THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES (Fox, 1940)

THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES is a sequel to JESSE JAMES (Fox, 1939).  You can read a review of the latter film here.

DIRECTOR: Fritz Lang;  PRODUCER: Darryl F. Zanuck; WRITER: screenplay by Sam Hellman; CINEMATOGRAPHER: George Barnes

CAST: Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Jackie Cooper, Henry Hull, John Carradine, J. Edward Bromberg, Donald Meek, Eddie Collins, George Barbier, Russell Hicks, Ernest Whitman, Charles Tannen, Lloyd Corrigan, Victor Killian, George Chandler, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Milton Kibbee

FACT OR FICTION?
Well, after all it is a movie; therefore, it is mostly fiction. Here are the historical facts presented in the movie (this won't take long):

• There were two outlaw brothers from Missouri named Frank and Jesse James;
• They led a gang that held up banks and trains;
• Jesse was assassinated in his living room in St. Joseph, Missouri by gang member Bob Ford, who was assisted by his brother, Charlie;
• The Ford brothers were tried and convicted of murder, but were pardoned by the governor and received a reward;
• Frank surrendered, was tried and acquitted.

The rest of the film is pure fiction, a product of the screenwriter and director's imaginations.  Since no one should go to a movie for a history lesson, if done right, the film could still be an enjoyable experience for the viewer.  It is a sequel to the classic JESSE JAMES (Fox, 1939) and although it doesn't measure up to the high standards of that film it is, for the most part, an entertaining film.


THE PLOT.
Frank (Henry Fonda) has quit the outlaw trail and has settled down to the peaceful pursuits of a farmer somewhere in the Missouri Ozarks.  Only two people know of his whereabouts: an ex-slave named Pinky (Ernest Whitman) and Clem (Jackie Cooper), the young son of a former gang member killed during a hold-up.

Then one day Frank learns that Jesse was shot and killed and that the killer was Bob Ford (John Carradine), who had help from his brother Charlie. Since the Fords were tried and convicted and sentenced to hang, Frank was satisfied that justice was being served.

Bob Ford, the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard and laid poor Jesse in his grave.

Later Frank reads in the newspaper that the Fords have not only been pardoned by the governor, but that they have received a reward for killing Jesse. This news spurs him to ride off in search of the Fords, who skedaddle farther west, eventually holding up in Denver.

Frank, Clem, and Pinky learn that justice has been denied.

In his quest to track down the Fords, Frank is assisted (hampered) by young and impetuous Clem, who idolizes Frank and has visions of following in the footsteps of both his idol and his late father.

Frank has another problem; he needs money to finance his efforts.  Consequently, he decides to rob the railroad express office since it was the railroad that provided the reward money that was paid to the Fords.  Unfortunately, Clem, who has been trailing Frank, decides to make his presence known to Frank at the time of the robbery. Everything goes haywire at that point and the watchman is accidentally killed and Frank becomes a murder suspect.

In Denver, Frank and Clem concoct a story about Frank's death in Mexico, a story that they pass on to Eleanor Stone (Gene Tierney), a gullible young female reporter working for her father's newspaper.

Gullible, but beautiful

Meanwhile, Frank and Clem are able to locate the Fords, but in a hot pursuit Bob escapes, while Charlie meets his end by falling off a cliff.

Frank makes plans to ride after Bob when Eleanor informs him that back home in Missouri Pinky has been arrested and convicted for the robbery of the railroad freight office and has been sentenced to hang.  Frank rides back to Missouri in order to save Pinky and is arrested and charged with the murder of the watchman.

Major Cobb (Henry Hull)

Frank's friend and advocate, newspaper editor Major Rufus Cobb (Henry Hull), serves as his defense counsel in the subsequent trial.  The major is able to sway the jury by making the railroad a culprit that had a history of taking advantage of small farmers -- the very kind that made up the jury.  It worked.  Just before the jury's verdict was announced, Bob Ford entered the rear of the courtroom, hoping to see the jury hand down a guilty verdict.  When the jury instead announced a not guilty verdict, Bob Ford fled from the courtroom with Frank close behind.

Outside the courtroom, and off-camera, Clem and Ford engage in a shoot-out in which both are fatally wounded.

