Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Jesse James Blu-ray Movie Review

The Not Exactly True Story of Jesse James.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 7, 2013

The late sixties were awash in films that pundits decried for “glorifying violence” or “glamorizing criminals”, big smash hits like Bonnie and Clyde and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Both of these films were huge critical successes from a purely filmmaking point of view, but both were held under a microscope for a supposed litany of historical inaccuracies, not the least of which was both films’ tendency to lionize their subjects, who were after all, ostensibly “bad guys” (and/or gals). That of course was probably part and parcel of the counterculture zeitgeist of that era, but a much more putatively staid and upright era produced a film that was met with some of the same criticism—and box office appeal. Jesse James has about as much relation to its subject’s actual true life history as a fairy tale, and yet it was one of 1939’s biggest hits, helping to firmly establish star Tyrone Power as one of 20th Century Fox’s biggest male attractions. It’s notable that when Nicholas Ray adapted the original Jesse James screenplay by Nunnally Johnson for a remake in 1957, the title of the film was changed to The True Story of Jesse James, as if to alert viewers that this film was not going to be the fanciful reinvention of the 1939 opus. Much as both Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Bonnie and Clyde did decades later, this Jesse James posits two basically decent people caught up in a maelstrom of events beyond their control, deciding to fight perceived injustices (which in this film are depicted as being very real) the only way they know how—with guns a-blazin’ and at least an occasional hold up or two. Johnson’s screenplay offers up a monolithic utility—in this case, a railroad—whose nefarious dealings with the public at large leave the James Brothers no recourse but to take the law into their own pistol totin’ hands. Along the way, romance and even a perhaps unexpected dash or two of comedy enters the fray, giving the film a surprisingly ebullient tone.

Jesse James’ own granddaughter Jo Frances James supposedly provided technical advice to the film, and according to some breathless news reports that smack just a bit of hyperbolic Hollywood PR fluff, the very gun that shot James was used for the production, and Power was wearing the very boots the real Jesse James did when he met his fate. That said, Jo Frances James was also evidently on record shortly after the film’s release stating that the film veered rather dramatically from actual historical events. And so a certain tolerance for fictionalization needs to be accepted in order for this Jesse James to escape expectations of what really happened in favor of what makes for a fanciful, though undeniably entertaining, storytelling.

Brian Donlevy, always good at playing smarmy and lugubrious villains, is on hand here as railroad executive Barshee, manipulating a string of farmers into selling their land for much less than it’s worth so that the railroad can lay tracks and come steaming through. Barshee ultimately makes it to the James homestead, where a conflict almost immediately springs up between Barshee, the James boys’ mother (Jane Darwell), and, finally, Frank (Henry Fonda) and Jesse (Tyrone Power) themselves. When Franks pummels Barshee and Jesse shoots to protect his mother, arrest warrants are issued and the James boys find themselves to be wanted men. Jesse has been romancin’ pretty young Zee Cobb (Nancy Kelly), whose father Rufus (Henry Hull) is the editor of a newspaper in a nearby town, and he comes to warn the boys to hightail it before the law comes hunting for them. As they do, they also hear that their mother has died, ostensibly at Barshee’s hands. Not surprisingly, the brothers vow revenge.

Since it’s the railroad that has caused all of this trouble in a manner of speaking, it’s the railroad which becomes the target of the James boys’ raids. The president of the railroad (the always enjoyable Donald Meek) realizes he’s up against ruthless bandits (even if the film posits the James as fairly polite bandits), and he attempts to arrange a trap for Jesse which ends up backfiring and which kicks the film into high gear. Meanwhile Jesse and Zee, who are now married, encounter marital discord when Zee comes to the probably obvious conclusion that being married to a wanted man is not the best way to plan for a stable future.

There’s very little about Jesse James that is historically accurate, and the film is miles away from the gritty westerns that became the norm starting with the Anthony Mann – James Stewart outings of the 1950s and then really took hold in the sixties and seventies. But on its own glossy Hollywood terms, Jesse James is inordinately enjoyable. Fonda gives the film its real gravitas, making Frank a determined but surprisingly vulnerable character, and there’s some nice comedy relief courtesy of Hull. Power is about as believable as a ruthless outlaw as he ever was in this type of film, but his innate charisma helps to overcome any niggling qualms that a guy of this physical perfection and patrician airs could ever really resort to harming people. There's also a nice supporting turn by John Carradine as "the coward Robert Ford".

Jesse James Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jesse James is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1, and is yet another vintage Technicolor offering that suffers from the fact that no surviving original Technicolor elements exist. The attempts to replicate that creamy original Technicolor look results in varying dividends, but overall this is often a (literally) pale imitation of the robust three strip appearance. Flesh tones are often slightly tinged with purple (and sometimes green), Occasionally things look at least relatively accurate (see the screenshot of Jane Darwell sitting in her yard for a good example), but overall this is a fairly blanched "version" of Technicolor rather than the real thing. On the plus side, the elements are virtually problem free, and the image is certainly nicely detailed and organic looking, with a natural layer of grain and no signs of excessive digital sharpening.

Jesse James Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with other recent vintage "Fox Studio Classics" releases, Jesse James is presented with both a repurposed DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as well as the original soundtrack experience recreated via a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix. The 5.1 mix in this case seems like an odd choice, since there is next to no surround activity, aside from the score and the very occasional foley effect. Both tracks offer decent fidelity given reasonable expectations, with dialogue, score and effects presented cleanly, if narrowly.

Jesse James Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Movietone News: Jesse James at the Roxy (480i; 00:33) is evidently about Jesse James at some theater in Connecticut, but who's counting?


• Movietone News: Hollywood Spotlight (480i; 1:26) offers a great glimpse of a very young Ed Sullivan doling out an award to Tyrone Power.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:14)

Jesse James Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Don't answer any trivia questions about Jesse James based on your knowledge of the character culled from this film. This is "pure Hollywood hokum", in that old oft-used phrase, but it's undeniably entertaining and provides Power with one of his most popular early roles. That said, it's really Henry Fonda who grounds this film, along with a spectacularly effective supporting cast. Director Henry King keeps things moving at a fairly brisk pace, spending at least as much (if not more) time on Jesse's romantic entanglements as any supposed villainous doin's. Fox has done a respectable enough job here with its restoration efforts, but as has been shown time and time again with these "Technicolor restorations", there's only so far current digital tools can go in recreating the lustrous look of three strip Technicolor, and that's certainly the case once again with this film. The supplementary features are also quite paltry here, but based on entertainment value alone, Jesse James comes Recommended.