Review of The True Story of Jesse James (1957) by Timothy M — 12 Feb 2011
A real disappointment - a clunky, sloppy film that only occasionally displays a few of Ray's valuable directorial flourishes. A big, big problem is the fact that Robert Walker is the lead. That's enough to kill any film.
Never mind the fact that his support is... Jeffrey Hunter and... Hope Lange. Both of whom are nearly as bad. Even Agnes Moorehead brings nothing to the table. The flashback structure might have been interesting had it provided some really disparate, [i]Rashomon[/i]-ey perspectives, but not.
They basically glorify James as a good dude who lost his way. I suspect that Andrew Dominik's film might have rendered all previous Jesse James films obsolete. Apart from a handful of good moments, the film's only other asset is Carl Thayler as an appropriately simpering Robert Ford.
This review of The True Story of Jesse James (1957) was written by Timothy M on 12 Feb 2011.
The True Story of Jesse James has generally received mixed reviews.
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