Jesse James (1939)
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Director: Henry King
The legend of America’s most notorious outlaws in the Wild
West comes to life on the silver screen in the story of Jesse James, a Technicolor feature by Henry King starring Tyrone
Power in the title role. The American frontier after the Civil War was full of
lawlessness and men that would become legends. Here Fox portrays the outlaw in
a manner of an American Robin Hood of sorts, producing a colorful western that
takes great liberties with the tales of infamous bandit, capitalizing on the
open imaginations of audiences and their romance of the Wild West.
Jesse James is
western loosely based on the life of Jesse James who, along with his brother
Frank, became a pair of the greatest outlaws in the West. When the crooked,
strong-handed ways of the ever expanding American railroads took their land and
killed their mother, brothers Frank (Henry Fonda) and Jesse James (Tyrone
Power) stand up to the bullies of the rail system, leading the two to become
outlaws. A kind hearted man, Jesse is willing to take a plea bargain of limited
jail time in order to wipe his slate clean and live happily with his new wife
Zee (Nancy Kelly). Discovering this bargain was only a trick to arrest and
eventually hang him now that he was behind bars, Frank busts his brother out of
jail and the two continue to live as outlaws. Zee leaves Jesse as he continues
his life of crime, taking their newborn son with her under the protection of
her good friend and light love interest Marshall Will Wright (Randolph Scott).
Years later a wounded Jesse returns to his wife promising to make a new start without
his criminal ways, and turning down one last robbery with his old ends with
Jesses being shot in the back by a fellow member of the gang, Bob Ford (John
Carradine), in betrayal. This leaves Jesse’s name to grow as legend in the
western towns for which he helped in a time when others tried to take advantage
of them.
The feature is beautifully shot in wonderful Technicolor by
director Henry King, a veteran filmmaker of many period pictures, including
films with Tyrone Power such as In Old
Chicago and Alexander’s Ragtime Band.
It was done so by shooting on location in areas of the country nearly untouched
since the time when Jesse James actually roamed the West, towns and territories
within Missouri and Oklahoma.
The story of the picture would have been one that audiences enjoyed
in later years of the Great Depression as the movie dealt with the government
and large, powerful companies taking advantage of weak working hard for a
living and a hero standing up for them. The plot does parallel a Robin Hood-
like tale as Jesse, along with Frank, become of outlaw heroes that take from
the Railroads, who bully the people of towns, in hope that it will destroy the
railroad owners and protect the people. The overall plot of the movie was
almost completely fabricated for the sake of making this feature, capitalizing
on the legendary name of Jesse James, turning this real life outlaw into a
hero. Perhaps the only moment of the film that is true to real story of James
is being shot in the back by a member of his gang, Robert Ford. The picture
creates this episode in James’ life as a moment of redemption as he promises
his wife of turning over a new leaf for the sake of her and their family, when
in actuality James was never gave up being a bandit to his death, and Ford shot
James for the reward post for shooting James. At this time in Hollywood censors
did not allow criminals to be looked at as heroes for the sake of morality, and
perhaps this is why Jesse James is made into more of a redemptive character,
especially at the very end before he is killed.
Star Tyrone Power had worked a great deal with director
Henry King in the past lending it to be rather easy task for the two to work
together again in yet another picture. Power was a major star in Hollywood and an
easy choice for the studio to headline a film that can be seen as a prestige
picture, as seen in the still new and lavish three strip Technicolor process.
Used in many romantic roles, Power spans that gap between the adventurous character
that was James to the romantic man he is portrayed here with his wife Zee,
played by 18 year old Nancy Kelly. At first one might not see Power as bit of a
soft male lead, but he does a fine job making you believe he can be a man that
becomes an outlaw.
Henry Fonda, who plays Jesse’s brother Frank, on the other
hand easily makes you believe that he turns from small town farmer into
ruthless outlaw because of the bullying of the railroad and death of his
mother. Fonda’s presence on the screen in limited, especially compared to
Power’s, but he is very powerful in the role, leaving you wanting a bit more of
Frank James’ story, but we must remember this is a movie about Jesse.
The tall, strapping figure that is Randolph Scott appears as
Will Wright a Marshall who has his run ins with Jesse James, and also manifests
a liking to Zee when he is introduced. This veteran of small B-movie westerns
who had been making headway in larger films of late fits right back in the role
as a western lawman. The character of Will Wright starts off very strong as a
nemeses of James, but eventually comes to side with the bandit for the
injustice seen surrounding him.
The supporting cast would be full of notable actors, each
may have been smaller performers, but major players in the history of cinema.
In the coward’s role of Bob Ford, the man that kills Jesse James, is John
Carradine. This character actor would be seen throughout Hollywood for many
years, and here he plays a character struggling with temptation, which you are
draw to in the later stages of the movie as a complex man that ultimately leads
to the sad conclusion. Henry Hull plays the memorable character of Maj. Cobb,
an elderly, opinionated newspaper editor who serves at times as comic relief with
his many editorials about things that bother him at those moments. Hull could
be best known at this point for his title role in Werewolf of London, the very first feature length werewolf film
before the later, and more remembered, Universal classic. Then there is the
work of actor Ernest Whitman, the African American actor who played the role of
Pinky. Whitman was a well respected black actor of stage and screen, and here
he plays a character of a black man shortly after the Civil War, but there is
no mention of slavery in the film. Pinky is a helpful, and well spoken black
character. Overall his role is not very important, but you cannot help notice
the actor while on screen as he plays the part as a well-spoken black man, not
as a bumbling idiot as blacks are seen many instances in other films.
The picture is well conceived and produced, with good acting
and a plot you can hold on to, despite it being completely fraudulent when it
comes to history. With the strict competition of major motion pictures during the
year of 1939 with films like The Wizard
of Oz and Gone with the Wind, Jesse James would not be nominated for
any Academy Awards. The picture would not even be the best western of the year
with the release of John Ford’s Stagecoach
shortly after the release of this picture. This was when westerns were not in
vogue for major A-pictures with the large studios in Hollywood. With all that Jesse James is left in the dust in wake
of other films of the time.
Jesse James’ lasting
impact on the movies however would be for negative reasons. In a climactic
scene in the later part of the feature there is a moment were Jesse and Frank
jump their horses for a high cliff into a river to escape lawmen. No special effects
or fabricated dummies were used, as the shot consists of a real horse (shot
from two cameras in one stunt) with a real man making the jump, both flailing
in the air as they hit the water. It is said that in order to get the shot the
horses were blindfolded to force him to jump off the cliff, a moment that could
be fact or fiction. The result are climactic shots, but resulted in the death
of the horse. Animal activists of the time would be appalled, and with the aid
of citing this picture and this scene was used in part of evidence for the
American Humane Association who would stand up to abuse against animals in the
movies. This led to the association monitoring future films for their treatment
of animals resulting in contemporary films containing mentions of “no animals
were harmed in the making of this picture,” a mainstay of films containing
animal performances.
Jesse James is a
beautifully shot picture that can be enjoyed as long as you are not a historian
or animal activist. Westerns would begin to make a comeback in Hollywood,
showing that by putting money into such features would result in high quality
productions that audiences would turn out to see. The big hit would be Stagecoach shortly after, but Jesse James is a worthy note in the
history of the genre as it would usher resurgence as a major player in motion
picture production in coming years.
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