Now that Jesse's death has been avenged, Frank can go back to his Ozark farm, but not alone.  No, traveling with him is Eleanor, his new bride.

No, just kidding, that didn't happen.

Here's why:

Fox produced four movies based on Stuart Lake's "biography" of Wyatt Earp. In making the first two the studio was plagued by threatened lawsuits by Wyatt's widow, Josephine, who was concerned about how she or her late husband might be portrayed in the films. In the first instance the studio changed Wyatt's name to Michael Wyatt and in the second they settled with her out of court -- and left her out of both films. Finally, with Josie's death, the studio was able to make the other two films without any interference from that quarter.

When the studio filmed JESSE JAMES, the screenplay mostly ignored historical fact, but it did allow for Jesse's marriage to Zerelda Mimms.  This was done even though Zee had died in 1900.  However, her son, Jesse Edwards James, who happened to be a lawyer, was very much alive.  At any rate the studio did not want to deal with lawsuits from the family that might object to any indication that Jesse had been involved with women other than Zee.

On the other hand, Frank remained a bachelor in the film, when in fact he had married Annie Ralston only a few weeks after Jesse and Zee had wed.  Annie was very much alive when the movie was filmed (she died in 1944), but apparently did not object to having been left out of the screenplay.

In THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, Frank is still single and there is no doubt that he and Eleanor are infatuated with each other.  In the film's closing scenes Eleanor is heading back to her home in Denver and there is an implication that Frank might make his way there later.  But they part with a handshake and a wave.

THE CAST.
Henry Fonda (1905-1982) was on his way to becoming one of the most highly sought after and critically acclaimed actors in the business.  He was also in the process of becoming John Ford's favorite actor, which turned out to be good news for director and actor.

In 1939, the busy actor appeared in five films, including the aforementioned JESSE JAMES, as well as YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (Fox) and DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (Fox), both directed by Ford.  

In 1940, he not only starred in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, but also gave what was his greatest performance (not just my opinion) in another Ford film, THE GRAPES OF WRATH (Fox).

Gene Tierney (1920-1991), on the other hand, made her screen debut in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES.  She had done some acting on the stage but this was her first film and she probably should not have been given such an important role so early in her career.  It isn't that she was awful, but when compared with the large group of professionals appearing in the film, her novice status was apparent.

Variety went so far as to say that "the only member with whom fault can be found is Gene Tierney....[She] is plenty pretty but for oomph she just isn't." The writer went on to say that she seemed to lack what it takes to make an impression on the screen.

The Harvard Lampoon even named her "The Worst Female Discovery of 1940."  At least, they spelled her name right.

Both are harsh assessments, too harsh, and theirs was not a universal view. Some critics thought she showed promise. And Brian Garfield wrote in his book, Western Films: A Complete Guide, that Tierney was excellent in the film.  In fact, as you can read below, he liked her much more than he liked the film.

I wouldn't say she was either excellent or terrible. It was obvious that the camera loved her and that she possessed real potential.  Unfortunately, Fox didn't know what to do with her. The following year she was miscast in two films: TOBACCO ROAD and BELLE STARR. The latter was a follow-up effort to cash in on the studio's success with the two featuring the James brothers by bringing the notorious "bandit queen" to the screen. Not only was it almost totally fictional, but it was hokey and had few redeeming qualities.

After all those false starts, the studio finally cast her in a film that was tailor made for her.  She gave her greatest performance (not just my opinion) as murder victim Laura Hunt in LAURA (Fox, 1944).  She followed that film a year later with an Oscar-nominated Best Actress performance in LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (Fox).  

During her remaining career she would appear in only one more Western: THE SECRET OF CONVICT LAKE (Fox, 1951).

Gene Tierney was nominated for an Academy Award at age twenty-five and Henry Fonda was first nominated for an Oscar at age thirty-five for his performance in THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Jackie Cooper was nominated for a Best Actor Award in 1931. The film was SKIPPY, and he was nine-years-old.

Jackie Cooper (L) and Robert Coogan (R) in a scene from SKIPPY.

At the time of his nomination he was the youngest performer to be nominated for an Academy Award and is still the youngest to be nominated for a Best Actor Award.

Besides SKIPPY, his best known performances were in co-starring roles with Wallace Beery in THE CHAMP (1931) and TREASURE ISLAND (1934).

