Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1957 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Globe: 22 March 1957. U.S. release: February 1957. U.K. release: 20 May 1957. Australian release: 18 April 1957. 8,257 feet. 92 minutes. U.K. release title: "The JAMES BROTHERS".SYNOPSIS: At the end of the Civil War, two brothers form a band of outlaws. But one of the brothers, Jesse, falls in love and decides to settle down in a town where no-one knows his real identity.COMMENT: The script: Although the credit titles make no mention of the fact, what we have here is not so much the "true story" of the James boys, but yet another variation — wearisomely muddled, clumsily constructed and one-dimensionally characterized — of Alfred Noyes' famous poem, "The Highwayman". I don't mind the screenwriter using Noyes as his anonymous source, so long as keeps the story moving as smoothly and rapidly as Noyes does, with plenty of narrative suspense and character conflict, heightened by just the right balance between atmospheric setting and intriguingly realistic background details. Unfortunately, Mr. Newman is a poor hand at all of these vital requirements.The acting: Admittedly, the script is no great shakes, but a good actor won't throw in the towel, no matter how inferior his material. A good actor will try to make something of it. Unfortunately, only one of the principals has made that attempt and she way overdoes it. Thank you, Agnes Moorehead. As for stolid Robert Wagner and equally juvenile Jeffrey Hunter, the most that can be said is that they seem to know their lines.The directing: Mr. Ray has stated, "I was not interested in "The True Story of Jesse James." Thanks, Nick, neither are we.P.S. The original Jesse James was Fox's biggest money-maker for 1939. Tyrone Power was Jesse, Henry Fonda played Frank, Nancy Kelly did Zee, under the direction of Henry King.OTHER VIEWS: After an exciting pre-credit sequence showing a raid on a small Western bank and a man-hunt through a forest, the remainder of "The James Brothers" fails to sustain the promise and vitality of this beginning... The familiar saga seems to have aroused little real interest in its director. — Monthly Film Bulletin.

RanchoTuVu While there is the legend and the truth about Jesse James and his gang, this film, in which the title strongly implies a truthful account, perpetuates the legend of a man who was of the people and who robbed banks that grew rich at their suffering. Is there truth to the legend, then? Google it and find out. The film itself is a solid piece of work from director Nicholas Ray, who, another poster has written, disowned it since the studio forced him to follow a familiar and hokey flashback style. However, even that works out OK, as the film starts with James's biggest failure, the notorious Northfield Minnesota bank robbery fiasco, which it revisits later on to show how the gang was trapped and picked off by strategically placed sharpshooters. The acting is not that great, a factor that seems to be related to the script, but the story itself moves along and has many good scenes from the flashbacks, especially when Jame's neighbor whips him with his belt, and when preacher John Carradine baptizes Jesse and girlfriend Hope Lange on the banks of a river. The film includes some interesting "facts" (?) about the Northfield raid, one of which, the Swedish townsperson wanting to buy one of the gang's horses, made it into Walter Hill's The Long Riders. And the Ford brothers' betrayal is very well done and seemed to have been copied in the Brad Pitt film. Frank Gorshin was an excellent choice to play one of the Ford's. The portrayal of the Fords of hanging around in the background, but present nonetheless, adds a lot for the viewer who knows this story already. As Jesse, Robert Wagner wasn't great, but definitely up to the task. Jesse James is a legend, no matter what the real truth is about him.

Martin Bradley Although the ending of this Nicholas Ray movie is very similar to Andrew Dominik's much, much finer version, (or should that be vice-versa?), there is no comparison between the two films. This is mostly a dull affair with very little of the psychological insights into troubled personalities that have distinguished Ray's best films; all the more mystifying considering the complexity of the central character.Perhaps it was the weak casting. Robert Wagner is pretty as in pretty vacant and is totally out of his depth. (Contrast his performance with that of another 'pretty boy', Brad Pitt, in the most recent version). As his brother Frank, Jeffrey Hunter has little to do but growl on the sidelines while Hope Lange is hardly even a pretty presence as Jesse's wife. Ray also misses the opportunity to use the widescreen for dramatic effect so the movie is handsome without engaging us in any way. No one's finest hour.

dinky-4 Not quite big enough to be an "A" movie, not quite small enough to qualify as a "B" movie, this version of the Jesse James story is too indecisive in its attitude toward its central character to have much impact. The Jesse depicted here is neither good nor bad, and the same thing could be said about the movie itself.It is a very good-looking movie, though it's completely out of touch with the times it's meant to portray. Every set, every costume, every hair-do says "Hollywood 1950s" rather than "Missouri 1870s."Robert Wagner seems too clean-cut to be a frontier outlaw but 20th Century-Fox was trying to push him toward stardom at the time, making use of his "hunk" appeal. He's thus given a few bare-chest scenes. Jeffrey Hunter, another would-be star, fits more easily into the western milieu as Jesse's brother, but his part has clearly been subordinated to keep the attention on the Jesse James character. One wonders how the movie might have been improved had these two actors exchanged roles.Agnes Moorehead and John Carradine lend interest to a better-than-average supporting cast.