ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

ThedevilChoose 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.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

classicsoncall There's a saying about not letting the truth get in the way of a good story, and I think that might have been the film maker's approach here. The picture is riddled with inaccuracies throughout, and if the story had left out the names of Frank and Jesse James it might have been more serviceable as an entertaining Western. I'm not necessarily a stickler for one hundred percent accuracy in historical movies, but this one fell short by a long shot.The casting here is a little suspect too. I can't picture Rob Lowe as the outlaw Jesse James. But since he got the nod, I thought he should have exhibited some of the maniacal excess that Emilio Estevez showed in portraying Billy the Kid in the 'Young Guns' films. The 'real' James/Younger Gang was formed by Frank James and Cole Younger, but it was the much younger Jesse who rose to prominence because of his brash and outspoken style. The inclusion of Randy Travis here as Cole wasn't too bad, but I had to wonder how much of his casting was dependent on someone singing 'Auld Lang Syne' in the latter part of the picture.Ticking off some of the historical errors - the gang never met Allen Pinkerton during a train robbery, Jesse's wife Zee never killed anyone, it wasn't Jesse's idea to head for Northfield, Minnesota, and Cole Younger didn't shoot brother Bob while on the run. Maybe there will never be a film that's totally accurate about the James/Younger Gang, but a couple of them get close - "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and "The Long Riders" are both pretty good, and the earlier film has that very cool horse jump through the storefront windows during the Northfield bank raid (which didn't actually happen, but is more believable than most of this picture).As if to add insult to injury, I happened to freeze the frames of the newspaper headlines about the James Gang exploits during the movie, and the underlying text had nothing to do with such captions as 'James Gang Robs Train' and 'Charlie Ford Captured'.But probably the biggest problem I had was in the depiction of Jesse's murder by the Fords. It appeared that Jesse was in some way sacrificing himself with his outstretched arms in supplication, as if to atone for his ruthless outlaw life. The implication of self directed suicide by leaving his gun on the table was just too blatant, right after watching his wife and young son agonize over their next move as a family. A movie by any other name would have been more satisfying.

chatroux13 I noticed that at least one commenter said that Bob Younger was depicted as deaf in the movie. He was supposed to be mute only, there was no mention of him being deaf. In the scene of Jesse being shot, it is clearly Bob Ford that shot him, but the narration, by Randy Travis, states that it was Charlie Ford. Obviously somebody wasn't paying attention. I can't believe that editing didn't catch it. Also, I don't know if any of the people who commented noticed it either. Another question that I have is why wasn't Martin Kove mentioned, even as uncredited? It was a small scene, but that face could not be mistaken for anybody else. Other than that, it was an enjoyable movie!!!

bkoganbing The ever fascinating saga of Frank and Jesse James gets another treatment and a good one in Frank&Jesse starring Bill Paxton and Rob Lowe as the James Brothers. I've seen and reviewed now three films about the James brothers and their gang, Jesse James, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and now Frank&Jesse. It's interesting to me how similar the characters are in all the films.Jesse is the hardened bitter outlaw who may have started with justifiable reasons on his outlaw career, but has taken to the criminal life and likes it. And it brings out the bad points of his character as well. Whether played by Tyrone Power, Brad Pitt, or Rob Lowe, Jesse is given the same interpretation.As is Frank the charmer of the two brothers. Whether laconic charming like Henry Fonda or pretty garrulous as Bill Paxton does him, he's apparently the public relations man for the gang.The characters of the Younger Brothers are brought in here as well with country singer Randy Travis giving an outstanding portrayal of Cole Younger. In real life Younger like Frank James lived to a ripe old age way after the action in this film.Jesse is the king of outlaws, his reputation against fighting the railroads has made him notorious enough for Allan Pinkerton to be employed to take him down. Jesse is a wily one and after Pinkerton's nephew Tom Chick is killed in an attempt to arrest Jesse, it becomes a personal crusade for Pinkerton.As much as I liked the rest of the cast, the best in the film is William Atherton as the dedicated Allan Pinkerton. He's determined to use any means to bring Jesse and the gang and I do mean ANY. The wives have their moments also with Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Frank's wife Annie and Maris Pitillo as Jesse's wife Zee. Pitillo's performance is hardly like the one by Nancy Kelly in the 20th Century Fox classic. She saves Jesse's bacon on one memorable occasion in the film.Frank&Jesse is one very good western which should have received a lot more attention than it did.

Misfits_Fiend I'm a huge fan of the likes of The James, Doc Holliday, Wild Bill, Billy The Kid, and Wyatt Earp. This was a great movie, I really enjoyed it. But I still have questions for authenticity. At the very beginning of the movie, Jesse standing there swearing allegiance to the Union, Jesse & Frank road with Bloody Bill Anderson many years after the end of the Civil War, tried surrendering to Union forces and was shot at. Then we have Arch Clements with his speaking problem, which he did have very authentic...only problem of course is that he died before the Civil War ended. Then I don't recall Bob Younger being deaf, no mention that Zee was his cousin and named after his mother, Cole didn't have to shoot Bob they were both caught along with John Younger after the Minnesota robbery cause they were all three caught alive. And of course they have the wrong Ford killing him at the end. And despite what it depicts, they hardly robbed from the Rock Central Railroad, they only robbed them maybe twice. Most of there jobs were Express Trains.I don't know why they had to change facts, did having Arch Clements in it make it a better movie, was having Bob deaf a better character. Did his death instead of capture make for a better movie. And why not have the real Ford brother acknowledged, and maybe show his deal with the government. Jesse James life could have made a great movie without all the changes. Don't get me wrong I still loved the movie, just don't feel it was very accurate. I'm sure there are many more flaws, I just can't remember much of them now.