Les rebelles du Missouri

Here's another of the Paramount Shaky A westerns from the 1950s, when B westerns were no longer profitable, but true A westerns were very chancy. So they got Technicolor, another 20 minutes of screen time to tell a story, some actors who could also get hied for non-western work.

This one might be called "The life and death of Jesse James", since the Great Missouri Raid makes up a small bit of it as we watch the whole gang of ex-Quatrill Raiders from the end of the Civil to the death of Jesse, as portrayed by MacDonald Carey. It's not their fault they were villains; no one gave them a chance, particularly nasty old Ward Bond, who pursued them like they had pled the Fifth before HUAC. The writing by Frank Gruber is good, if fanciful; the direction by Gordon Douglas is plebian. Ray Rennahan's camerawork is excellent. That's hardly surprising, since he had been a leading expert on it since the 1920s. The net result is good, although I've seen the story so many times in so many versions that I'm bored by it. When are they making another one about Billy the Kid?

The story of the James and Younger gang has been filmed often. This lesser-known version is a minor gem. It offers a powerhouse performance by Ward Bond as Major Trowbridge, a vindictive officer whose grudge against the James family and their allies escalated to his going private, obtaining railroad and bank contracts to fund his relentless pursuit of Jesse and Frank. Later in a great scene, his scathing assault on his failing subordinates is a side of Bond rarely seen. Carey and Corey as Jesse and Frank handled their roles smoothly. They had a fine director in Gordon Douglas (Rio Conchos). Anne Revere who endeared herself in many 'mom' screen roles was really at home here and Buchanan as her second husband, a caring and sober man was agreeably cast against type. Ellen Drew and Lois Chartrand are the love interests in brief segments. The key to this film is action—fast chases and raging gun battles superbly filmed by Ray Rennahan. There's no comic relief. If you want action, here it is.

Following the Civil War the James brothers are constrained to take up banditry in order to survive. Nonetheless, old grudges from the war follow them and their gang, making a bad situation worse.

Entertaining Technicolor western, but nothing memorable. There's plenty of action though the locations never leave greater LA. The big pluses are Ward Bond at his most compelling and Ann Revere at her most motherly. On the downside, James's arch-nemesis Ward Bond is so persuasive that Carey and Corey as the James brothers pale in comparison. Frankly, neither of those two actors projects the kind of charisma or even screen presence to engage tension with their enemy, Bond. To me, this undercuts suspense between the two sides.

Then too, the massed gunplay appears poorly staged with volley after volley that appears to cause little or no damage to anyone or anything, especially with Jesse's unbloodied white shirt after being shot in the back. Thus, that crucial scene fails to persuade at even an elementary level. And please, why did Hollywood insist that every western leading lady had to look like she just stepped out of a beauty salon. Note here how spotless Drew and Chartrand appear no matter grimy the conditions or how unkempt the men. Anyway, it's a good chance to catch a big chunk of ace supporting players that fill out a big cast. Old movie fans may have a challenge picking out ones like Bruce Bennett or Bill Williams under all the whiskers and grime.

All in all, it's a western that never drags, nor spares on hiring extras, and is unfailingly good to look at. But unfortunately, the 80-minute entirety fails to rise above the mainly routine.

Macdonald Carey and Wendell Corey play the roles of Jesse and Frank James in Paramount's The Great Missouri Raid. The James brothers story has never ceased to fascinate people and any number of Hollywood legends have taken a crack at one brother or the other.

Ray Rennahan who is the Mercedes Benz of color cinematographers lends his talents to a nicely photographed western, this is one of the best things about The Great Missouri Raid.

Part of the screen time here is shared with Ward Bond, first as a Union Cavalry Major and then as the head of a private detective agency Bond is obsessed with bringing in the James brothers after his brother James Millican is killed raiding the James farm. That was the way it was in Missouri, the James brothers rode with Quantrill who were border raiders, not regular troops. Bond sees no reason to extend any clemency to these two especially after Millican is killed.

Ellen Drew and Lois Chartrand are the women Jesse and Frank woo and wed and Anne Revere just before her blacklist hiatus days registers strongly as their mother who lost an arm in a rather ill conceived move by the authorities to get the James boys.

No new ground broken her, still western fans will enjoy this retelling of the Saga of the James Brothers.

Entertaining "A" Western