The True Story of Jesse James 12/22/18

Twilight Time
Blu-ray

Nicholas Ray’s CinemaScope detour into outlaw Americana is yet another sincere artistic effort muffled by studio interference. Ray sought to examine a legend in terms of folklore and celebrity; Fox gave him Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Hope Lange and spectacular scenes repurposed from a 1939 Tyrone Power movie. Yet it still shows director Ray working his magic, in a revisionist western years before Sam Peckinpah — it has a violent robbery set piece that looks forward to The Wild Bunch. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
12/22/18