The Great Jesse James Raid

The title, "The Great Jesse James Raid" is a bit misleading. First there is no raid (it's about digging through a mine for gold) and second, there's no James boys gang (Frank is nowhere to be seen).

Produced by the Lippert Company and directed by Reginald LeBorg, the film winds up being nothing more than a formula poverty row quickie, in spite of the fact its in color (rare for this company).

Tom Howard (Willard Parker), who in reality is Jesse James is living anonymously in St. Joseph, Missouri with his family when he is visited by one of his gang, Bob Ford (Jim Bannon) and his partner Sam Wells (Richard Cutting). They have come to Jesse to gain his support for their plan to rob a gold mine. James is to provide, apart from himself, a "powder man", Elias Hobbs (Wallace Ford) and a gunfighter, Arch Clements (Tom Neal).

In Ford's saloon, they meet up with Ford's girlfriend Kate (Barbara Payton) and Clements sets his sights upon her. The four men set off for the mine where they meet up with Sam Wells and begin the task of undermining (so to speak) the shaft leading to the gold. Kate comes along and causes friction among the men. After several double crosses and murders the final showdown takes place and.................................

Its hard to imagine Willard Parker as Jesse James, but his does his best with the role. Veteran character actor Ford takes the acting honors in this one as the grizzled old powder man. Tom Neal never achieved the promise he showed in the film Noire thriller "Detour" (1945). He merely walks through his role as the trigger happy gunman. Barbara Payton had made some major "A" features, such as "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" (1950) with James Cagney, but soon sank into roles such as this. Neal and Payton were an item in real life. In fact Neal is probably best remembered for his brawl with actor Franchot Tone over Ms. Payton's affections. Jim Bannon, long a fixture in westerns, had recently finished a series as "Red Ryder".

Serviceable western.

I did not expect such a good western , one more speaking of Jesse James, and there were batches, believe me. This one directed by Reginald Le Borg is fast paced, very strongly acted, with great conviction. The characters are powerful for such a B movie. It is not the Niicholas Ray, Henry King, Phil Kaufman nor the Walter Hill's versions but still fairly good. From director Reginald Le Borg, I would prefer THE DALTON GIRLS, but that's my own opinion. This western is full of charm and charisma. Excellent photography too and camera work. Reginald Le borg was a very eclectic film maker: horror, adventures, westerns but he was mostly known in the USA for the Joe Palooka films, at least some of them. His biggest gross, but that doesn't mean that audiences knew his name either.... Joe Palooka's audiences were not the kind to care about the film director's names.... And in this western, Jesse James doesn't meet Bill Cody, Billy the Kid, Geronimo, Juarez or Pancho Villa, as in so many stupid other westerns. But the main thing to explain before the viewing is that it's useless to wait for the umpteenth story of the Northfield Minnesota raid and it's where abouts - this one is totally invented - nor the final scene with Bob Ford and Jesse James fixing a picture in his living room.... Actually this story could have been made for any kind of character, and so why Jesse James? That's the question, but that doesn't remove any interest to this effective yarn.

Yep, Mr Neal and Miss Payton attempted to cash in on their infamous publicity regarding Neal putting Mr Tone in a coma over the affections of Miss Payton. Neal was a standout college boxer at Northwestern, so the brawl was not only unfair, but brutal and one sided. Neal went on to be convicted in the mysterious death of a future wife and after a few years in prison was released and promptly died of a heart attack. Miss Payton hit the skids and became an overweight alcoholic who died at 39. This movie is a dismal failure and is cheaply done with mediocre acting at best. This film is more of a curious sidebar to the tragic lives of the two stars. Better to forget the whole thing.

Famous outlaw and bank robber Jesse James is lured from his comfortable retirement in St. Joseph, Missouri, to commit one more robbery to retrieve gold from an abandoned mine in Colorado, but the affair will go wrong...

The Great Jesse James Raid isn't a bad western, it's an adequate time passer, at least once you pass the first dull ten minutes. Once the motley gang is formed, shootouts beckon and they enter the mine things pick up. Some of the acting is good such Tom Neal who looks like he could kill a rattler just by glancing at it and Willard Parker does well as a conflicted Jesse James. The dialogue can be bland at times, the pace a little laborious, but it has enough good moments to keep you watching. Maybe it would've been better if it didn't feature Jesse James and a longer running time to flesh out the plot, especially in the last fifteen minutes, to make it less slapdash.

I doubt that Willard Parker copped the lead for the television version of Tales Of The Texas Rangers on the strength of this rather tired western. Parker is in the title role of The Great Jesse James Raid. It's more like a road trip than a raid. And who brings the caper to him? None other than Bob Ford played here by Jim Bannon.

Parker is living quietly with wife Barbara Woodell and child when Bannon arrives with sidekick Richard Wells. There's mine in Creed, Colorado where he knows there's a mother lode that can be gotten to by an abandoned tunnel. Of course there's a reason it's abandoned, but that's part of why you might want to see the film for.

Jesse's picked crew is Tom Neal, Wallace Ford, and Jim Anderson. Not the most harmonious bunch ever gathered. And of course the name of Bob Ford is synonymous with treachery.

I will say this that Parker's more reflective scenes were done quite well as Jesse yearns to leave outlaw life behind and pack up wife and child and move somewhere they never heard of Jesse James. As if in 1881 in the USA that were possible.

But the whole business is presented rather prosaically and Lippert Films no doubt did the film to capitalize on the notoriety of Tom Neal and his romance with Barbara Payton. Payton is in the film also as Ford's squeeze who Neal of course takes a fancy too. Everybody in America knew about Neal's famous fist fight with Franchot Tone over Payton. Franchot's classic profile required reconstructive surgery, but it was a slow and sorry end for both of Neal and Payton. Besides that particular Hollywood scandal was already two years old. So I doubt much box office was made from the only appearance of Neal and Payton in a film together.

This might have been a better film in another studio. But I never expect much from Lippert.