The gimmick of this umpteenth retelling of the Jesse James story is the casting of real-life brothers in the main roles -- David, Keith, and Robert Carradine as Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger, Stacy and James Keach as Frank and Jesse James, Randy and Dennis Quaid as Clell and Ed Miller, Nicholas and Christopher Guest as Bob and Charlie Ford. This gimmick, or the desire to alleviate any sibling rivalry that might result, has inflamed the moviemakers with the fine democratic ideal of giving everyone equal time, of spreading the attention evenly among all the brothers like a good and impartial parent. If the ideal is not always carried out to perfection -- if, for instance, you get the feeling that director Walter Hill has to remind himself periodically to turn to the two Quaids, and that he does so more out of politeness than out of genuine interest in what they have to offer -- it is nonetheless carried out well enough not to obscure or tarnish the ideal. And in one long scene, perhaps ten minutes, the ideal is firmly in grasp. That's in the scene of Jesse James's wedding celebration, with Hill circulating among the guests like a social gadfly, collecting tidbits of gossip on everyone we know, introducing us for the first time to the sinister Ford brothers, and generally spoiling the happy occasion by casting constant glances at the dim future. (1980) — Duncan Shepherd
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