Jesse James at Bay (1941)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is yet another wildly inaccurate Jesse James picture--and certainly not the first one featuring Roy Rogers. In fact, I just saw "Days of Jesse James" starring Rogers yesterday. Now call me a glutton for punishment, but I was just hoping that this film would at least try to be accurate---like Rogers' "Billy the Kid Returns". But, once again, it's just another poor film trying to capitalize on the myth of Jesse James. Because it's pure myth, in this film James is good. Sure, in real life he murdered several people and stole money from innocent folks--but here, he's like Robin Hood--and a Robin Hood that almost never kills anyone and, like a typical Rogers films, mostly shoots people in their shooting hand! Rogers plays Clint Burns and Jesse using the old 'identical strangers' cliché. Oddly, Burns is a bad man--a lookalike who evil bankers and speculators (it's ALWAYS evil bankers and speculators) have hired to commit crimes while posing as Jesse. That way, the nice Jesse will get blamed and the common folk will stop supporting him. But, eventually, Burns overplays his hand and is killed by Jesse in self-defense (his only killing in the film--again, it's SELF-DEFENSE!). Now Jesse pretends to be Burns and works to expose the schemers for who they really are.Along for the ride are Gabby Hayes (a Rogers regular supporting actor) and he plays the sheriff (again, a pretty common role for this grizzled old buzzard) as well as a nosy reporter lady (a common cliché, though very, very few existed in the mid-late 19th century) and her friend.Overall, a historical nightmare for history teachers like me, as almost nothing about this film approaches who James really was. On top of that, the story just abounds with clichés and feels like yet another sub-par Rogers film. He did do better films than this--a lot better. With better music and MUCH better stories.By the way, this is a VERY unusual film in that Roy does NOT play a particularly good guy and he also does not use this name for his character. A strange moral compass in this film, that's for sure.

Roy Rogers stars as Jesse James and his look-alike, gambler man Clint Burns. George "Gabby" Hayes is Mr. Rogers's ex-pal, Sheriff Gabby. Gale Storm (Jane Fillmore) and Sally Payne (Polly Morgan) are a noteworthy team, as two reporters on the lookout for stories about the elusive outlaw hero.Of course, mistaken identity / impersonation is a plot development, since Rogers essays a "dual role". Rogers is charming, as usual; but, there is nothing really elevating this his performance above the ordinary - any potential to deliver a memorable Jekyll/Hyde performance is done in by poor material. The better pair to watch are Ms. Storm and Ms. Paye as the St. Louis Journal reporters - they are the film's highlight. The songs are fine, though badly synched. *** Jesse James at Bay (1941) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Gale Storm

In JESSE JAMES AT BAY (1941), Roy Rogers does a good job enacting a dual role as Jesse James and Clint Burns, a Jesse look-alike employed to commit crimes to besmirch Jesse's reputation among the farmers of Missouri. The plotting of this Republic Pictures B-western starts out strong as farmers are given options on parcels of land along the railroad right-of-way in order to encourage development, only to lose the land after they've farmed it when the court throws out their options. The broker who convinced them to make the deal then forces the farmers out so he can sell the land at a profit. The real Jesse comes out of retirement to rob the land broker and give the money to the farmers so they can buy up their own land. The land broker then hires the Jesse look-alike to burn farmhouses and terrorize farmers in Jesse's name in order to thwart their support of Jesse. One's credulity gets severely strained, however, when the Jesse look-alike begins palling around with the land broker in full public view and no one puts two-and-two together. At this point, two goofy lady reporters from St. Louis (played by Gale Storm and Sally Payne) start nosing around and popping up everywhere and the whole plot starts to sink under the weight of its own silliness. Now it was a given in B-westerns that the villains behind the scenes were usually high-level capitalists and land barons, but they usually had plenty of henchmen to do the dirty work. Here, things get utterly ridiculous when the land broker and the shady lawyer get on horses and whip out guns themselves and chase the sheriff and the incorruptible judge into the foothills, culminating in a shootout in the rocks among middle-aged men, three of them in suits.Roy is quite a revelation in his scenes as the criminal look-alike. His sullen look and behavior in the role indicate a darker side that, unfortunately, never got exploited in his long career. Also on hand are Gabby Hayes as the sheriff, Hal Taliaferro as the lawyer, Roy Barcroft as a henchman, and Pierre Watkin as the devilishly smooth land broker. Storm and Payne are actually quite funny as the lady reporters, but the comic relief seems a little misplaced at that point in the film, helping to undermine the already weakened suspense. The film has a lot of good elements and started out on a promising note, but the script ran away from itself making the end result just another minor B-western capitalizing on the Jesse James name.

This different (and improbable) take on the Jesse James legend makes for pretty good light entertainment. Having Roy Rogers in the lead certainly alters the tone considerably, but he carries it off all right. Gabby Hayes and Gale Storm also help out. The story has an angle on James that probably bears little relation to fact, but it's rather creative, and it makes for a plot that moves quickly and holds your attention. As one of Rogers' earlier films, the emphasis is on action, and there is plenty of it. Not a movie to take seriously, but one that makes for an enjoyable hour of viewing.