Like many (most?) child actors Cooper experienced difficulty in making the transition to more mature roles.  Many years later, however, he made a comeback in television as an Emmy Award winning actor/director.

By the way, Jackie Cooper first gained prominence when he became one of the most popular members of the "Our Gang" troupe in 1929-31.  Ironically, another former popular member of that gang, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, has a couple of scenes in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES.

The supporting cast in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES is superb and in many cases it consists of performers reprising their JESSE JAMES roles, including: Henry Hull as Major Cobb; John Carradine as Bob Ford; Charles Tannen as Charlie Ford; J. Edward Bromberg as George Runyan, railroad detective; Donald Meek as McCoy, the head of the railroad; Ernest Whitman as Pinky; and George Chandler as Roy, Major Cobb's assistant.

J. Edward Bromberg (L) as railroad detective George Runyan and Henry Hull (R) as Major Rufus Cobb

John Carradine as a worried Bob Ford

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that John Carradine, in the same year that he portrayed the despicable turncoat Bob Ford, also gave a touching and haunting performance as the preacher Casy in THE GRAPES OF WRATH.  In fact, he had become one of John Ford's favorite supporting actors. 


THE CREW.
Friedrich Christian "Fritz" Lang (1890-1976) was an accomplished director who specialized in film noir.  Therefore, he was a surprise choice to direct THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, since he not only had never directed a western, he had never even directed a color film.  The film is overly slow moving at times, but that may be the fault of the script as much as Lang's direction. Regardless of that criticism, the film was a winner at the box-office.

Fox, pleased with the financial success of Lang's first Western, signed him to film one the following year, and the results were even better.  If WESTERN UNION  an epic film about the stringing of the telegraph, does not achieve classic status, it comes very close.  And for sure, it provided Randolph Scott with one of his very best performances.

Lang directed only one other western, and though RANCHO NOTORIOUS (RKO, 1952) has its partisans, I confess that I am not one of them.  It isn't Lang's direction but the cast that makes it a weak film. There were just too many performers in the film who were never believable in western roles.



  



Frank and Clem pursue Bob and Charley with the Rocky Mountains (Sierra Nevadas) as a backdrop.    

Bob and Charley cross on a treacherously narrow bridge -- and in hot pursuit Frank and Clem will do the same.




One of the great strengths of JESSE JAMES was the lush, lavish color photography provided by George Barnes (1892-1953).  Added to the appeal of the film was the fact that much of it was shot on location in Missouri where most of the story takes place. The entire sequel was filmed in California, with the Sierra Nevadas standing in for the Colorado Rockies.

For the most part it is also beautifully photographed except for some Denver town scenes marred by obviously fake snowcaps in the background. That, however, was not Barnes' fault, but was a cost-cutting measure.

Barnes photographed his first feature in 1918 and went on to film two Rudolph Valentino films, including his final one, THE SON OF SHEIK (UA, 1926). Nominated eight times for an Academy Award, he won for his work on REBECCA (UA), released the same year as THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES. 

 
******

REVIEWS:

"...it's not a bad picture but it doesn't have the spirited flavor of JESSE JAMES.  Lang's directorial hand was heavy and humorless....A big movie lamentably dated." -- Brian Garfield, Western Films: A Complete Guide

"Where Henry King's film [JESSE JAMES] is romantic, lush even, Lang's, despite the revenge motive which occurs so often in his work as the force behind the narrative, is almost a sentimental celebration of the Old West...The result is a slow-moving and strangely anonymous looking film. -- Phil Hardy, The Western

"Though neither one of Lang's nor the Jesse James cycle's best films, [it is] a rewarding curiosity." -- Richard Collins, The BFI Companion to the Western

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

#7

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (Fox, 1946)

DIRECTOR: John Ford;  PRODUCER: Samuel G. Engel;  WRITERS: Samuel G. Engel and Winston Miller (screenplay), Sam Hellman (story), Stuart N. Lake (book);  Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald


CAST:  Henry Fonda, Jane Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson, Francis Ford, Fred Libby, Mickey Simpson, Charles Stevens, Harry Woods


Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda): "Mac, you ever been in love?"

Mac (J. Farrell MacDonald): "No, I've been a bartender all my life."

