Kansas en feu

Interesting and colorful film dealing with the bloody Bushwackers , including the Lawrence massacre . Concerning Jesse , Frank James brothers : Audie Murphy , Richard Long , Younger brothers, Cole and James : James Best , Dewey Martin and Dalton: Tony Curtis . They are young men who from Missouri go Kansas to join the Bushwackers militia commanded by William Clarke Quantrill, Brian Donlevy , and Bill Anderson , Scott Brady .They carry out a violent raid on the pro-Union town of Lawrence , Kansas. But Jesse is disillusionated with Quantrill guerrilla executing violent looting and slaughters against innocent civilians. The historic Lawrence Kansas raid ...aflame again in all its fury !

Good Western packs thrills , action , fights and spectacular raids . Brawling , sprawling , almost primitive action in which our protagonist joins the rough band of Bushwackers , but things go wrong when Quantrill and Anderson execute their razzias at whatever means by killing and rampaging , carrying out war crimes . Features impressive as well as moving attack scenes punctuated by great action scenes and thrilling go riding . Audie Murphy gives an acceptable acting as the brave historical figure Jesse James who seeks both , justice and vengeance against Union soldiers who encroached his ranch and killed family . Murphy won more than 10 medals , being the most decorated American soldier , including Congressional Medal of Honor and he was prized by 5 decorative medals by France and Belgium , post-WWII. Murphy starred a great number of Westerns as The kid from Texas , Cimarron kid , Gun point , Night passage , The gunrunners , Posse from hell , Gunfight at Comanche , Rifles Apaches , The unforgiven, Legend of Sam Ward , Whispering Smith , 40 guns at Apache pass , Texas Kid . Here Rebel Murphy falls under the spell of the Southern Major Quantrill very good played by veteran Brian Donlevy , later on , being developed a love triangle among Audie Murphy , Marguerite Chapman and Brian Donlevy .Along with an awesome support cast such as : Scott Brady as Bill Anderson, Tony Curtis as Dalton, Richard Long , Dewey Martin, James Best , Kellogg , George Chandler , Richard Arlen and a minor role by Richard Egan as First Lieutenant, among others.

It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Irving Glassberg , in Universal International Pictures style . As well as evocative and stirring musical score by Milton Rosen . The motion picture was well directed by Ray Enright . He was a western expert , as he directed a lot of Westerns , the first film he made was Trackers by the police , starring Rin Tin Tin , he subsequently directed Bad Men of Missouri, Men of Texas , The spoilers , Sin town, Alburquerque, Montana , Return of the bad Men , South of St Louis , Flaming Father , among others. Rating 7 out 10 western, better than average . Well worth seeing.

The flick based on real deeds , these are the following ones : The Lawrence Massacre, was a rebel guerrilla attack during the U.S. Civil War by Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Clarke Quantrill, on the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attack on August 21, 1863, targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of abolition and its reputation as a center for Jayhawkers and Redlegs, which were free-state militia and vigilante groups known for attacking and destroying farms and plantations in Missouri's pro-slavery western counties .By 1863, Kansas had long been the center of strife and warfare over the admission of slave versus free states. In the summer of 1856, the first sacking of Lawrence sparked a guerrilla war in Kansas that lasted for months. John Brown might be the best known participant, but numerous groups fought for each side in Bleeding Kansas.By the beginning of the American Civil War, Lawrence, Kansas, was already a target for pro-slavery ire, having been seen as the anti-slavery stronghold in the state and more importantly, a staging area for Union and Jayhawker incursions into Missouri. Initially the town and surrounding area were extremely vigilant and reacted strongly to any rumors that enemy forces might be advancing on the town. However by the summer of 1863, as none of the threats had materialized, citizen fears had declined and defense preparations were relaxed.Quantrill himself said his motivation for the attack was, "To plunder, and destroy the town in retaliation for Osceola. That was a reference to the Union's attack on Osceola, Missouri in September 1861, led by Senator James H. Lane.The attack was the product of careful planning. Quantrill had been able to gain the confidence of many of the leaders of independent Bushwhacker groups, and chose the day and time of the attack well in advance. The different groups of Missouri riders approached Lawrence from the east in several independent columns, and converged with well-timed precision in the final miles before Lawrence during the pre-dawn hours of the chosen day. Many of the men had been riding for over 24 hours to make the rendezvous and had lashed themselves to their saddles to keep riding if they fell asleep. Almost all were armed with multiple six-shot revolvers.Lawrence in ruins as illustrated in Harper's WeeklyBetween three and four hundred riders arrived at the summit of Mount Oread, then descended on Lawrence in a fury. Over four hours, the raiders pillaged and set fire to the town and killed most of its male population. Quantrill's men burned to the ground a quarter of the buildings in Lawrence, including all but two businesses. They looted most of the banks and stores and killed between 185 and 200 men and boys .

