Western Wednesdays: Jesse James (1939)

     Jesse James was released on January 27th, 1939. Directed by Henry King from a script by Nunnally Johnson it stars Tyrone Power as the titular outlaw and chronicles his career from the early days robbing trains to his death at the hands of Robert Ford (John Carradine).

     Jesse James is an important film for the genre. Along with Stagecoach, Dodge City, and Union Pacific (all released the same year) it helped to revitalize the western, which had been regulated mostly to B-movies and serials since the end of the silent era. It was a smash at the box office and one of the highest grossing films of 1939. Its success would lead to a slew of other "outlaw" westerns including When the Daltons Rode, Belle Starr, Billy the Kid, and The Return of Frank James (a sequel to this film). 

     Henry King's direction is assured especially during the action scenes. The Northfield Bank Robbery (itself the subject of many a later western) is a particularly impressive set piece. Cornered by the law, Jesse and Frank (Henry Fonda) leap through a window with their horses and, after a tense pursuit, dive off a a cliff into a river! The alleged death of the horses notwithstanding (producer Daryl F. Zanuck claims they were not hurt) it is one of the most impressive stunts I've seen in a film. George Barnes and W. Howard Greene's technicolor cinematography is absolutely stunning.

     The drama is not quite on par with the action. The central dramatic conflict is between Jesse and his girl (later wife) Zee (played by Nancy Kelly). Throughout the film she hopes that he will reform and give up his life of crime but he only becomes more elusive. When he is absent for the birth of their first child, she finally has enough and leaves him. This pushes Jesse over the edge, and he becomes increasingly misanthropic and even suicidal with his attempted robberies. The problem I have is that too much of this is dealt with in heavy handed dialogue. People keep saying that Jesse is losing it but we rarely get to see this. Only when he is at the end of his rope and nearly pushes the rest of his gang (including Frank) away, do we really see how much he's changed.

     Tyrone Power is quite good as Jesse. Though, as I said, I wish more time was dedicated to exploring his moral decline, he's great in the scenes where it is explored. Henry Fonda steals the show as Frank, getting his younger brother out of one scrape after another. The scene where he confronts a despairing Jesse after he has chewed out the rest of the gang is the film's dramatic highlight. Nancy Kelly comes across a little smugly as Zee, though she is good in the scenes where she reunites with him after the failed Northfield raid. Henry Hull provides the film with some morbid comic relief as the newspaper man Major Rufus Cobb. The running gag of his opening every editorial in the same manner ("If we are ever to have law and order in the West,the first thing we got to do is take out all the (insert offending party) and shoot 'em down like dogs") overstays its welcome by the end of the film. Randolph Scott is wasted as Sheriff Will Wright, whose main purpose in the film seems to be to enable the outlaw. John Carradine is superb as the cowardly, two-faced Bob Ford, as is Donald Meek as the unscrupulous railway tycoon McCoy. Jane Darwell also puts in a brief but memorable performance as Jesse's mother, whose murder sets Jesse off on his criminal path.

     Solid performances, gorgeous cinematography and some truly magnificent set pieces make up for an uneven script, making Jesse James a solid western, if not quite an all-time classic.

Score: 8/10