Henry Fonda is Wyatt Earp

When Legend Becomes Fact.

If one is looking for an historical retelling of the Tombstone war, one must look elsewhere.  A good place to begin would be with two biographies: Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend by Casey Tefertiller and Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends by Allen Barra.

Notice that legend appears in both titles.  Both writers do their best to identify what is fact and what is legend, while Hollywood has done very little of that down through the years, though the last two Earp films, TOMBSTONE (Cinergi, 1993) and WYATT EARP (WB, 1994) came much closer than any of its predecessors. (Disclosure: I have never been able to sit through an entire viewing of WYATT EARP which lasts over three hours, but seems longer.  But its pretty accurate.)

And television?  Well, there was an extremely popular series starring Hugh O'Brian that ran from 1955 to 1962, and its title was The Life and Legend (of course) of Wyatt Earp.  Its source material is the same as that for MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, that being Stuart N. Lake's book, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal.

Lake's book, supposedly a biography, is loosely (very loosely) based on fact and John Ford's movie is loosely (very loosely) based on Lake's book.  See the problem?  The names have not been changed, but the facts have been (to protect the guilty?).

There is an easier way to fact check CLEMENTINE If you're not ready to read the two biographies, though I certainly do recommend them. You can go here to the IMDb site for a list of the film's factual errors and you will not have to read the books and I will not have to detail the historical inaccuracies.

Director John Ford is clearly on record as being much more interested in a good story than in historical truth.  As he was once quoted: "You build a legend and it becomes fact."  That is what Lake did with his biography and what Ford did with the film.  On another occasion Ford said: "A legend is more interesting than actual facts.  When given the choice of filming the legend or the facts, I will always film the legend."

And of course there is the famous line from the newspaperman in Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (Ford/Paramount, 1962): "This is the West, sir.  When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

One last thing about the truth-stretching in the film and then we will move on. 

Ford claimed that as a young man he had become acquainted with Earp who explained the famous shootout at the OK Corral to him and that he had filmed it that way with a few minor changes.  

If that is true, somebody fibbed.  Either Earp fibbed about what happened or Ford fibbed about filming it the way Earp described it, for what we see on the screen, though extremely well-staged, is nothing like the actual event, but much more exciting.

With all the historical inaccuracies it is still possible to sit back and enjoy this film.  Despite what Ford said the film was never intended to be a history lesson.

Fonda is perfectly cast and gives a superb performance, with strong support from the rest of the cast.

It is also one of John Ford's best films, and that is saying a lot.  Joseph McDonald's superb black-and-white camerawork adds an air of authenticity to both the interior and exterior filming.  

Wyatt meets Clementine



The Cast. 

At this point in their respective careers, Henry Fonda had become John Ford's favorite actor, and with good reason. It was the first film for both Ford and Fonda (and Victor Mature) after military service during World War II.  

Prior to the war they had teamed to film some enduring classics: YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (Fox, 1939); DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (Fox, 1939); and THE GRAPES OF WRATH (Fox, 1940).  

Still to come soon after CLEMENTINE were THE FUGITIVE (Argosy/RKO, 1947) and FORT APACHE (Argosy/RKO, 1948).  Fonda was magnificent in all these films, but especially so in THE GRAPES OF WRATH and CLEMENTINE.

Marshal Earp and Doc Holliday



Victor Mature, as Doc Holliday, gives what many believe is his finest performance.  My only reservation is that he looked far too healthy to portray the consumptive gambler-gunfighter.  

I've always wondered if the role should have gone to another actor in the film, the underrated and always interesting John Ireland, who portrays Billy Clanton.  He possessed the gaunt features, angular physique, and talent to have done justice to the role.



John Henry (Doc) Holliday

Old Man Clanton

Walter Brennan is Old Man Clanton, the patriarch of his ranching-rustling family and the main villain in the story.  Here he is not only an irascible old-timer, he is a mean, irascible old-timer, and he gives one of his best performances.  Soon thereafter he would revert to his usual role as irascible, but harmless, old-timer sidekick type in films such as RED RIVER (UA, 1948), THE FAR COUNTRY (Universal, 1955) and RIO BRAVO (WB, 1959). He would also parody his Old Man Clanton role to marvelous effect as Pa Danby in SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (UA, 1969).

