A recent take on the Jesse James story. The script, by Rod Taylor, casts the outlaw gang in a very different light. Returning from losing the Civil War to their farms in Missouri, they find that some railroad baron (Harris Yulin, with a goatee to make himself look evil) has gotten government support to take away their farms. Rejecting the railroad’s offer, they get their farmhouses burned down and Jesse’s mom is killed.
Colin Farrell, so good in Minorty Report, plays James and Scott Caan, who doesn’t bluster as well as his dad at the same age, plays Cole Younger. The two lead the gang in a series of robberies intended to deny the railroad the resources needed to continue driving the rail line through Missouri. Allan Pinkerton, the real one, played by Timothy Dalton with a scraggly beard and Irish accent, is the nasty hardass hired by Yulin to stop them. In the end, of course, he does but really achieves no better than a Pyrrhic victory. Ali Larter, famous for her acrobatic Doritos eating feats, does a fine job of dressing up the screen as Jesse’s love interest and Kathy Bates has a small part as his mom.
Recommended for cable viewing by Western fans
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