JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Christopher Evans This film was a very enjoyable and accomplished western with Tyrone Power doing well and Henry Fonda great as always and other cast generally good and plenty of entertainment.However, there is a 'stunt' in the film where horses go off a cliff and in fact they really rode horses off a cliff to their deaths. Apparently the horses were blindfolded. This is totally unnecessary cruelty purely for entertainment. It might make for a good stunt scene but there is no excuse for such cruelty.It is tempting to mark the film as a 1/10 for this but I will still acknowledge all the good there is in the film and not artificially reduce the mark to a 1 even though my feelings on animal cruelty of this kind are very strong. I take into account that other films contain animal cruelty behind the scenes that we may be unaware of, particularly before this time but even in recent times (Water For Elephants is a recent film in which apparently an elephant was cruelly treated in real life).One good thing is that this cruel stunt received a strong reaction from the film industry which brought about the creation of new rules to protect animals in film. So in fact, as well as being an important film cinematically and in re-establishing westerns as box office successes, this was very important in bringing about less cruelty to animals in films.Taking all this into account I will reduce my rating from the 8/10 it would have been, down to a 4/10.Very sad.

ma-cortes Spectacular as well as exciting Western talks the lives of Jesse and Frank James ; featuring notorious interpretations by a popular group of known stars . This is a slight and intelligent biopic about Jesse James who ranks with Billy the Kid as the most famous of Western outlaws . Legend and folklore have cast him as a Robin Hood , a good boy forced by circumstances to follow a criminal life . The picture provides a good portrait of Jesse and his band , as they move from Civil War to there territory becoming into semi-legends . As showing his home life in Missouri, his experiences with Quantrill's raiders and his career of banditry . As Jesse (Tyrone Power) and Frank (Henry Fonda) along with cousins Cole , Bob and Jim Younger return from War to find their mommy (Jane Darwell) and family threatened by railway people . As Barshee (Brian Donlevy) was hired by the railroad company run by Mc Coy (Donald Meek) to hunt down Jesse and Frank . So James Brothers commence to robbin' banks and trains to help out the poor folks who been done wrong . In the course of their revenge , they will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West . Along the way , Jesse courts attractive young , Zerelda (Nancy Kelly) . As their fame grows, so will the legend of their leader, a young outlaw by the name of Jesse James . At the end , he is betrayed by the Ford brothers , Charlie and Bob (John Carradine) . This is a sprawling and glamorous Western with excellent performances from Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda . The film gets spectacular shoot em'up , thrills , exciting horse pursuits . A glimmer Western with a wild bunch look-alike that ends up into a fateful final . Packs colorful scenarios, moving pace and slick edition . This is a decent look about the known story of the West's greatest bandit , Jesse James , along with Frank , Cole Younger and brothers with acceptable performances and compelling direction creating some good action scenes . The picture shows nice as well as spectacular frames , as when both Jesse and Frank going off the cliff on horseback , in reality the stunt was performed once and shot with two cameras. After the two horses that were blindfolded and forced to go over a cliff were killed, a new rule was enforced and later endorsed by The Humane Society of America in which strict standards were created to protect Animal Actors in which at the end of the movie and added to the credits listed as "No Animals Were Harmed or Injured in the Production of this Film" ; now all films involving any Animal Actors must have present a member representing The Humane Society of America to insure that all animals are treated humanly and given a safe environment in which to work. As originally conceived by screen writer Nunnally Johnson along with contributing writers as Curtis Kenyon , Long and Gene Fowler . Taut excitement throughout , beautifully photographed by George Barnes and W. Howard Greene . The motion picture was well realized by Henry King . It was followed by a sequel : ¨The return of Frank James¨ (1950) by Fritz Lang with Henry Fonda . Other films about this legendary outlaw are : ¨I shot Jesse James¨ by Samuel Fuller with John Ireland as Bob Ford ; ¨Jesse James vs the Dalton (1954)¨ by William Castle with John Ireland . ¨The true story of Jesse James¨ (1957) by Nicholas Ray with Robert Wagner , Jeffrey Hunter , Hope Lange , Agnes Moorehead ; in which footage from the original 1939 production was used when Frank and Jesse go over a cliff on horseback into a river and when they crashed , on horseback, through a store window during the "Northfield Minnesota Raid" . And contemporary-style Western such as ¨Frank and Jesse¨ by Robert Boris with Rob Lowe as Jesse James , Bill Paxton as Frank James and Randy Travis as Younger ; ¨American outlaws¨ by Les Mayfield with Colin Farrell , Gabriel Macht , Terry O'Quinn , Harris Yulin and Ali Larter ; and ¨The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford¨ (2007) by Andrew Dominik with Brad Pitt , Sam Shepard , Mary Louise Parker , Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell. The picture lavishly produced by Darryl F Zanuck was based on actual events , these are the followings : At the war's end in 1865 , Jesse rode in to surrender and was shot and seriously wounded by a Union soldier . Jesse and his brother joined the Confederate guerrillas of Quantrill and learned to kill in ruthless company . It is believed that Jesse took part in his first robbery in 1866 when a dozen men held up the bank in Liberty , Missouri . A bank cashier was killed in the raid and a reward was offered for each of the James brothers . In 1873 Jesse and his band derailed and robbed a train on the Rock Island line . Jesse married his cousin Zerelda , who bore him two children . Pinkerton detectives were contracted to chase Jesse and Frank , the agents surrounded the home , believing they to be there , tossed a bomb and the explosion killed Jesse's young half-brother . This outrage brought much sympathy for the brothers . On 1876 Jesse and Frank in company the three Younger Brothers , attempted a bank robbery at Northfield , Minnnesota , and walked in disaster . The alerted citizens opened fire on the raiders , of the eight bandits involved , three were killed and three Younger brothers were captured .