"Wide-awake, wide-open town, Tombstone.  You can get anything you want there." -- Old Man Clanton

 

Ford objected to the casting of Linda Darnell in the role of Chihuhua, Holliday's Latin girlfriend, but the studio was attempting to develop her into a major star and insisted that she be given the role.  It is an important character, though entirely fictitious, and Ford was correct in his assessment.  She would go on to do some good work in a few films, but she was miscast in this one.



the beautiful Chihuahua



CLEMENTINE (Cathy Downs): "I love your town in the morning, Marshal.  The air is so clean and clear -- the scent of desert flower."

WYATT (Henry Fonda): "That's me -- barber." 

 

Wyatt and Clementine

(Notice the tombstone.  

Wyatt had a brother named James and one named Warren, but none named James Warren. In the movie the Earp brothers are peaceful cowboys driving a cattle herd.  One night near Tombstone their herd is stampeded and James is killed.  The Earps discover that it is the Clantons who were responsible.  This leads to the blood feud between the two families.

None of this actually happened.  There was a blood feud, but it was not caused by the above, which was a product  of the screenwriters' imagination.)

Cathy Downs, a contract player at Fox, was given the role of the title character.  It was only the second credited role in her career and, as it turned out, the high-point. She would go on to star in B-movies, including sci-fi films in the 50's, and then concentrate on television for the remainder of her career.

Wyatt's brothers, Morgan and Virgil, are portrayed by Ward Bond and Tim Holt.  Beginning with this film Bond would become an important member of the Ford stock company.
 

Holt, also returning from the war, was a popular B-cowboy at RKO for many years.  He sometimes took supporting roles in major productions, but would always return to the saddle and during the postwar years would star in some of the best B-Westerns ever made.  He was an excellent horseman and from an early age a champion polo player.

Chihuahua and a playful Wyatt

You can watch MY DARLING CLEMENTINE on YouTube.

     

******

REVIEWS

"Full of wonderful details and vignettes; exquisitely photographed by Joseph P. MacDonald.  One of director Ford's finest films." -- Leonard Maltin

"One of the greatest movie Westerns...hardly the most accurate film version of the Wyatt Earp legend, but it still is one of the most entertaining." -- Bosley Crowther in The New York Times

"[It] was easily one of Ford's best Westerns, its simplicity and beauty weakened only by an untypical and excessive number of closeups of Linda Darnell.  MY DARLING CLEMENTINE is quite certainly the best of all the Wyatt Earp films." -- William K. Everson in A Pictorial History of the Western Film 

    

"It is perhaps the best use of Henry Fonda's special persona ever realized....what makes the film so powerful -- it works well both at the personal-story level and the level of mythology." -- J.A. Place in The Western Films of John Ford

"The character of Wyatt Earp...was Fonda's best performance and creation." -- Andrew Sinclair in John Ford

"It's a great legendary myth.  Fonda quietly imbues the Earp character with stunning power.  And Ford's visual images...while not spectactularly scenic...could be hung as fine paintings....Lyrical, introspective, dreamlike; one of the most beautiful films directed by John Ford, with Henry Fonda fixing foursquarely the mythic image of Wyatt Earp." -- Brian Garfield in Western Films: A Complete Guide

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp in the movies:

George O'Brien (1934)

Randolph Scott (l939)

Richard Dix (l942)

Henry Fonda (1946)

Will Geer (1950)

Joel McCrea (1955)

Hugh O'Brian (1955-1962)

Burt Lancaster (1957)



James Stewart (1964)

James Garner (1967)

Harris Yulin (1971)

James Garner (1988)

Kurt Russell (1993)

Kevin Costner (1994)

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- JESSE JAMES

# 9

JESSE JAMES (Fox, 1939)

 

DIRECTOR: Henry King;  PRODUCER: Darryl F. Zanuck; WRITER: Nunnally Johnson;  CINEMATOGRAPHERS: George Barnes, W.H. Greene;  SECOND UNIT DIRECTOR: Otto Brower;  STUNTS:  Cliff Lyons;  HISTORICAL DATA ASSEMBLER: Jo Frances James

CAST:  Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, Randolph Scott, Henry Hull, Slim Summerville, J. Edward Bromberg, Brian Donlevy, John Carradine, Donald Meek, John Russell, Jane Darwell, Charles Tannen, Willard Robertson, Harold Goodwin, Ernest Whitman, Eddy Waller, Paul Burns, Spencer Charters, Charles Middleton, George Chandler, Lon Chaney, Jr., Ethan Laidlaw, Tom London, Paul Sutton, Harry Holman

JESSE JAMES #9?   

