part of Missouri did not endear the victors to him. Given the way money ruled the Gilded Age millionaires, one can see that the avariciousness's of the banks and railroads would have worsened the situation. But did that give Jesse and Frank and their gang the right to kill any former Union foe they encountered in what was technically peacetime?

The Northfield Bank Raid is rightly seen as the destruction of the James - Younger Gang, and as a model of overreaching. Unlike the fictional version in the story (the plan is betrayed, so the bank becomes a trap), Jesse and the gang tried to rob two banks in Northfield, Minnesota, and thought the locals there would be as indifferent as Missourians or Kansas on-lookers (they weren't). Many were shot and killed on both sides, but worse Cole and his brothers were captured and sent to prison. Jesse and Frank and several others escaped - but regrouped in Missouri. It lasted for six more years with bank and railroad robberies before Jesse was killed by Ford.

There is no denying (as Hull says at the end) that James was a criminal. But to be fair, the Federal Government and the Pinkertons did not behave well either. Keep in mind, in 1870 Federal intervention in the states was limited to the Reconstruction policies, not to policing action. But Ulysses Grant, although from Ohio, had lived in Missouri for years, and took a personal interest in the James Gang. He was willing to use the Pinkertons as his agents, including one incident where a bomb-like device was used against Jesse's mother's family, injuring several (his mother lost her arm), and killing his half-brother. So furious was Jesse about this, for a couple of months he was in Chicago seeking a chance to attack and kill Allan Pinkerton!

And then there is that final killing - Governor Crittenden of Missouri, from a distinguished Kentucky family, smashed his career in setting up a "hit" by Ford, in which Jesse was shot in the back in his parlor! I don't think any other criminal of the top rank in American History (maybe Dillinger in his demise at the Biograph Theater in Chicago) ever came across as having had his bad list of actions cleaned by the manner his death was caused. In 1881 Crittenden was considered a possible future Democratic Presidential candidate. After 1882 his career was finished. As for Ford, he was shot down years later - his killer given a judicial slap on the hand.

JESSE JAMES cuts down the negative issues a bit too much, and builds up his good characteristics too much. Yet it works splendidly as film. Other "James" films like I SHOT JESSE JAMES or THE GREAT NORTHFIELD RAID may be truer somehow, but this is the JAMES we like to recall - and the JAMES that will live.

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Robin Hood of the West, 12 July 2006

Author: nnnn45089191 from Norway

The first western shot in color focuses more on mythology than facts of this famous outlaw. Tyrone Power in the lead role shows acting abilities not seen in his previous movies,and delivers an intense portrayal of Jesse James. Underplaying his part as Frank James to great effect, Henry Fonda steals the movie.Although a supporting part he's missed in the scenes his not in. Randolph Scott as the marshal delivers one of his best performances. Nancy Kelly makes a beautiful love interest for Power. Henry Hull's crusading editor is fun to watch. The movie is wonderful to look at and one of the great westerns.I hope this classic western will be out on DVD soon.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
"Great thunderin' Halleluia - that's ruin!", 13 August 2007

Author: classicsoncall from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I had the greatest trouble believing this film came out in 1939, I would have believed 1959 if not for the principals. Writing, cinematography and acting are far superior to what the average 1930's, or even 1940's film had to offer. Story wise, I found the treatment of the Jesse James legacy to be somewhat sympathetic, even though his ruthlessness and manner grew more extreme as the picture progressed. Perhaps even handed might be the best way to describe it, without knowing all the historical facts behind the James Gang.

Tyrone Power offers a compelling portrait of the man and the outlaw, nicely complemented by Henry Fonda as brother Frank James. Randolph Scott is perfectly understated as Marshal Will Wright, who treads the line between keeping the peace and offering Jesse a fair shake because of the damage caused his family by agents of the St. Louis Midland Rail Road. His presence as a romantic foil for the hand of Zee Cobb (Nancy Kelly) could have been overplayed, but director Henry King managed to keep that relationship one of admiration and respect. The one performance I think everyone can agree on as being suitably bombastic was that of Henry Hull as newspaper editor Rufus Cobb. By the time his third or fourth editorial came around, any viewer would have been able to write it.

I caught the film on Encore Westerns today, but if I had a copy of the picture, the scene I would be replaying time after time would be that tumble over the cliff on horseback that the James Brothers made while being chased by the railroad posse. Fonda's horse went over in a virtual somersault and it made me jump in my seat. I know the PETA folks would have a problem with it, but that might be the best aerial horse maneuver I've ever seen, and I've seen a few, especially in the 'B' oaters of the 1930's and '40's. John Wayne's Lone Star Westerns also featured some insane horse spills, which I've come to learn were achieved by the use of trip wires. I guess that's why you don't see any of those declarations about not harming animals prior to about the 1960's.

