Days of Jesse James

Roy Rogers (as Roy Rogers) is out to get Red Barry (as Jesse James), whom he believes has robbed a bank - now, who'd believe Jesse James has robbed a bank? George "Gabby" Hayes (as Gabby) is along for the ride as Mr. Rogers' loyal sidekick. To set things right, Rogers becomes a temporary member of the "James Gang".

The film raises interesting questions about heroes and villains, but none of it is particularly unique. Rogers saving Scotty Beckett (as Buster) from a burning building, and a fast-moving posse, are the excitement highlights. Among the songs, Rogers' "Echo Mountain" is terrific; it's played a couple of times, and would have made a good title song (for a different film). With all that, "Days of Jesse James" is a fairly routine Rogers western.

**** Days of Jesse James (12/20/39) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Don 'Red' Barry

Days of Jesse James finds Roy Rogers as a peace officer on the trail of the selfsame outlaw who's getting accused of a lot of things due to his notoriety.

In fact that's what's happened here. A banker and his son decide to ripoff their own bank and their depositors and pin the crime on the notorious Jesse James. Roy's also in competition with railroad detective Harry Woods who is after the James gang.

Woods is rarely on the side of the law in westerns and he's barely on the side of it here. With his character and with Jesse who is played by another of Herbert J. Yates's cowboy stars at Republic, Don Barry, the film this most resembles is 20th Century Fox's epic western Jesse James which came out the same year.

Roy's limited to only one song here and there's more emphasis on plot than you'll find it most B westerns. Actually the film bares more of a resemblance to a Randolph Scott product than a Roy Rogers western and that's to its credit.

Still the legion of fans for The King of the Cowboys will love it.

1st watched 8/21/2002 - 5 out of 10(Dir-Joseph Kane): Typical good-ole guy routine from Roy Rogers where he figures out everything to solve the mystery of who robbed a bank in the good ole west. Pretty much what I expected, although there are some twists and turns in this one and the methods Rogers and his sidekick use to find out whodunit is fairly ingenious, but does this make it a good movie. Well, not really, it just makes it ok to watch. I think these films have their place and I'm glad to see them restored onto DVD but the plot is much too simple and the villains a little to nice for us veteran-film viewing folk. Bye for now pardners!!

Inspired no doubt by the success of Fox's Technicolor saga, JESSE JAMES (1939), Republic Pictures cranked out DAYS OF JESSE JAMES (1939) which turned the Jesse story into a vehicle for Roy Rogers at a time when the actor was specializing in historical westerns with a minimum of songs (BILLY THE KID RETURNS, YOUNG BUFFALO BILL, YOUNG BILL HICKOK, etc.). As a result, poor Jesse gets short shrift here, functioning as a red herring in a standard B-western tale of a corrupt banker robbing his own bank and blaming it on the James gang.

Roy Rogers stars as Roy Rogers, a freelance peace officer hired by the Bankers' Association to track down the stolen money, a mission which compels him to go undercover and masquerade as an ex-con to join the James gang. Complicating matters is the presence of a corrupt railroad detective (Harry Woods) seeking to use Rogers' efforts to get the reward money for himself. Gabby Hayes plays Gabby Whitaker, a former California miner whose savings were stolen from the bank and who tags along with Roy. Gabby's granddaughter Mary, played by Pauline Moore, provides the female love interest. Donald Barry plays Jesse James and Glenn Strange (a future Frankenstein monster over at Universal Pictures) shows up briefly as Cole Younger.

The film follows the lead of the Fox hit (which starred Tyrone Power in the role) in whitewashing the reputation of the famed outlaw. Jesse is let off the hook pretty easily and is played by Barry as a fairly conscientious fellow although he does try to rob a bank at one point. In general, the film takes a pretty casual view of the rule of law. Roy commits crime in the course of the film--all in the aim of solving the bank robbery, of course--but suffers no consequence. Even the Missouri sheriff (Fred Burns) working with Roy gets into the act, at one point entering a man's home looking for "outlaws" Roy and Gabby. When the homeowner asks to see a warrant, the sheriff thrusts his pistol at him and declares, "This is all the search warrant I need."

Despite the potential for suspense and conflict, there is far less action here than usual for a Rogers western of this period and far too much talk. Barry does a good, quick turn as Jesse, a role he would play again 15 years later in an even lower budgeted western, JESSE JAMES' WOMEN (1954), which he also directed. (As Don "Red" Barry, the actor achieved some success as a Republic Pictures B-western star in the early-to-mid 1940s.) The character of Jesse fared slightly better in a subsequent Rogers western, JESSE JAMES AT BAY (1941), in which Rogers himself played both a noble Jesse and a less-than-noble look-alike who commits crimes in Jesse's name.

A train ride in Missouri finds that Jesse James is more popular than President Grant for baby names. Kind of convenient for the real deal, Jesse James (Don 'Red' Barry) and his brother Frank (Harry Worth) to show up and rob the train. Gabby Hayes takes some bad advice from his granddaughter (Pauline Moore) to put the money in a bank run by crooked banker (Arthur Loft). Things heat up fast as Roy Rogers is assigned as detective and meets up with the all-time greatest villain Harry Woods. Some great scenes in this one especially when Trigger on command throws Rogers from his horse and every scene with the gorgeous and talented Pauline Moore was a sight to behold. Also great performances from Wade Boteler, Ethel Wales, Glenn Strange, Olin Howland and childhood star Scotty Beckett.