At this point I suppose I should address the question, "How in Sam Hill can you rank this film ahead of Ford's 'cavalry trilogy' or the Boetticher-Scott films, and for cryin' out loud, HIGH NOON? 

There is a simple answer.  This is not a ranking of "greatest" Western films.  I am not in a position to do that because I don't possess the necessary expertise.

Like any list this one is highly subjective, but more than most.  In fact, it is entirely subjective, for this is a ranking of "my favorite" Westerns and my only criterion is "Do I like this film and how well do I like it?"  And I am an expert on that subject for it is my personal opinion -- the only one I am qualified to give.

Historical Data Assembler.   

To ensure historical accuracy one of Jesse's granddaughters, Jo Frances James, was hired to serve as technical adviser on the film.  She was given the title of historical data assembler.

How did that work out?

Well, this is what she told reporters: "It seemed to me the story was fiction from beginning to end.  About the only connection it had with fact was that there was once a man named Jesse James and he did ride a horse."

It makes one wonder what a historical data assembler does.

Let's get the history out of the way.  First, to correct the historical errors in the film would necessitate far more time and energy than I have.  But let me correct three:

1). Frank and Jesse's mother is killed early in the film before the boys ever take to the outlaw trail.  

In fact, Mrs. Zerelda Elizabeth Cole James Simms Samuel (she was married three times and outlived all three husbands) died of natural causes in 1911.  She was 86-years-old.  Therefore, she outlived Jesse by almost twenty years and died only four years before Frank.

2). According to the movie, it was the land-grabbing St. Louis Midland Railroad's agents that killed Mrs. Samuel, which motivated Frank and Jesse to avenge her death and declare war on the greedy railroads.  

In fact, there has never been a St. Louis Midland Railroad, except in the movies.   Furthermore, at the time that railroad agents supposedly killed Mrs. Samuel in an effort to scare her into selling her land, there was no railroad anywhere near her farm and would not be for many years.

However, a railroad is tangentially connected to her demise.  She died in a pullman car while traveling from Fletcher, Oklahoma to her home near Kearney, Missouri.  She had been visiting Frank who farmed near Fletcher. 

Jane Darwell, Frank and Jesse's movie mother

Zerelda Cole James Simms Samuel, mother of Frank and Jesse

The real mother of Frank and Jesse is a very interesting and important part of the boys' life and times and it is too bad that Nunnally Johnson's script killed her off early in the story.  But matronly Jane Darwell, who portrayed her in the film, would have been the wrong person to portray the real Zerelda.

3). The James Gang in reality, at least before the Northfield debacle in 1876, should rightfully be called the James-Younger Gang.  But Cole and his brothers are absent from this film.  The only gang member, other than Frank and Jesse, that we learn anything about is Bob Ford, and most of what we learn is wrong.

Okay, that's enough history.  Let's go to the movie.

ENGINEER (Harry Holman): "What you aiming to do, pardner?"

JESSE JAMES (Tyrone Power): "I ain't aiming to do nothing.  I'm doing it.  I'm holding up this train."

ENGINEER: "The whole train?"

Heroes and Villains. 

Western movies do not always reflect the times in which they are set, but they do often reflect the times in which they are filmed.  And this is very much true of JESSE JAMES. The heroes in the film are the outlaws who rob the trains and banks and the villains are the trains and banks.

The movie was made during the Great Depression and the perceived villains of that economic collapse were the large greedy corporations.  

Throughout the 30's, Hollywood studios, especially Warner Brothers, produced gangster films and other dramatic productions that criticized the way big business had destroyed the American way of life.  

JESSE JAMES just happens to be a gangster film set in the post-Civil War Midwest.

It is a whitewash all the way and has done more to perpetuate the myth of Jesse as Robin Hood than any other movie or novel. 

