Realistic western

This film once again tells us of the exploits of Frank and Jesse James and their less well known companions who rode with them. The film is unique in that the Keach brothers play the James, and the Carradine brothers play the Youngers. SO you have brothers playing brothers. The acting is on par with the performances of these actors in other films. Stack Keach plays a very believable Frank James but without much flare (as he usually does). James Keach (who I have never seen in anything else) is the best actor in the film, playing a very serious but cordial Jesse James. David, Keith, and Robert Carradine put in solid but not excellent performances as the Younger brothers. The film also has Randy and Dennis Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guest.

The film is historically accurate enough for anyone who has not studied the outlaws in great detail even though the shoot out in the attempted Northfield Minnesota bank robbery are so brutal, so graphically depicted that you think it must be pure Hollywood. I thought "nobody can get shot that many times and live!" but it is historical fact that it happened. Cole Younger was hit over 20 times in that shoot out and lived to fullfil his prison sentence.

The film wanders into the romantic interests of the gang members and follows the ugly man hunt for them in which innocents on both sides were killed. It is a good introduction to the James/Younger gang and not bad as just a western genre entertainment. I enjoyed it much more than fiction though because it was a true story.