Ne tirez pas sur le bandit

Bob Hope plays his usual dimwitted cluck who in this film happens to be an insurance salesman. Only Hope, one step from being given the boot and desperate to sell a policy, would sell one to Jesse James. Jesse being the smart guy he is decides this has potentiality. He can fake his own death and lay low for a while with a nice nest egg. Bank robbery, train robbery, his usual line of work does have some risk attached to it. Now guess who the schnook he figures he'll bump off to be the dead Jesse James? Why its Hope come west to protect Jesse until the home office figures a way to cancel the policy.

I saw this in the movies way back when I was 12 years old and it first came out. As such I appreciated fully the significance of the cameo appearances of all those TV western stars. TV westerns were at their height at that time so anyone who saw this knew for instance that Ward Bond was Major Seth Adams of Wagon Train. Today, I wager, that viewers will recognize Bond as Bert the Cop from It's A Wonderful Life unless Wagon Train is being run on Hallmark at the time. Similarly Gail Davis as Annie Oakley or Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp (a show I wish some cable channel would pick up). Nice gag, but dated now.

Nevertheless its a very funny picture with the lovely Rhonda Fleming as Jesse's girl and beneficiary until she falls for Hope. So many smart women keep falling for Hope the schnook in his films. Wendell Corey is a crafty Jesse James with Jim (Dallas) Davis as brother Frank. And of course the obligatory appearance by Bing Crosby.

This is a great movie. The music was sung by Guy Mitchell with all original songs. Great music and a funny movie. If you like comedy westerns this is a great one.

I can't get over the music though. Guy Mitchell had one of the best voices ever. And these original songs are classic. Wish I could get a hold of the sound-track.

There will never be another Bob Hope. Seems like comedy today is nothing but dirt. Bob's was clean and funny and adult. This is probably the best comedy western ever completed by Hope. Too bad they couldn't keep the original cameos i.e. Gene Autry was in the original at the ending gunfight.

Top-notch comedy in every department and with the great Bob Hope showing his comical skills . This hilarious western spoof is wickedly funny , marvellously self-aware with lots of entertainment and amusement . Agreeable comedy/musical/western with genuine and sympathetic characters , it is plenty of humor , tongue-in-cheek , bemusing gags and lots of fun . Hope plays Milford Farnsworth an Inept insurance salesman who sells a man a $100,000 policy but he results to be Jesse James . When his boss learns the man was the famous bandit he sends Milford after him who returns to claim his policy , which is nowhere to be found. As a cowardly Hope with money to buy back the policy becomes a gunslinging hero when Jesse/Wendell Corey starts aiming for him . There he unwittingly takes on bad guys . Along the way he meets a beauty Rhonda Fleming . Bob Hope rides the range bareback in the biggest gun, gal and gag stampede in the West ! . Make way for 'Drag-a-long' Hope !. This town ain't big enough for both of us !. Look who they gave a gun !. Bob Hope As the Most Wanted Trigger in the West! . As the Most Wanted Figger in the West!

A rip-roaring Western/comedy as the conventions of the Wild West are turned upside down . This funny picture is a gag feast , plenty of humor , diverting situations and absurd sketches in Leslie Nielsen style . This one was just as good and had even a few more funnier moments including the scenes with Jesse James , the fight with the gunslingers , and , of course, the climatic chase scene , all of them make a fun good time . Adding a lot of cameos from TV stars and others known stars , such as : Fess Parker of Daniel Boone , Hugh O'Brian of Wyatt Earp , James Arness of Gunsmoke, Jay Silverheels of Lone Ranger , Roy Rogers , Gary Cooper , Bing Crosby , Jack Lambert, Jim Davis , Mike Mazurki , Iron Eyes Cody, Ward Bond , Bob Reeves , among others . One of Bob Hope's best , full of cartoon like gags , unheralded comedy classic . This was a worthy successor to the original ¨Paleface¨ and ¨Son of Paleface¨ , made in similar wake . Amusing and spasmodic comedy with the genius comic Bob Hope acting in his stereotyped role by relinquishing creative control and concentrating on humor based on destruction and wreak havoc , nice inventive bits , skilfully combining the entertainment with the amusement . Bob runs away with every cowboy cliché and even arranges to wind up with the girl . Gorgeous as well as sultry Rhonda Fleming who ropes the nervous Hope into marriage for the sake of his job . Bob Hope played and produced three Westens spoofs , this ¨Alias Jesse James¨(1959) , along with ¨Paleface¨ was also directed by Norman Z MacLeod starred by Hope as a bungler dentist , Jane Russel as Calamity Jane and Robert Armstrong , its sequel ¨Son of Paleface¨ results to be as good as the original , that was remade in 1968 as ¨The shakiest gun in the West¨ , with Don Knotts and Jackie Coogan .

The motion picture was well directed by Norman Z MacLeod . His first successful full-length film was ¨Taking a Chance¨ (1928) for Fox . He was one of Paramount's top directors when he shot two early films with The Marx Brothers, ¨Monkey Business¨ (1931) and ¨Horse Feathers¨ (1932), both considered among the team's best . Other memorable work from McLeod includes ¨It's a Gift¨ (1934) with W. C. Fields , ¨Topper¨ (1937) with Cary Grant and the Danny Kaye comedy , ¨Secret Life of Walter Mitty¨ (1947) . Rating : 6,5/10 . Entertaining and amusing movie that will appeal to Bob Hope fans . Worthwhile watching .

This movie was tied up for years due to royalty rights since 11 cowboy stars of the late '50s appear in cameos helping Bob Hope in the final shootout. Note that Gene Autry and James Garner do not appear in the current product, though they were in the original.

Then there is an owl-eyed kid named Harry Truman playing the piano. Bob clubs a gila monster ("The mice sure grow big around here"), then realizes he used a rattlesnake.

I've shown this tape to many people, and all agree it's the best Bob Hope movie and one of the funniest movies they've ever seen.

Bumbling buffoon insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth sells notorious outlaw Jesse James a $100,000 policy. When his boss finds out who the customer is, he dispatches Farnsworth after James in the hope of buying back the policy, he also gives strict orders that Farnsworth must ensure that James comes to no harm.

Bob Hope sells Jesse James an insurance policy! that alone should prepare you for what type of picture this is. There is nothing out of the ordinary here that we haven't seen before in most other Hope vehicles, and as a huge fan of "The Paleface" and the even better "Son Of Paleface", I would point readers to those pictures by way of them being far better. However, "Alias" has some fine moments that keep it way above average, in fact for visual gags alone this picture scores higher than most of Hope's better known comedies. Be it a steaming alcohol fuelled hat or a magic mushroomed fed horse, there is still much fun to be had as Hope plays out his winning formula.

Along for the ride is the supremely sexy Rhonda Fleming as Jesse James' gal, Cora Lee Collins, and as James himself we get Wendell Corey looking as though he is rather enjoying himself. The final reel of this film is now something of legend as we get to play spot the genre star during a protracted shoot out, stars such as Gary Cooper, Roy Rogers & Gail Davis join Bing Crosby to close the picture on a mightily high point. 6.5/10