Of course, Jesse did rob the rich, for it would have been incredibly stupid to rob the poor, and Jesse wasn't stupid, but he didn't give away his ill-gotten gains to the poor either, but kept it all for himself. 

The Other Jesse James Films.  

The 1939 film was not the first, nor the last, to portray the Missouri outlaws on the screen.  But it was the first to have a big-time director, a big-time budget, and a big-time cast of stars and supporting performers.

Furthermore, even though there have been more accurate films dealing with the subject, none, including Brad Pitt's more recent THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (WB, 2007), has been more enjoyable.  

JESSE JAMES is done in great style with an excellent cast, good production values, and excellent Technicolor photography. It also helped to establish a cycle of Westerns in the 40's in which actual outlaws of the Old West were whitewashed and glamorized.

Brian Garfield writes in The Western Film: A Complete Guide: "Comparing a full-bodied movie like this to the more recent GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID [Universal, 1972] or THE LONG RIDERS [UA, 1980] is like comparing a long satisfying rich novel with a short story."  It would be interesting to know his opinion of Brad Pitt's film.  

1939.  

Despite the fact that the film was released in 1939, a year that saw the release of more classic films than any year in history, JESSE JAMES was a huge financial success.  Only three films -- GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME -- were larger grossing films that year.

Tyrone Power as Jesse James is surprisingly good

Henry Fonda, as Frank James, gives the best performance in the film

             

The Stars.  

Tyrone Power's first starring role had been in LLOYD'S OF LONDON (1936).  The director was Henry King.  JESSE JAMES was their fourth collaboration and they would go on to make a total of eleven films together.

JESSE JAMES was Power's first Western and it would be one of only a few that he would appear in.  The others with one exception are mostly forgettable.  

The exception is the generally forgotten and underrated RAWHIDE (1951, directed by Henry Hathaway, co-starring Susan Hayward)

(You can watch RAWHIDE on YouTube.)

Power isn't the best actor in JESSE JAMES, but he more than holds his own and turns in a fine performance.

JESSE JAMES was also Henry Fonda's first Western, but there would be many more in his future, several of them true classics.  He is outstanding as brother Frank and overshadows everyone else in the film.  

A year later he would reprise his role as Frank in the sequel, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES (Fox, directed by Fritz Lang), which is even more historically unreliable than its predecessor, but is nevertheless a well-made and enjoyable film. (also on YouTube)

Nancy Kelly as Jesse's faithful wife, Zee

Randolph Scott as fictitious faithful lawman friend of Frank and Jesse

The Supporting Cast. 

Nancy Kelly is acceptable as Jesse's long-suffering, but faithful wife, Zee.  Randolph Scott is good as an honest, but fictitious, lawman who attempts, but fails, to help the boys to go straight.

Comedy relief is supplied by Slim Summerville, Donald Meek, and Henry Hull.  

Hull's character is loosely based on Major John Newman Edwards who rode with Confederate General Jo Shelby during the Civil War.  After the war newspaperman Edwards became a champion of and apologist for ex-Confederate guerillas such as Frank and Jesse and the Youngers and others who rode the outlaw trail.

John Carradine (L), as Bob Ford, and Tyrone Power (R), as Jesse James, have a date with destiny

 

The real Bob Ford, "that dirty little coward"

John Carradine seems to have always given a good performance and he does not disappoint as Bob Ford, even though the real Ford was only 20-years-old when he shot Jesse and Carradine at the time was in his thirties.  

Nunnally Johnson's script also departed from the historical record by presenting Ford as a member of the outlaw gang from its inception to the very end.  The real Bob Ford did not participate in a single hold-up.

Henry Fonda, Henry Hull, John Carradine, J.Edward Bromberg, and Donald Meek would repeat their roles in Fox's sequel to JESSE JAMES

Pineville.   

Director Henry King wanted to film JESSE JAMES as much as possible in the area in which the events of the story transpired.  But after scouting the Kearney/Liberty, Missouri area, which is located near Kansas City, it was found that due to urbanization and modernization that would not be possible.

But down in the extreme southwestern corner of Missouri, they found what they were looking for.  Even though Pineville had fewer than 350 residents, it was the county seat of sparsely-settled McDonald County and thus had a red brick courthouse that was exactly the kind of structure the filmmakers were seeking.

