SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

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ShangLuda Admirable film.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

movingwater Don't watch this for history, or accuracy, and you might enjoy this movie, featuring very young Audie Murphy, Tony Curtis, and Richard Long. Yes, the show mountains and sandstone canyons outside Lawrence, Kansas. But as a Saturday afternoon cowboy picture, Kansas Raiders is mighty fun. I brought home this and Black Panther to watch the same weekend; at least I watched all of Kansas Raiders!

mike-5283 Honestly, I didn't get past the opening scene of the movie. Jessie and Frank James, the Younger Brothers and one of the Daltons are on a mountain side surrounded by tall pine trees looking down in the valley at the town of Lawrence, Kansas. Evidently whoever made this movie has never been to Kansas. Can you spell F-L-A-T? Oh, there are some nice little hills covered with deciduous trees, but not mountains and tall pines. After that scene, the movie lost all its credibility so far as I was concerned. I can't stomach movies based on the lives of real people that stray so far from the facts. The "heroes" of this film were in reality murdering outlaw bank robbers that would today be called "sociopaths." They were not "heroes" in any sense of the word.

chuck-reilly "Kansas Raiders" is supposed to be about Jesse James' early career when he purportedly rode with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War. Unfortunately, this film takes dramatic license to the extreme and is pure nonsense from start to finish. For openers, Audie Murphy, new to the acting profession at this point in his career, plays Jesse as a wide-eyed innocent humanitarian. Even Jesse James' most ardent supporters would be hard-pressed to place their hero in that category. As far as Murphy's wooden performance in this film, the less said the better. Historical accuracy takes a severe beating here as well. About the only thing factual about this movie is that, for a short while, Jesse and Frank and Cole Younger did fight as Confederate Guerrillas. Most well-researched history books, however, have those fellows riding around with "Bloody Bill" Anderson. In this movie, Bloody Bill (played by a young Scott Brady) is a psychopathic maniac who gets gunned down by Jesse himself. It seems that Jesse just couldn't stand for all that senseless killing and had to put an end to it. Brian Donlevy, who could play a rotten apple as well as anyone, has the thankless role of Quantrill. Besides being far too old for the part, he seems to have about as much enthusiasm for being in this film as he would shoveling snow during a blizzard. Lost in this travesty of a film are some up-and-coming actors who went on to bigger and better things including Tony Curtis, Dewey Martin, James Best, Richard Long and Richard Egan. Marguerite Chapman is also around as the love interest for Mr. Murphy, but that story line falls flat as a pancake.None of the actors here are at fault with this sham of a western. Hollywood Studios of the late 1940's and early 50's cranked out inexpensive and under-written films like this nearly on a weekly basis. Unfortunately for "Kansas Raiders", its cheap budget and bullet-riddled script stick out like a sore thumb to the detriment of all involved. Murphy did improve as an actor over time. For those unfamiliar with him, he was America's most decorated World War II soldier and already had a built-in audience when he decided to take up acting. Most film critics will agree that he was a far better soldier than an actor. I'm quite sure his German adversaries would second that opinion.

bsmith5552 "Kansas Raiders" was another of those fast moving little 80 minute westerns turned out by Universal. As was their custom, they liked to cast many of their up and coming young actors in various roles. This one is no exception.The story takes place during the Civil War where five young riders, Jesse James (Audie Murphy), Frank James (Richard Long), Kit Dalton (Tony Curtis), Cole Younger (James Best) and James Younger (Dewey Martin), are looking to join up with Quantrill's Raiders.They ride into Quanrill's camp and enlist in his service. Quantrill (Brian Donlevy) takes a shine to young Jesse, who in turn has an eye for Quantrill's woman, Kate Clarke (Margeurite Chapman). After Jesse kills Tate (David Wolfe), one of Quantrill's lieutenants in a knife fight, he is elevated to Tate's position. Jesse learns that Quantrill's other lieutenant, the brutal "Bloody Bill" Anderson (Scott Brady) kills without provocation.The boys go on raids with the Raiders and Jesse sees the senseless brutality and killing of innocent people. He begins to have second thoughts. After the pillaging of Lawrence Kansas, the gang is pursued relentlessly and they decide to desert Quantrill. However Jesse and the boys remain loyal until.........................................Murphy, Curtis, Brady, Long, Best and Martin all went on to varying degrees of success in the coming years. Donlevy had a long and successful career playing classy villains. Chapman here, looks too old for the boyish looking Murphy. This was Murphy's second film and he carries most of the picture. Richard Arlen and a young Richard Egan also appear as Union cavalry officers.Director Ray Enright keeps the story moving and the raid sequences are particularly well done. The "glorious" Technicolor photography is equally stunning.Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier in WWII, would make a career out of these fast paced little oaters over the next 15 years.