Director Walter Hill is quoted as having referred to this film as 'a strange piece'. It's an interesting description because despite it's genre roots it has a meandering feel to it and certainly doesn't know when to end. This can be described as a revisionist western combining historical realism with Hollywood and genre traits. The shoot outs are all slo-mo bloody squibs with bodies being thrown through windows etc by the sheer force of gunfire and in these aspects it's all very OTT. In the scenes in bars, whorehouses and homesteads there is an attempt to recreate a sense of history. All of this makes the film interesting, entertaining and needy of some cohesion. Hill is a Sam Peckinpah wannabe but lacks any of Peckinpah's lyrical poetry or his sense of balance. The big set piece gunfight in Northfield which is almost the film's conclusion is a direct copycat of Peckinpah's opening scene in The Wild Bunch (1969). Anyway what we have here is another telling of the Jesse James story, it's been told better before there is no doubt but this does have some interesting twists, the obvious one is the casting of four sets of brothers to play brothers: James & Stacy Keach are the James brothers; David, Keith & Robert Carradine are the Youngers; Dennis & Randy Quaid are the Millers and Christopher & Nicholas Guest are the Ford brothers. These all perform admirably but the novelty was unnecessary and doesn't enhance the film to any real extent. Hill adds two codas to the film and they tend to make it lose its way; the first is showing the murder of Jesse James and lastly the arrest of Frank. These could have been dealt with much better by other means and their inclusion leaves the film with a sense of over-indulgence. But overall it's an interesting addition to the genre.
The film is set in the years following the American Civil War (1861-1865). We follow the James-Younger gang, led by Jesse James, as they attack banks and trains, bringing terror and mayhem to the towns of the Midwest. The story starts with the attack on a bank that goes partly wrong.
The story has been told before and in other films. This is a worthwhile and captivating re-telling, however. The acting is very good and convincing, and so are the dialogues. The set pieces, when violence is unleashed in a spectacular way, are memorable and narrated well. The central characters are not cardboard cutouts and stir up the viewer's interest, even if they are, essentially, not that likeable. But what I enjoyed most was the re-creation of the atmosphere in that part of the USA in the wake of the Civil War. I think this is done very well and is quite realistic, down to the music that is played (including the score), which evokes the Wild West of 19th-century America.
Overall, it is a good film which viewers should enjoy, more particularly if they like westerns. It may not be a masterpiece, but the movie is effective and worth watching.