Jesse James: Lawman (2015)

A man using the name J. Frank Dalton is confronted by a newspaper reporter because of an affidavit he filed in which he claimed to be the real Jesse James.

Yes, Dalton says, that’s his real name. Then he proceeds to tell a Jesse James story he swears no one has ever heard before.

Some years earlier, Jesse rode into the town of Horseshoe Pass and was immediately approached by a sheriff named Jackson. The lawman, of course, reminded Jesse that he could be arrested.

But he also offered a lucrative alternative: Help bring down the Hoyt Killian gang, which includes a couple of the Dalton brothers.

Jesse agrees and a plan is hatched that calls for him to infiltrate the gang.

He soon learns that Horseshoe Bend has apparently been built on a gold mine. And Killian is terrorizing the town so that everyone will leave and he will have the property all to himself.

But Killian has spies all over Horseshoe Bend. And it isn’t long before he discovers Jesse’s true intent.

So Jackson and a very nervous mayor sit and wait to see who prevails – the bad man working with the sheriff or a very bad man who seems to kill for the pleasure of killing.

Review:

Kevin Sorbo and Peter Fonda get top billing in this low-budget film, but they’re bit players really. Sorbo is the aging Jesse (more on that in a moment), telling the tale to a newspaper reporter; Fonda is the frightened mayor eager to get out of town.

That leaves Andrew Galligan to tackle the lead role of Jesse, and he does so gallantly considering he’s dealing with the script that’s hard to swallow.

So, let’s see, Jesse has gunned down five members of the gang before he ever meets its leader, yet he’s welcomed by Killian and his cohorts?

Let’s see, even after they’ve discovered Jesse is an ally of the sheriff, the blood-thirsty Killian doesn’t kill him? Instead he puts him in a wooden coffin, still alive, so he can spring out to shoot down more members of the gang?

As for Sorbo’s Jesse James, he’s supposedly being interviewed in 1929. The affidavit he signs says he was born in 1847. Which would make him – just a tiny bit of math filmmakers – 82. Yet there wasn’t the slightest effort made to make Sorbo – in his mid-50s — look anywhere near that old?

Bottom line: This is hardly the best low-budget Western you can find.

Directed by:
Brett Kelly

Cast:
Kevin Sorbo … J. Frank Dalton
Peter Fonda … Mayor
Andrew Galligan … Jesse James
Lawrence Evenchick … Sheriff Jackson
John N.E. Hill … Hoyt Killian
Ian Quick … Bob Dalton
Peter Whittaker … Emmet Dalton
Jeff Dylan Graham … Reporter Cosgrove Peck
Lee Cyr … Farnsworth
John Migliore … Zeke
Pavel Lubanski … Deputy Walker
Candice Lidstone … Sal

Runtime: 77 min.

Memorable lines:

J. Frank Dalton: “People are all saying that the truth sets you free. Well, does it really? Do people really want to hear the truth? Or do they want the truth locked up in a shiny little box? Well, I’ll tell you something, son. The truth isn’t always shiny. And most people, they don’t want to hear it.”

J. Frank Dalton: “I have a Jesse James story to tell you that nobody has ever heard before.”

Jesse James: “Only two kind of men I know can clear out a bar with a word. Bad men or lawmen.”
Sheriff Jackson: “Righteous assessment.”

Sheriff Jackson: “I need a bad man to stop a really bad man.”

Hoyt Killian: “You like this weapon?”
Jesse James: “She’s a beaut.”
Killian: “She’s got a hair trigger.”
Jesse: “So do I.“

Newspaperman: “What did you do?”
J. Frank Dalton: “I did what anyone does when backed into a corner. I fought like hell.”