It was a bright idea of 20th Century Fox to get the director of Rebel Without a Cause to tackle the Jesse James story – he was a juvenile delinquent after all – but this isn’t one of Nicholas Ray’s more highly regarded films. It’s not bad but can’t escape it’s crappy 20th Century Fox ness if that makes sense – Bob Wagner was always better in villain roles but it’s a real shame Elvis Presley couldn’t have been cast as was once mooted. Jeffrey Hunter looks as though he's about to do something interesting but never does.
The flashback structure doesn't quite work (apparently it was changed from originally intended). It sort of tries to make the boys sympathetic but the 1939 version did it better - for instance they put the killing of their brother early, whereas here it's later. Ray may be an over-rated director but this is one film where I really wish he'd been given his head.
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