I had the greatest trouble believing this film came out in 1939, I would have believed 1959 if not for the principals. Writing, cinematography and acting are far superior to what the average 1930's, or even 1940's film had to offer. Story wise, I found the treatment of the Jesse James legacy to be somewhat sympathetic, even though his ruthlessness and manner grew more extreme as the picture progressed. Perhaps even handed might be the best way to describe it, without knowing all the historical facts behind the James Gang.

Tyrone Power offers a compelling portrait of the man and the outlaw, nicely complemented by Henry Fonda as brother Frank James. Randolph Scott is perfectly understated as Marshal Will Wright, who treads the line between keeping the peace and offering Jesse a fair shake because of the damage caused his family by agents of the St. Louis Midland Rail Road. His presence as a romantic foil for the hand of Zee Cobb (Nancy Kelly) could have been overplayed, but director Henry King managed to keep that relationship one of admiration and respect. The one performance I think everyone can agree on as being suitably bombastic was that of Henry Hull as newspaper editor Rufus Cobb. By the time his third or fourth editorial came around, any viewer would have been able to write it.

I caught the film on Encore Westerns today, but if I had a copy of the picture, the scene I would be replaying time after time would be that tumble over the cliff on horseback that the James Brothers made while being chased by the railroad posse. Fonda's horse went over in a virtual somersault and it made me jump in my seat. I know the PETA folks would have a problem with it, but that might be the best aerial horse maneuver I've ever seen, and I've seen a few, especially in the 'B' oaters of the 1930's and '40's. John Wayne's Lone Star Westerns also featured some insane horse spills, which I've come to learn were achieved by the use of trip wires. I guess that's why you don't see any of those declarations about not harming animals prior to about the 1960's.

Anyway, "Jesse James" succeeds on a number of levels, even if historical accuracy is compromised. The one thing I think most viewers could agree on would be Major Rufus' eulogy - "There ain't no question about it, Jesse was an outlaw..."

Everyone should have somebody like Henry Hull deliver an epitaph.

The story of Jesse W. James, America's most notorious outlaw, the American Dick Turpin or Ned Kelly, was especially popular in the Depression era Thirties. With people having very little disposable income and losing homes to banks out there in the same country where less than a century before Jesse James rode, why wouldn't he be popular.

The basic outlines of the Jesse James saga in this film are true. After he and brother Frank had done Civil War service with Quantrill's Raiders, he settled down to be a farmer. And it's true that Jesse and Frank's mother, played here by Jane Darwell, was a victim of a firebomb from the railroad that was trying to evict them from their land. After that the James boys became outlaws, the most notorious our wild west ever saw.

Tyrone Power gives a classic interpretation of Jesse James in what turned out to be his first western and first color film. And it was also the first trip to the cinematic wild west for Henry Fonda as Frank James. Fonda got the best reviews for his laconic, understated interpretation of Frank James and it was so popular that he did a sequel film, The Return of Frank James two years later.

Randolph Scott as the honest marshal has never been given proper recognition for his role. He's got a sense of decency and fair play and some of his best moments come during Power's jailbreak after he's been tricked into surrendering himself. Scott leaves railroad President Donald Meek to his own devices. Of course Power turns the table on president Donald Meek and humiliates him. Of course Meek exacts a terrible revenge.

J. Edward Bromberg as the detective/hit-man that Meek hires has some of his best screen moments. He's a jovial, but ruthless character and your sympathies aren't with him. To be fair though by this time Jesse James was not a Robin Hood crusader, but a full blown outlaw.

The only other portrayals of note are Nancy Kelly as Jesse's wife and her uncle, town newspaper editor Henry Hull, author of some flaming editorials and John Carradine as the Judas of Jesse's gang.

Remember that the Jameses are post Civil War white southerners with the racial attitudes of same. The portrayal of Ernest Whitman as Pinky has come in for criticism. But probably the portrayal rings true, because Whitman would have had to bow low and shuffle for survival's sake. And 1939 was the year of Gone With the Wind.

Still Jesse James is good entertainment though not exactly the real story of our most notorious buckaroo.

Of all the films Hollywood made during the golden years, my least favorite were ones that played very fast and loose with the facts about the Old West. And, of all the Westerns, those about Jesse James as well as the gunfight at the OK Corral are the worst. Think of it from my point of view. I am an American history teacher and for some bizarre reason, I like my historical films to actually bear some semblance to what actually occurred!!

JESSE JAMES, like all these other films, is a historical nightmare from start to finish. The life of this evil killer and thief is practically impossible to discern in this silly but entertaining film from 20th Century-Fox Studios. Instead of a bad man, according to the film, he is unfairly pushed to a life of crime by an evil railroad AND he and his brother, Frank, are good boys at heart!! With such stupid revisionism, we should soon expect to see films where Hitler, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jeffrey Dahmer are heroes!! There are tons more mistakes about the characters--but simply too many to bother mentioning. In fact, what is NOT wrong would be quicker and easier to discuss!! Additionally, there are just every cliché known to Westerns, such as the shootout ("count three and fire"),Frank giving the town an ultimatum to give him back Jesse by midnight "or else", happy and intensely loyal Black servants, the Robin Hood-like quality of the gang (though at least they showed how eventually he became more of a hardened criminal),the death of Frank and Jesse's momma pushing them to crime, Henry Hull's character from start to finish as well as his comments like "Jesse played fair" and "he was one of the gol-dangedest gol-darnestest buckaroos"!

As for the non-historical aspects of the film, there is a lot to like. The film is shot in glorious Technicolor and the camera work is incredible. I especially loved the extremely difficult shot of the nighttime raid on the train--the moving external shot was NOT an easy thing to do and it looked great. Additionally, being an A-picture from the studio, the cast was spectacular--Tyrone Power (Jesse),Henry Fonda (Frank),Henry Hull (playing a role much like you might expect Walter Brennan to usually play),Randolph Scott, Jane Darwell, Donald Meek and Brian Donlevy make for an excellent cast. And, I must admit the film was fun to watch if you could care less about the facts and just want to be entertained. Unfortunately, for folks like me, it's a chore to watch even a well-made film if it's so historically inaccurate.

By the way, it should also be mentioned that according to the IMDb trivia section, this film should be remembered for its total disregard for the welfare of the horses during filming. In exciting scenes, horses actually died to make the shots look good and although I am NOT a bleeding-heart, I just can't help but be appalled with this disregard for the animals. Not surprisingly, this film led to changes in the industry to protect animals in future films.