The Long Riders
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Movie Reviews of The Long Riders
Movie Review: Classic Western
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a solid action packed western. Also try: "Lawman","The Wild Bunch", and "Chato's Land".
Movie Review: Excellent and Underrated
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was not released to much fan-fare that I can remember. I came across it on late night TV by accident and it interested me enough to buy the VHS. And what a great investment it was, bringing me many hours of enjoyment. While this is a story that has been told again and again it was interesting to see "brothers playing brothers" as the casting director filled the characters of the movie with blood ties with present day actor brothers,the Carradine's, the Keach's and the Quaid's. The movie shows how the outlaws received constant help from their kin and neighbors in the region to avoid capture. Of particular interest to me was David Carradine's performance of Cole Younger and the offshoot of his love for the "woman of ill-repute" Bell Starr.
Packed with riveting action scenes and an enjoyable soundtrack this movie is bound to go down in the history of western movies as a very highly ranked movie. But unfortunately this is a mostly unseen classic.
Buy this movie and you will not be sorry.
Movie Review: A very underrated Western.
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Long Riders" is indeed a terrific western and the best film version on the James-Younger gang. "The Long Riders" transports the viewer to Missouri in the years after the Civil War when former Confederate guerrillas (the James, Younger, and Miller brothers) continued to rob banks, stagecoaches, and trains much as they had during the War. The famed Pinkerton agency is sent to bring the gang to justice either dead or alive. The film culminates in the gang's disasterous raid on Northfield, Minnesota and ends with Jesse's assasination by the Ford brothers.Walter Hill's film stresses the community and filial ties of the gang that allowed them to be one of the longest lasting and successful criminal gangs in American history. These men had served together in the Civil War and, in some ways, the film shows that for these men the war never ended. However, Walter Hill does not paint these film's protagonists as "good guys"- they're responsible for the deaths of unarmed people and there is no sign that they shared their stolen loot with anyone. In fact, the various gang members are shown squandering their money on prostitutes, gambling, and drink. (The big exception is James Keach's Jesse, who is shown as devoted husband and father, but also comes across as the most ruthless and greedy member of the gang.) Walter Hill did not want anyone to think that these men were Robin Hoods.
Walter Hill likes to include homages to other films in his movies and "The Long Riders" is no exception. Several scenes and pieces of dialog in "The Long Riders" are actually from the classic Henry Fonda-Tyrone Power movie, "Jesse James." The entire train robbery scene and the line, "I ain't aiming to do nothing. I'm doing it!" are from that older film. Also, the gang's method of escape from the streets of Northfield was taken from "Jesse James," but it's done on much more grandiose scale in the "The Long Riders." One more thing that "The Long Riders" has in common with "Jesse James" is a Carradine in the cast. In "Jesse James" John Carradine, father of the three Carradine brothers who are together in "The Long Riders," played Bob Ford.
Movie Review: Tough and Underrated
Summary: 4 Stars
The Long Riders might be the most accurate portrayal of the James/Younger gang on film. James Keach plays Jesse as a severe, violence prone character who robs banks because that's where the money is. It's light years removed from the recent Rob Lowe version "Frank and Jesse". Walter Hill didn't whitewash his characters, at least he didn't whitewash them as much as previous and subsequent directors have. Their bloody finale at Northfield Minnesota is presented with no punches pulled. This is a fine, hard little Western. If you've seen the terrible "Frank and Jesse" you owe it to yourself to check out this one.Movie Review: Overall, Underwhelming
Summary: 3 Stars
This film was, when all is said and done, a great deal more style than substance. Because the James/Younger stories are reasonably well known, the director may have felt comfortable leaving a number of loose threads at each end of the cloth. He shouldn't have. Also, by distributing the focus around on 6 or 7 characters, he spreads himself far too thin. In a number of instances involving peripheral characters, I had the strong suspicion that a full director's cut might have created a sufficient context to explain something, but someone else got slap happy in the cutting room. As a result, the release version wound up seeming something like a mere series of tableaux with little character development from beginning to end. The main in depth portion involved the Northfield shootout at the end, which seemed to be a Wild Bunch redux and that was already a bit old by 1980. Other aspects such as the cinemetography and casting were quite good, but only served to allow The Long Riders to climb up to mediocrity overall.