The True Story of Jesse James

Released Feb 12, 1957

1h 32m

Western

List

88%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

36%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Having fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, Jesse James (Robert Wagner) and his brother Frank (Jeffrey Hunter) 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 (Hope Lange), 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.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

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.

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Ray is one of the great natural filmmakers, a master of moral ambiguity and jittery mise-en-scene.

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Time Out

A fine Western, the only regret being Robert Wagner. Imagining Dean in the central role makes it one of the great might-have-beens.

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Jean-Luc Godard

Cahiers du Cinéma

That something has gone wrong from the point of view of the production is hardly in doubt; but not the direction, in which each shot carries the indelible mark of the most peculiarly modern of film-makers.

Nov 3, 2021

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

One of Nicholas Ray's weaker films, this mythical Western displays his thematic concern with protagonists that are outsiders but suffers from the performances of pretty boys Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter.

Rated: B-

Aug 30, 2009

Full Review

Film4 Staff

Film4

Obviously the pair have a hard act to follow, but they manage it perfectly well, with Hunter particularly good in the brotherly sidekick role.

Oct 23, 2007

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Audience Member

another retelling western of the james' legend

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

OK-to-dull. Really doesn't add anything to the Jesse James story. Yes, I know it was released in 1957 but I doubt anyone in 1957 felt more informed about Jesse James by seeing this movie. Pretty much a paint-by-numbers docu-drama. Also feels like some details are left out. Ending seems abrupt - pacing is a bit off. Good action sequences, so goodish purely as a western. Robert Wagner is miscast as Jesse James. Far too straight-laced for the role. Hope Lange gives a fairly wooden performance. Supporting cast aren't too bad though.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

Fairly minor Nicholas Ray. It's still quite good at time.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A real disappointment - a clunky, sloppy film that only occasionally displays a few of Ray's valuable directorial flourishes. A big, big problem is the fact that Robert Walker is the lead. That's enough to kill any film. Never mind the fact that his support is... Jeffrey Hunter and... Hope Lange. Both of whom are nearly as bad. Even Agnes Moorehead brings nothing to the table. The flashback structure might have been interesting had it provided some really disparate, [i]Rashomon[/i]-ey perspectives, but not. They basically glorify James as a good dude who lost his way. I suspect that Andrew Dominik's film might have rendered all previous Jesse James films obsolete. Apart from a handful of good moments, the film's only other asset is Carl Thayler as an appropriately simpering Robert Ford.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Nicholas Ray's take on Jesse James isn't really different than any other previous take, in fact it's a slight remake of a 1939 Henry King production, but using Cinemascope and his own idiosyncratic brand of angst and melodrama, Ray's Jesse is a 50's anti-hero, and it's no secret that James Dean would have starred if alive. Instead we get handsome, unconvincing Robert Wagner as Jesse, with Jeffrey Hunter (equally too good looking) as second banana brother Frank, spinning the tale of the James brothers from their involvement as guerrilla fighters in the Civil War (which, after the war, makes them targets of North sympathizing neighbors and bankers; a possible motive for their robbery spree),to their disastrous attempt on a Minnesota bank, the beginning of the end. The use of flashback, and the Minnesota bookends, is interesting, building a "who is Jesse James" character study out of familiar tropes and knowledge of previous films, splashing in some romance (with buxom, stiff Hope Lange), and action (including a well staged train robbery). Passable, but not entirely essential Ray.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I normally like movies on the James Gang but this is not as good as I expected ecspecially with the cast the had, Robert Wagner as Jesse James, and Alan Hale Jr. as Cole Younger.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Nicholas Ray

Director

Robert Wagner

Jesse James

Jeffrey Hunter

Frank James

Hope Lange

Zee James

Agnes Moorehead

Mrs. Samuel

Alan Hale Jr.

Cole Younger

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Synopsis

Having fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, Jesse James (Robert Wagner) and his brother Frank (Jeffrey Hunter) 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 (Hope Lange), 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: Nicholas Ray
Screenwriter: Walter Newman
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 12, 1957, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 27, 2020
Runtime: 1h 32m