wes-connors Following the US Civil War, attention is turned to the building of the country's trans-continental railroads. Unfortunately, the technological advances mean America must throw many nice families off their land. Wicked government officials hit innocent children (like George Breakston) and cause sweet mamas (like Jane Darwell) to burn alive in their homes. This understandably turns peaceful, law-abiding citizens into notorious, vengeful criminals. Missouri farm-boy Tyrone Power (as Jesse James) and his tobacco-spitting brother Henry Fonda (as Frank James) form "The James Gang" and target the trains that killed their Ma...Basically a kind-hearted man, "Jesse James" would like to settle down with the Mayor's nice niece Nancy Kelly (Zerelda "Zee" Cobb) and loyal family retainer Ernest Whitman (as "Pinkie"), but his past criminal lifestyle threatens everyone's future happiness. This story and follow-ups beginning with "The Return of Frank James" (1940) glamorize the criminals, which should come as no surprise. Strikingly handsome co-stars, beautiful Technicolor and great action made "Jesse James" a big hit. One of the stunts (the escape sequence ending over a cliff) proved harmful to horses and resulted in more care given to such matters.******* Jesse James (1/13/39) Henry King ~ Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, Henry Hull

TxMike This is really a good movie. Even though it was 1939, it features Technicolor and, although not as good as modern color, it comes out very nice on DVD.I looked up this movie only after seeing the recent "Assassination of Jesse James" with Brad Pitt as Jesse and Casey Affleck as Bob Ford. This one romanticizes Jesse James quite a bit, even showing townsfolk unveiling a memorial statue after his death in 1882. Tyrone Power is Jesse Woodson James, with Henry Fonda as his brother Frank James. It depicts them as honest, hard-working young men on a small farm in Missouri with their elderly mother. After the Civil War the railroads are expanding towards the West, and shady railroad men are going around buying up land at an almost worthless $1.00 per acre, with the threat that the government will take it from them if they don't sign to sell.When they show up at the James house, their mother refuses to sign and the men get rough. One tries to hit Frank with a hand tool and Jesse shoots the man in the hand. So, back in town they get a warrant for Jesse's arrest, and eventually Jesse willingly goes to jail with a promise of a light sentence and he could go straight afterwards. But that deal is false and before long Frank and their friends break him out. This further hardens them against the railroad.So the movie depicts Jesse's hatred for the railroad as his reason for becoming a railroad robber, then eventually a bank robber. Always on the run, he manages to marry Nancy Kelly as Zerelda 'Zee', and they have a boy, Jesse Jr. In the more recent Pitt movie Bob Ford is depicted as a rather young man who grew up with a Jesse James fascination, convinced James to let him join the gang, then shot Jesse in the back as Jesse was straightening a picture in his home. Here John Carradine, father of the recently famous Carradine brothers, is Bob Ford, looking a bit older than Jesse. Randolph Scott is Marshall Will Wright who has sympathy for Jesse, and tried to broker a deal where Jesse would serve minimal time, but the authorities turned on Jesse and Will and decided to try him then hang Jesse. MAJOR Spoiler: After the near miss at the attempt to rob the Northfield, Minn bank, Jesse barely escaped, and eventually made it home. Changing his name, Zee convinced him that they should head to California and start a new, honest life. They were packing up to go when Bob Ford shot Jesse in the back as he was standing on a chair, to take down the framed "God Bless Our House" banner that Zee had made herself some years earlier.