The reasons why the James boys turned to crime are famously whitewashed in this sympathetic version - nasty railroaders led by Brian Donlevy terrorise local farmers and kill their ma with dynamite (which has basis in truth), so no wonder they go bad.
But to be fair, it's shown Jesse James goes too far - very well played by Tyrone Power whose dark good looks suit the part, its clear he turns mean and bitter through crime, makes his wife's life very hard, and Randolph Scott is a very sympathetic law man (the businessmen eg Donald Meek, are almost all bad).
Henry Fonda complements Power excellently, the colour photography is divine. The middle section gets a bit repetitive - Jesse-is-bad-Jesse-is-bad - but perks up for the "oh isn't it just so ironic" death scene. You haven't seen scenery chewing til you've watched Henry Hull as a newspaper editor here.
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