The Long Riders

1980 ""All the world likes an outlaw. For some damn reason they remember 'em." - Jesse James"
6.9| 1h39m| R| en| More Info
Released: 16 May 1980 Released
Producted By: United Artists
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of revenge.

... View More
Stream Online

Stream with Prime Video

Director

Producted By

United Artists

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
TinsHeadline Touches You
Freaktana A Major Disappointment
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
IAAL This is a wonderful Western for all the reasons other reviewers have mentioned. I won't reiterate them, but I'd like to add that it's incredibly rare to see a social-dance scene in a historical movie where the dancing is completely appropriate to the period and not the product of some modern choreographer's creative urges. (There's a brilliant spoof of that sort of thing in "Top Secret.") In "Long Riders," the dancers are doing exactly the sort of dance that people did in that time and place, and they're doing it to the music on the soundtrack, and -- this one is even more rare -- whenever you see a musician playing an instrument on screen, he's really actually playing what you're hearing. This is probably related to Ry Cooder's influence, and he did a magnificent job with the score, but it's worth noting that the film also features veteran folkies Mitch Greenhill and Mayne Smith as two of the musicians; those guys used to play vintage Americana at various folk clubs in California all through the 70's and 80's. And speaking of which: there's a funeral scene in which there's a guy singing a traditional American hymn. The guy is Hugh McGraw, who ran the Sacred Harp Publishing Company for about a million years, though he's passed on now. Sacred Harp singing, or more generally "shape note singing," is a very distinctive American tradition that's closely associated with the time and place the film is set in, though it's done all over the country these days. (I won't go into details about what "shape note" means, but Google it if you're curious.) The song McGraw sings in that scene is right out of the Sacred Harp book. They could have found a million people who'd have done a fine job of singing a song, but they decided to hire the one guy who best represents the tradition they were portraying. That's a truly mind-boggling degree of attention to detail.9 stars rather than 10 because of the animal stunts. This film was made before the Humane Society's "no animals were harmed" seal of approval became as ubiquitous as it is today, and I won't go into details, but there are a couple of scenes where that's really obvious. I checked, and the Humane Society rates the film "Unacceptable." I understand that this sort of thing used to be common and that the movie industry felt differently about it in 1980 than they do today, but I still found those scenes disturbing. People with strong feelings about animal abuse in movies might want to pass on this one, though you'll be missing an otherwise stunningly great movie if you do.
ma-cortes Yet another recounting of the infamous James (Jesse: James Keach , Frank: Stacy Keach, this performance fraternity acquits itself well and both of whom were writers and producers) , who the public regarded them as heroes , from Missouri to Minnesota , including the fateful Northfield raid . The origins , exploits and the ultimate fate of the Jesse James gang is told in an enticing portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of vendetta ; these are the following brothers : the James , Frank and Jesse , Cole Younger (David Carradine) , Jim Younger (Keith Carradine) , Bob Younger (Robert Carradine) and the Miller , Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) and Clell Miller (Randy Quaid). As soon as railroad agents kill their youngest brother and hurt their mother , Jesse James (James Keach) and Frank (Stacy Keach) take up robbing banks and trains and seek revenge . Then , the Pinkerton Agency is engaged to bring the James-Younger gang in . At the end James is betrayed by the treacherous Ford brothers : Charlie Ford (Christopher Guest) and Bob Ford (Nicholas Guest) . As Jesse retires his erstwhile friend Robert Ford shoots him in the back to get the reward . This is a gorgeous , laconic , deliberate and agreeable Western movie . There is a concentration on familiar rituals as the funeral , family reunion and wives relationships ; but also on common Western rituals as the brothel , the saloon and the robbing . It displays splendid actors giving an awesome tour de force , attempting not to make heroes of the boys , with a casting of four sets . The studio bought the rights to the James Brothers but changed some facts for psychological and family motivations , instead serving up a potted commentary on the conventions of the genre itself . The trump card here is the impressive Northfield raid , shot in slow-moving and violently realized. It packs an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Ric Waite . And the enjoyable soundtrack by Ry Cooder , Hill' regular , fits magnificently to the flick . The motion picture was stunningly directed by Walter Hill who pays tribute to such filmmakers as Howard Hawks , John Ford , Nicholas Ray and , especially , Sam Peckinpah . Here Hill focuses on the subjects of brotherhood , kinship , friendship and about the territories taken wrongly by railway ; refusing to bother too much about historic events . This James retelling has been adapted several times , ¨The long riders¨ has a distinguished company of movies , each version gutsier and bloodier than the last , such as : 1939 recounting ¨Jesse James¨ by Henry King with Tyrone Power , Henry Fonda , John Carradine , Brian Donlevy , Donald Meek ; ¨The return of Frank James¨ (1940) by Fritz Lang with Henry Fonda , Gene Tierney , Jackie Cooper , Henry Hull , John Carradine , J. Edward Bromberg ; ¨I shot Jesse James¨(1949) by Samuel Fuller with Preston Foster , Barbara Britton , John Ireland , J. Edward Bromberg ; ¨The true story of Jesse James¨ by Nicholas Ray with Robert Wagner , Jeffrey Hunter , Hope Lange , Agnes Moorehead , Alan Hale Jr , Alan Baxter , John Carradine ; ¨Frank and Jesse¨ (1995) by Robert Boris with Rob Lowe , Bill Paxton , Randy Travis , Dana Wheeler-Nicholson , Maria Pitillo , Luke Askew and Sean Patrick Flanery . And has been portrayed most recently in ¨American Outlaws¨ (2001) by Les Mayfield with Colin Farrell , Ali Larter , Gabriel Macht , Terry O'Quinn and ¨The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford¨ (2007) with Brad Pitt , Casey Affleck , Sam Shepard .