Anyway, "Jesse James" succeeds on a number of levels, even if historical accuracy is compromised. The one thing I think most viewers could agree on would be Major Rufus' eulogy - "There ain't no question about it, Jesse was an outlaw..."

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent western + Gorgeous man = Something for everyone, 3 December 2005

Author: blanche-2 from United States

If you go to Pineville, Missouri, where part of Jesse James was filmed, and ask about the making of the movie, everyone you meet will tell you the same thing. One of the extras became pregnant by Tyrone Power and gave the baby up for adoption. When Power learned of this, he spent thousands upon thousands of dollars but never located his offspring. Just think, today she'd drag him into court and sell her story to People. But the times were different. Frankly, I'm not surprised it happened. Even Power's younger daughter Taryn thinks her father was his most devastatingly handsome in Jesse James. She's right.

Darryl F. Zanuck gave his biggest star a first-class production in color no less. Not remarkable considering that Power in 1939 would hit the pinnacle of his popularity, beating Gable in the year of GWTW in box office receipts.

In this version, Jesse is a folk hero who seeks revenge on the railroad for cheating people out of their property and allowing its representatives to resort to violence against the property owners. That's one way of looking at it.

What puts this movie over is the top-notch cast, headed by Power. Critics could never see beyond his looks, and it is difficult, but his Jesse is ruthless, loving, defeated, and angry as the story demands. Henry Fonda is perfect as Frank James, and the scene between the two men after Jesse argues with the gang is wonderful. One sees Jesse's pain and feels Frank's concern. The rest of the cast includes Nancy Kelly, Henry Hull, Brian Donlevy, John Carradine, Jane Darwell, and Randolph Scott - all first-rate.

I'm not a particular fan of westerns, but this one held my interest. Of course, it helps when the Jesse is the stuff dreams are made on.

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7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
"He Was the goldingest, dadblastedest, dadgummest buckaroo there ever was", 24 February 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Everyone should have somebody like Henry Hull deliver an epitaph.

The story of Jesse W. James, America's most notorious outlaw, the American Dick Turpin or Ned Kelly, was especially popular in the Depression era Thirties. With people having very little disposable income and losing homes to banks out there in the same country where less than a century before Jesse James rode, why wouldn't he be popular.

The basic outlines of the Jesse James saga in this film are true. After he and brother Frank had done Civil War service with Quantrill's Raiders, he settled down to be a farmer. And it's true that Jesse and Frank's mother, played here by Jane Darwell, was a victim of a firebomb from the railroad that was trying to evict them from their land. After that the James boys became outlaws, the most notorious our wild west ever saw.

Tyrone Power gives a classic interpretation of Jesse James in what turned out to be his first western and first color film. And it was also the first trip to the cinematic wild west for Henry Fonda as Frank James. Fonda got the best reviews for his laconic, understated interpretation of Frank James and it was so popular that he did a sequel film, The Return of Frank James two years later.

Randolph Scott as the honest marshal has never been given proper recognition for his role. He's got a sense of decency and fair play and some of his best moments come during Power's jailbreak after he's been tricked into surrendering himself. Scott leaves railroad President Donald Meek to his own devices. Of course Power turns the table on president Donald Meek and humiliates him. Of course Meek exacts a terrible revenge.

J. Edward Bromberg as the detective/hit-man that Meek hires has some of his best screen moments. He's a jovial, but ruthless character and your sympathies aren't with him. To be fair though by this time Jesse James was not a Robin Hood crusader, but a full blown outlaw.

The only other portrayals of note are Nancy Kelly as Jesse's wife and her uncle, town newspaper editor Henry Hull, author of some flaming editorials and John Carradine as the Judas of Jesse's gang.

Remember that the Jameses are post Civil War white southerners with the racial attitudes of same. The portrayal of Ernest Whitman as Pinky has come in for criticism. But probably the portrayal rings true, because Whitman would have had to bow low and shuffle for survival's sake. And 1939 was the year of Gone With the Wind.

Still Jesse James is good entertainment though not exactly the real story of our most notorious buckaroo.

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Exciting Story of Western Outlaw., 2 August 2007

Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Henry Hull, as a newspaper publisher and Jesse's friend, is giving the speech at Jesse James' burial. "We're PROUD of Jesse around here," he shouts. "I reckon all America's a little proud of him. I dunno why. Maybe it's because he was bold -- and lawless -- the way we all like to be, once in a while." Nothing like being bold and lawless. The middle-class James family in Clay County, Missouri, were slave owners and Jesse fought on the side of guerrillas who were sometimes lawless even by Civil War standards. After the war, Jesse was wounded while trying to surrender, and thereafter lawlessness became a career. He was more or less turned into a Robin Hood by a newspaper editor in Kansas who had fantasies of restoring the Confederacy.