Unfortunately, the main street had recently been paved. But that was a minor inconvenience as many loads of dirt were hauled in to cover the pavement.  False fronts were added to buildings along the courthouse square and several buildings were even constructed from scratch.

The construction, the hiring of locals as extras, and the attracting of tourists who flocked to the area to see the movie stars had the effect of injecting some badly needed cash into Pineville's Depression-era economy.

  

Dabbs Greer, shown here in a much later role, made his screen debut as an extra in JESSE JAMES

Robert William "Dabbs" Greer, a native of southwest Missouri, 21-years-old at the time, made his screen debut as a $5 a day extra in the film.  

He did not appear in another film for another decade, but would later appear in almost a hundred films and hundreds of TV episodes.  He became best known for recurring roles on GUNSMOKE and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.

Stunts.   

Cliff Lyons, one of Hollywood's legendary stuntmen, doubled for both Power and Fonda in the film.  

During one of the most spectacular, and most unfortunate, stunts ever photographed Lyons plunges his horse off a high bluff into the Lake of the Ozarks.  He survived, but the horse was killed.  

Some accounts say that two horses and riders jumped off the bluff, but in fact it was only one.  Two cameras shot the leap from two different angles and the film was cut in such a manner that it appears to be two horses and two riders.

The death of the horse led the American Humane Association to become involved in monitoring the use of animals in film productions.

Another spectacular stunt, staged by second unit director Otto Brower and beautifully shot by cinematographer George Barnes, involves the first train hold-up.  

Lyons, doubling Power, races his horse behind the train on the crossties between the rails in order to catch and board the train.  The horse clearly stumbles and almost goes down.  Since there would have been no soft landing on the track, it would have been bad news for horse and rider. Both stunts have to be seen on a big screen to be truly appreciated but the complete movie can be viewed on YouTube.  

  

The Director.  

JESSE JAMES was director Henry King's first sound Western.  He only directed three, but he hit the jackpot each time.  The other two starred his favorite actor, Gregory Peck.  

They are THE GUNFIGHTER (Fox, 1950), a true classic, and THE BRAVADOS (Fox, 1958), an excellent and underrated Western.

The Song.    

Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man, 

He robbed the Danville train.

But that dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard 

Has laid poor Jesse in his grave.

Poor Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life,
Three children, they were brave,
But the dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
Has laid poor Jesse in his grave.

It was Robert Ford, that dirty little coward,
I wonder how he did feel,
For he ate of Jesse's bread, and he slept in Jesse's bed,
Then he laid poor Jesse in his grave.

******

REVIEWS

"The movies have their truths, which rarely align with those of history....The true story of Jesse James, despite all the dime novels and B movies, remains untold, perhaps because in its savagery it really is as American as apple pie and, as such, unspeakably hard to tell." -- Manohla Dargis in The New York Times

"Jesse James, notorious train and bank bandit of the late 19th century, and an important figure in the history of the midwest frontier, gets a drastic bleaching.  Script by Nunnally Johnson is an excellent chore, nicely mixing human interest, dramatic suspense, romance and fine characterizations for swell entertainment." -- Variety 

"It is a good Western, told with astonishing sympathy for the brutal outlaws...[but] it would be interesting to know if Hollywood is just as proud of John Dillinger and Al Capone." -- New York Sun

 

"Henry Fonda, as the tobacco-chewing Frank James, is a beautiful characterization, but our favorite is Henry Hull, as the small-town editor and friend of the James clan, whose dictated editorials are priceless gems of frontier humor...." -- New York Times

"It is worth remarking that never can horses have been so thoroughly used as (literally) carriers of action and (symbolically) agents of movement.  They crash through plate-glass windows, ride tumultously over the terrain and even plunge over a cliff into a river, as Frank and Jesse make a particularly daring esape...." -- Clive Denton in Hollywood Professionals

"Although this is a dubious piece of historical revisionism, it is an exciting entertainment nevertheless....-- Steven H. Scheuer

Inscription Jesse's mother had engraved on his graveside monument.

In Loving Remembrance of My Beloved Son

Jesse W. James

Died April 3, 1882

AGED 34 YEARS, 6 MONTHS, 28 DAYS
MURDERED BY A TRAITOR AND COWARD WHOSE
NAME IS NOT WORTHY TO APPEAR HERE