Robert Wagner is Jesse James and Jeffrey Hunter his brother Frank in this oft told tale.
They’re on the run from Sheriff Hillstrom, Detective Barney Remington and a large posse following a botched bank robbery in Northfield, Minn.
Frank had misgivings about the Northfield job from the start, even urging Jesse to turn back at one point.
But Jesse insisted on going through with this one last bank robbery, swearing he’d never planned a job so thoroughly.
Of course, little goes right in Northfield. Most of the gang is killed, wounded or captured, both of the latter in the case of the Younger brothers.
As they wait for a chance to escape back to Missouri, the brothers reflect on how they got to this point in life.
It started as a way to strike back at Northern carpetbaggers after the Civil War and gained steam after Remington and his men set off an explosion in their mother’s home, killing one young family member of crippling Mrs. Samuel.
Now the James brothers just hope to make it back to their families and the women who love them.
Jeffrey Hunter as Frank James, worried about the planned holdup in Northfield in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Review:
Whether this is a truer version of the Jesse James story than the many that came before it is debateable. Two key action scenes — the brothers crashing their horses through a store window in Northfield, then charging them off a cliff to escape a posse — were lifted from 1939’s “Jesse James.”
But the film deserves credit for its unusually even-handed approach to Jesse, who isn’t painted as a romantic outlaw striking back at the rich and corrupt.
Despite his mother’s contention that he’s a good boy, he can also be a cold-blooded killer and clearly thrives on the excitement from robbing banks and trains.
Hope Lange plays Zee, Jesse’s wife, in her only Western. The wife of actor Don Murray at the time, she was pregnant with their child during filming. She turns in an impressive performance as the young woman who can’t help but fall in love with the dashing young Jesse, though she doesn’t approve of his means of making a living.
One of the most memorable scenes comes late in the film when Jesse finds his two young children playing outside their home. His son has just “killed” his sister, who was pretending to be Jesse James, not knowing their father’s true identity.
Hope Lange as Zee as husband Jesse James (Robert Wagner) prepares to head out on another ‘job’ in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Alan Hale Jr. (left) as Cole Younger, reading about the exploits of Jesse in a dime novel in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Directed by:
Nicholas Ray
Cast:
Robert Wagner … Jesse James
Jeffrey Hunter … Frank James
Hope Lange … Zee
Agnes Morehead … Mrs. Samuel
Alan Hale Jr. … Cole Younger
Alan Baxter … Barney Remington
Rachel Stephens … Anne James
John Carradine … Rev. Jethro Bailey
Barney Phillips … Dr. Samuel
Biff Elliot … Jim Younger
Frank Overton … Maj. Rufus Cobb
Barry Atwater … Attorney Walker
Marian Seldes … Rowena Cobb
Chubby Johnson … Arkew
Frank Gorshin … Charley Ford
Carl Thayler … Robby Ford
John Doucette … Sheriff Hillstrom
Runtime: 93 min.
Barry Atwater as Walker, the first attorney to bring a member of the James gang to justice in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Alan Baxter as Barney Remington, telling the Howard family about his plans for the James gang in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Memorable lines:
Zee: “What? Aren’t I pretty enough to kiss?”
Jesse: “Don’t tease me. I’m warning you.”
Zee: “About what? Your hidden fires?”
Frank James: “Killing’s not going to help us.”
Jesse James: “It will help me.”
Frank James: “You really like killing, don’t you?”
Jesse James: “It comes easy in our business.”
Frank James: “Is that why you chose this business? So you could go on killing?”
Jesse: “You’ve done your share of it.”
Frank: “I’m not proud of it.”
Jesse: “Well, I am. Jesse James. That name means something. And when those Yankee bankers hear it, they start shaking.”
Jesse to Cole, as they head into Northfield: “Do you want me to go over it again, Cole?”
Cole: “Sure. My mind is all in a whirl. I never robbed a bank before.”
Jesse James: “Why did everything go right for so long, but now nothing seems to happen the way it should?”
Frank James: “Because in the beginning, we had a reason. But you wouldn’t remember it.”
Robert Wagner as Jesse James, after being whipped by northern sympathizers, with Agnes Moorehead as his mother in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Hope Lange as Zee frightened as Frank (Jeffrey Hunter) and Mrs. Samuel (Agnes Moorehead) bring home a wounded Jesse in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Hope Lange as Zee and Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Samuel, looking for a place where Jesse can recover from his wounds in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Robert Wagner as Jesse James announces his plan to marry Zee (Hope Lange) as brother Frank (Jeffrey Hunter) looks on in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
John Carradine as Rev. Jethro Bailey, being chatised by Zee for his attitude toward Jesse in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Marian Seldes as Rowena Cobb and Frank Overton as Maj. Rufus Cobb, accepting a dowry for the marriage of Zee in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Jeffrey Hunter as Frank James (right) trying to convince Jesse (Robert Wagner) to call off the Northfield job in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Frank Gorshin as Charley Ford and Carl Thayler as Robby Ford, listening to Jesse talk about settling down in The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
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