But that's all history and history is all conjecture. Any pretense towards factuality in this movie can be easily shrugged off and a viewer can sit back and enjoy a bang-pow Western full of well-crafted scenes of shooting and galloping horses and drama about loyalty and love.

Some scenes are positively comic. During the hold up of a train, Bob Ford (John Carradine) walks down the aisle collecting cash from the terrified passengers. "Thank you! Thank you kindly, sir. Hurry, please. That's a fine pocket watch, sir." And there is an engaging meeting between Randolph Scott as the lawman in Liberty, Missouri, and Tyrone Power as the skedaddling Jesse, in which Scott intuits Jesse's real identity but pretends not to know it.

Some of the shots are spectacular -- twice, a horse and its rider slide off a cliff into a river, tumbling over every which way, a distance like unto that dropped by Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Tyrone Power is as handsome as Newman or Redford. Randolph Scott is manly, honest, and wise. Henry Fonda, as Jesse's brother Frank, is taciturn, spits tobacco, and acts like The Man With No Name. Henry Hull, as the cantankerous newspaper editor, paraphrases Shakespeare to amusing effect, "If we are ever going' to have law and order in this town, the first thing we got to do is take all the lawyers and shoot 'em down like dogs." The movie was shot in splendid Technicolor on location in Jesse James' country.

The sentiment with which the film ends is stupid. We all want to be like Jesse James. Right -- we all want to carry guns and shoot people we don't like, or just strangers who get in our way. But the protagonist of this story isn't Jesse James. It's Tyrone Power acting out a revenge motive and he's fundamentally a good guy, so we can afford to applaud him because the character doesn't exist. Let's cheer for Robin Hood too, while we're at it.

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Robbing Hoods Get the Technicolor Treatment, 29 September 2006
Author: Oct (wjphillips@clara.co.uk) from London, England

With Ty Power and Hank Fonda in the saddle, there was no way this version of the James Brothers legend was going to paint them as bad guys.

Less so since the courtly southerner Nunnally Johnson wrote and produced the yarn. In reality the James boys took to knocking off banks and trains after being at a loose end following Missouri's joining the losing side in the War Between the States. This was too painful a scab to pick in the Thirties, so Johnson gives the Jameses a more palatable enemy than Abe Lincoln: big bad railroad barons upsetting their ma. And he paints his outlaws with a populist tint, to please New Deal Democrats as well as Dixiecrats who knew the real backstory.

However, the broad outlines of their rise and fall are intact. We see a gradual slide into semi-chivalrous villainy (they didn't rob train passengers, only mails), a 'Liberty Valance'-like exploitation of their coups by political orators and editors, Jesse's becoming consumed by his own legend, and the final botched bank job at Northfield, Minnesota. That leads to a panicky flight and an attempt to live semi-respectably under pseudonyms, followed by Bob Ford's betrayal as Jesse turns art curator.

The film is pleasingly quiet between action set pieces, free of the obtrusive music that was often the curse of Hollywood soundtracks and laced with good lines from Johnson's florid pen. And above all, surrounded by good character actors, we have two rising Zanuck stars tussling enjoyably for mastery, both in the plot and career-wise.

Henry King had become Power's preferred handler ('In Old Chicago' the previous year had been a wow) and both men evidently relish the challenge of tweaking his 'nice bank teller' image a little. Swarthy and bearded betimes, barking out orders to older subordinates, Power does fine. Fonda's grand remonstrance, when he tells Junior that he's turning into a suicidal psycho, is ably played and paced. The soft early tripack Technicolor looks sweet both outdoors-- Ford was getting similar results in 'Drums Along the Mohawk'-- and in candle-lit interiors.

Also noteworthy is Jesse's respectful, confiding relationship with his black ex-slave Pinky (Ernest Whitman) when he decides not to pursue Frank. Black maids could sass their mistresses in crazy comedies, but this quality of understanding between men of different colours was unusual in early-talkie Hollywood.

'Jesse James' was released in Hollywood's peak year, 1939. It's understandable that it was overlooked. But when we've done finger-wagging at the cruelty to horses which led the American Humane Association to demand supervisory privileges over stampedes-- and the cruelty to female Central Casting members which allowed Power to father a child on one-- we can still appreciate a good, workmanlike travesty of outlaw history. As a distortion of the James-Younger saga it has not been surpassed.

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Dated, but still worth seeing, 29 September 2003

Author: tmwest from S. Paulo, Brazil

Jesse James was one of the first westerns made in color, and this feature made it look actual during many years. Nowadays it looks dated, but this gives it a certain charm, you can compare it with the early western printed stories that glorified outlaws and gunfighters. There is a lot of Jesse's life missing here, where are the Younger brothers and what about the civil war? Henry Hull gives a good performance as Major Rufus,but he keeps repeating himself about the editorials, that is funny up to a certain point, then it gets tiring. Henry Fonda does not have much of a chance to act, his role is secondary,but he is excellent as Frank.

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