I'll always wonder why Hollywood could waste talent when given opportunities so golden. The raw talents of much of the cast here was completely undercut by an abbreviated, romanticized script only faintly resembling historical events. Audie Murphy, so young in this case, significantly outperforms the cheesy part he's given, sometimes acting profoundly with just his eyes and body language. His trademark speech patterns, recognizable in much of his other work in my opinion ranks equal with Gregory Peck in terms of depth and sincerity. Other young actors rise to meet his level acting above the quality of the thin and barely cohesive plot.

Secondly, the director of photography deserves praise for skill and editing, but the studio gets raspberries for location. I've been to Kansas enough times to know the erratic boulder, pine, and fir strewn mountain ridges seen in this "kansas" are nowhere in reality. California is diverse enough to provide ample locations and, I know politics and money rule, but why the heck couldn't the Central Valley be considered? With the obvious well-endowed budget this film got it just appears the studio assumes its audience was too stupid to know better at the time. I hope not.

As commented by others, it's regrettable that the writers forfeited an opportunity to correctly document a basic record of the Quantrill gang and its opportunistic co-opting of the Civil War for its own gain. Inventing the early conversion of an idealistic and noble Jesse James and gang and making a fictional romance the focus of the story seems consistent with how Hollywood made money then and to a larges extent, now.

By comparison, it's a tightly edited, almost too-well edited movie. I wished some things were better developed. But, it's not dopey like so many from the period. And, the photography, as un-Kansan as it is, is beautiful.

Kansas Raiders is a neat little film, with, one suspects, a higher budget than most Audie Murphy westerns. An interesting cast (I didn't realise Kit Dalton was from Da Bronx) and an ambitious and ambiguous premise make this a worthwhile way of passing the time.

Kansas Raiders was an opportunity for Universal-International to display some of its young contract players of the time to see who might have some career potential. In terms of career longevity all of them had varying degrees of success.

With Audie Murphy as young Jesse James and Richard Long as brother Frank with Tony Curtis as Kit Dalton and James Best and Dewey Martin as the Younger Brothers we see them all as young guns during the Civil War from Missouri all joining up with William Quantrill to raid, plunder, and pillage the west.

Quantrill has never really gotten a revisionist view from either history or Hollywood. He's a murdering skunk who's using the Civil War as cover for what he would be doing in civilian life anyway. But he's probably seen in the best Hollywood light possible in this film.

Brian Donlevy in this very confused story is as bad as they come, but he does take a kind of fatherly interest in all these young men who've come to join up with him. That's the problem with Kansas Raiders, Quantrill's character is so badly written you can't understand why all those young potential outlaws see in him.

Definitely for fans of the above named players only.

Frank and Jesse James, along with the Younger brothers and their pal Kit Dalton join Colonel Quantrill's guerrillas in order to fight the Union, but soon realize they've joined an army of bloodthirsty murderers.

This colorful studio B-picture is a decent enough showcase for war-hero Audie Murphy playing a teen-aged Jesse, as well as up-and-comers Tony Curtis and James Best, who aren't given enough to do.

As William Quantrill, Brian Donlevey gives the film's most interesting performance, portraying the rebel leader as cold, calculated, and quite mundane, all at the same time! Murphy's strange attraction to and utter revulsion for him make up most of the film's conflict.

One thing that disappoints though, is the throwaway nature of Scott Brady's character. Brady was always a pretty good character actor and a pretty mean heavy. Here, he leaves the picture way too early, long before the dramatic possibilities of his character are exhausted.

Finally, during the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, the manager of the bank being robbed by the James gang rushes at Murphy exclaiming, "You little sh...!" before being interrupted. Was he going to say what I thought he was going to say? Did the actor's ad-libbing almost go too far?