blackmamba99971 If you are a fan of the western genre then this film will leave you satisfied. Just like the old stories about great train robbers, and bank heists... the younger gang along with the James' boys team up to race across the US states creating mayhem wherever they go although considered post modern robin hoods at the same time. It was an incredible thrill ride mainly for the reason that all the actors were related to each other.The Carridines, the Quaids, and the Keaches. Some of the most prolific actors during the eighties. A tale about desperation after the civil war. Struggling with finances the James' brothers join or rather form a posse to ride between states robbing banks, and trains to feed their desires. At one point one of the Miller boys, (Dennis Quaid) shoots an innocent bystander resulting in his expulsion from the group only to go off, and try to live a normal life.In the meantime his other brother (Randy Quaid) sticks with the group in light of the circumstances. Every one of them try to live a decent existence of either farming or another trade but the call of the wild keeps them moving forward with a last job in Missouri where they are ambushed by the state marshal. This culminates into one the greatest chases on the silver screen where the group during their escape rides through an entire building on horseback.Many called it the most violent movie to date until Scarface hit the screen starring Al Pacino. Yet the idea of a free nation in the west by hand gun and pure grit tells it as more poetic for the fallen south. Many who knew Jesse James, thought of him as a hero than a killer except the tale in this film says he was shot by two gunman in his home. Others say he escaped to Mexico or was seen in another part of the country. His death albeit mysterious remains debatable. As for the other part of the clan they lived out their lives in prison as it was told in the history books.The long riders will remain as one of the best told stories about the younger gang, and how their lives changed the way the law oversees its citizens when it comes to pure determination, fortitude, and audacity. Not all live by the law, but when it comes down to family, there is no law in existence that can change the heart of those who remain faithful to one another. Highly recommended to those who love westerns.
virek213 The American West has provided an endless amount of true-life stories that have become legends of our nation's history. Inevitably, of course, this means that men that are branded as "outlaws" have become a part of all that. One such gang of outlaws was the one led by Frank and Jesse James that terrorized a large chunk of the Midwest in the years following the Civil War, and right up to the first years of the 20th century. That legend, unsurprisingly, has seen its share of films being made by Hollywood. But perhaps the most provocative of the bunch is the one made by action film stalwart Walter Hill at the turn of the 1980s. That film was THE LONG RIDERS.This take on the venerable outlaw legend is notable for having sets of brothers play the outlaws: Stacy and James Keach play the James Brothers'; the Carradines (Keith, Robert, David) are the Youngers; the Quaids (Dennis and Randy) play the Miller Brothers; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest portray the Fords. During the 1870s and 1880s, these men rack up a series of felonies so long and so brutal that they become oversized legends of their time, and quickly become the focus of the equally legendary Pinkerton detective agency (the frontier forerunner to the FBI). But the methods the Pinkertons use to hunt down the James/Younger boys are not only unconventional, but even criminal at times themselves, earning the scorn of a lot of people, especially those close to the boys in the states of Missouri and Tennessee. The end result is a blood-soaked affair that climaxes when the gang attempts to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, in a raid that only nets them a lot of bloodshed since it was all set up by the Pinkertons and that the entire town was waiting for them. All three of the Youngers are so badly wounded that the Jameses abandon them. Those that are not wounded are eventually captured by the Pinkertons. Only the Fords were ever offered a deal: to turn state's evidence and track down the James Brothers, which they indeed took.Made on what was a fairly sizeable budget for a Western ($10 million), THE LONG RIDERS did, however, score quite well at the box office; and as a result, the film was perhaps the last great Western to be a hit before the monstrous critical and box office debacle of HEAVEN'S GATE came along at year's end in 1980, all but decimating the Western as a genre. Hill and his crew were sticklers for authenticity, and it shows in every frame of the film, with each set of acting brothers doing convincing turns as the outlaws, and with Pamela Reed giving a fine turn as soon-to-be-outlaw cowgirl Belle Starr, a loose associate of the James/Younger gang. Given the period in which it was made, no one should be surprised that the outlaws are seen as the heroes, and the Pinkertons as more or less the heavies (since their methods of hunting down the gang are terribly unethical at times). And since Hill wrote the screenplay for director Sam Peckinpah's 1972 crime thriller classic THE GETAWAY, and loosely studied under that director, no one should be shocked either that THE LONG RIDERS is a fairly violent film, with bloody shootouts rendered in slow-motion (though Hill's editing style is not as cascading, nor quite as memorable, as Peckinpah's was for, say, THE WILD BUNCH).Filmed primarily on locations in northern California, Texas, and Georgia, THE LONG RIDERS benefits greatly not only from its casting and its period authenticity, but also from the rustic, down-home country/folk music score by Americana legend Ry Cooder, who would work again with Hill on films like STREETS OF FIRE, SOUTHERN COMFORT, TRESPASS, JOHNNY HANDSOME, LAST MAN STANDING, and GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND. It is sad that the Western genre had basically entered its twilight by the time THE LONG RIDERS was released, and that HEAVEN'S GATE (released, ironically, by the same studio, United Artists) would all but bury it in the ground for a long time, because this film has a lot to recommend to it. It belongs squarely in the traditions that both Peckinpah and Sergio Leone set forth in the 1960s, that in which the demarcation between black and white was really quite gray, and where right and wrong were determined by the participants, and not a half-baked sense of morality. Hill, who can sometimes be an uneven director, nevertheless understood that better than most, which is a big reason THE LONG RIDERS is one of the best of the latter breed of that most distinctly American of film genres.