Henry Fonda had played Frank to Tyrone Power's Jesse in the superb Jesse James, and in this rather disappointing follow-up he spends all his time searching for brothers Charles and, in particular, Bob Ford (John Carradine), the "dirty little coward" who shot his own brother. But, unfortunately, Fonda has neither benefit of a decent script nor a sympathetic director, as Austrian émigré Fritz Lang makes heavy going of this lightweight material, and the movie lacks pace in places. The tedium of the tale is alleviated only slightly by the film debut of the beautiful Gene Tierney, who regrettably doesn't fulfil her acting potential here. The Technicolor helps, but the tempo is sluggish.

Farmer Frank and his ward hunt brother Jesse's killers, the back-shooting Fords.