Perhaps better known by its British title The James Brothers, this is anything but the "true story" of the notorious outlaw. Bolstered by the use of 20th Century-Fox's panoramic CinemaScope process and a fine score from the neglected Leigh Harline, the movie is seriously undermined by an unnecessary flashback structure and by the crippling use of contemporary Fox contract players. While attractive to watch, juvenile stars Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter are inadequate as Jesse and Frank James. Of course, since the film is a virtual remake of Fox's own Jesse James, they beg comparison with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda to their detriment. Director Nicholas Ray was one of the finest Hollywood film-makers, and in the classic Rebel without a Cause showed a fine understanding of the connection between crime and adolescent angst, but here he quite fails to grasp the tale's potential, and in his own words made "a very ordinary movie". Shame.

Having fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, Jesse James and his brother Frank dream of a farm life in Missouri. Harassed by Union sympathizers, they assemble a gang of outlaws, robbing trains and becoming folk heroes in the process. Jesse marries his sweetheart, Zee, and maintains an aura of domesticity, but after a group of lawmen launch an attack on his mother's house, Jesse plans one more great raid -- on a Minnesota bank.