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Jesse James

Jesse James

Western · 1939

After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.

Movie details

Jesse James

“Motion Pictures' Supreme Epic!”

1939 Western 1h 46m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Jesse James?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Man of the West

Man of the West

Western · 1958

Heading east to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his frontier town home, Link Jones is stranded with singer Billie Ellis and gambler Sam Beasley when their train is held up. For shelter, Jones leads them to his nearby former home, where he was brought up an outlaw. Finding the gang still living in the shack, Jones pretends to be ready to return to a life crime.

The Last Wagon

The Last Wagon

Western · 1956

When a handful of settlers survive an Apache attack on their wagon train they must put their lives into the hands of Comanche Todd, a white man who has lived with the Comanches most of his life and is wanted for the murder of three men.

The Return of Frank James

The Return of Frank James

Western · 1940

Farmer Frank and his ward hunt brother Jesse's killers, the back-shooting Fords.

The Tall T

The Tall T

Western · 1957

An independent former ranch foreman and an heiress are kidnapped by a trio of ruthless outlaws.

Yellow Sky

Yellow Sky

Western · 1948

In 1867, a gang robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws encounter a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a hostile young woman and her grandfather.

Open Range

Open Range

Western · 2003

A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.

Cimarron

Cimarron

Western · 1960

The epic story of a family involved in the Oklahoma Land Rush of April 22, 1889.

Red River

Red River

Western · 1948

Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.

Forty Guns

Forty Guns

Western · 1957

An authoritarian rancher rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new Marshal arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers, a female gunman enters the picture, and things go desperately wrong.

Hombre

Hombre

Western · 1967

John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Henry King

Written by

Nunnally Johnson

Tyrone Power

Tyrone Power

Jesse Woodson James

Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Frank James

Nancy Kelly

Nancy Kelly

Zerelda "Zee" Cobb

Randolph Scott

Randolph Scott

Marshall Will Wright

Henry Hull

Henry Hull

Maj. Rufus Cobb

Slim Summerville

Slim Summerville

Jailer

J. Edward Bromberg

J. Edward Bromberg

George Runyan

Court is in session

Put Jesse James on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Patience is part of the point.”

Duration becomes texture. The film asks you to inhabit its world instead of merely processing its plot.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“A test of endurance, your honour.”

Stillness keeps submitting itself as meaning. At some point, contemplation needs something worth contemplating.