The Long Riders (1980)

From my favorite movies..

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Director, Walter Hill was keen to make a western, following his successes with The Driver and The Warriors the previous two years but I don't feel this really is anywhere near as good as the following years Southern Comfort. That starred Keith Carradine and it is he and his brother David who take top honours here. The Keach brothers are fine and similarly the Quaids but although it must have seemed a good notion to have three pairs of siblings play in this Jesse James tale, I'm not sure it works as well as it should have. The men rob banks and then fade out whilst in-between they talk a lot about family and marriage and mothers but it is not too convincing. The film only looks good now and again and it is hard to care for anyone here.

Yet another recounting of the infamous James (Jesse: James Keach , Frank: Stacy Keach, this performance fraternity acquits itself well and both of whom were writers and producers) , who the public regarded them as heroes , from Missouri to Minnesota , including the fateful Northfield raid . The origins , exploits and the ultimate fate of the Jesse James gang is told in an enticing portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of vendetta ; these are the following brothers : the James , Frank and Jesse , Cole Younger (David Carradine) , Jim Younger (Keith Carradine) , Bob Younger (Robert Carradine) and the Miller , Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) and Clell Miller (Randy Quaid). As soon as railroad agents kill their youngest brother and hurt their mother , Jesse James (James Keach) and Frank (Stacy Keach) take up robbing banks and trains and seek revenge . Then , the Pinkerton Agency is engaged to bring the James-Younger gang in . At the end James is betrayed by the treacherous Ford brothers : Charlie Ford (Christopher Guest) and Bob Ford (Nicholas Guest) . As Jesse retires his erstwhile friend Robert Ford shoots him in the back to get the reward . This is a gorgeous , laconic , deliberate and agreeable Western movie . There is a concentration on familiar rituals as the funeral , family reunion and wives relationships ; but also on common Western rituals as the brothel , the saloon and the robbing . It displays splendid actors giving an awesome tour de force , attempting not to make heroes of the boys , with a casting of four sets . The studio bought the rights to the James Brothers but changed some facts for psychological and family motivations , instead serving up a potted commentary on the conventions of the genre itself . The trump card here is the impressive Northfield raid , shot in slow-moving and violently realized. It packs an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Ric Waite . And the enjoyable soundtrack by Ry Cooder , Hill' regular , fits magnificently to the flick . The motion picture was stunningly directed by Walter Hill who pays tribute to such filmmakers as Howard Hawks , John Ford , Nicholas Ray and , especially , Sam Peckinpah . Here Hill focuses on the subjects of brotherhood , kinship , friendship and about the territories taken wrongly by railway ; refusing to bother too much about historic events . This James retelling has been adapted several times , ¨The long riders¨ has a distinguished company of movies , each version gutsier and bloodier than the last , such as : 1939 recounting ¨Jesse James¨ by Henry King with Tyrone Power , Henry Fonda , John Carradine , Brian Donlevy , Donald Meek ; ¨The return of Frank James¨ (1940) by Fritz Lang with Henry Fonda , Gene Tierney , Jackie Cooper , Henry Hull , John Carradine , J. Edward Bromberg ; ¨I shot Jesse James¨(1949) by Samuel Fuller with Preston Foster , Barbara Britton , John Ireland , J. Edward Bromberg ; ¨The true story of Jesse James¨ by Nicholas Ray with Robert Wagner , Jeffrey Hunter , Hope Lange , Agnes Moorehead , Alan Hale Jr , Alan Baxter , John Carradine ; ¨Frank and Jesse¨ (1995) by Robert Boris with Rob Lowe , Bill Paxton , Randy Travis , Dana Wheeler-Nicholson , Maria Pitillo , Luke Askew and Sean Patrick Flanery . And has been portrayed most recently in ¨American Outlaws¨ (2001) by Les Mayfield with Colin Farrell , Ali Larter , Gabriel Macht , Terry O'Quinn and ¨The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford¨ (2007) with Brad Pitt , Casey Affleck , Sam Shepard .

OK Western-drama, detailing the exploits of the James-Younger gang (Jesse James et al). Not very captivating though: seems pretty much join-the-dots. You never get to feel much empathy for any of them. Just seems kind of bland.This said, the action sequences are good. The slo-mo shooting sequences are a bit overdone though, and weren't necessary in the first place.Good performances from three sets of brothers in the main roles: David, Keith and Robert Carradine as the Youngers, James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank James respectively and Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Millers.Entertaining enough, but not great.

This is a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers James-Younger gang made up of James brothers and Younger brothers. They are honorable reasonable superior men robbing banks and claiming southern pride. They kill only if they have no other choice and they kick out members who are reckless. So this is definitely more myth than reality. It's southern folklore.The most interesting part of this movie is real life brothers portraying the brother characters. David, Keith, Robert Carradine portray the Younger brothers. James and Stacy Keach portray the James brothers. And Dennis and Randy Quaid portray the Miller brothers. The many characters can be quite confounding especially since many of them have similar mannerism. There is a great final battle which made up for a rather meandering storyline.