After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.
Johnny Russell
- Jesse James Jr.
- (as John Russell)
- Directors
- Henry King
- Irving Cummings(uncredited)
- Writers
- Nunnally Johnson
- Gene Fowler(uncredited)
- Curtis Kenyon(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film shows both Jesse and Frank going off the cliff on horseback. In reality the stunt was performed once and shot with two cameras.
- GoofsThe movie shows a bomb killing Frank and Jesse's mother. In reality, the bomb thrown through the window by the Pinkerton agents killed their little brother and seriously wounded their mother, who survived although she lost an arm in the explosion.
- Quotes
[last lines]
[about Jesse James]
Major Rufus Cobb: He was one of the doggonedest, gawl-dingedest, dad-blamedest buckaroos that ever rode across these United States of America!
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: After the tragic war between the states, America turned to the winning of the West. The symbol of this era was the building of the trans-continental railroads.
The advance of the railroads was, in some cases, predatory and unscrupulous. Whole communities found themselves victimized by an ever-growing ogre - the Iron Horse.
It was this uncertain and lawless age that gave to the world, for good or ill, its most famous outlaws, the brothers Frank and Jesse James.
- Alternate versionsAll UK versions were cut by 13 secs by the BBFC to remove footage of horse-falls including the controversial scene of a horse fatally falling from a cliff.
- ConnectionsEdited into Myra Breckinridge (1970)
- SoundtracksThe Battle Cry of Freedom
(1862) (uncredited)
Written by George Frederick Root
Played by the band at the railroad station
Featured review
Art is simple
This film's beauty is that it is so simple. This is by far the best version of the Jesse James story - there is not a sign of formalism as is regularly seen in later westerns, especially modern ones. When you are able to tell a story the way Henry King does, simply and clearly, then you begin to discover many other stories inside the main one. And then you know you have the original, the prototype.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Darryl F. Zanuck's Production of Jesse James
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,600,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $3,444
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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