AMC channel used to have a pretty good array of old movies. Apparently for what they regard as revenue purposes, ratings, etc., during daytime or prime-time hours, you're more apt to see the likes of "Jaws," "Conan...," or mediocre flicks (some from a "classic" year like 2004) - listed for the umpteenth time.
For some reason, recently they seem to fill Saturday mornings with a lot of Audie Murphy oaters.
Audie was a good-looking young man, and well-known as our most-decorated soldier from WW II. Regardless, Audie had the acting talents of, say, the average second- or third-lead in a 7th-grade parents' night play.
I had never watched one of these Saturday flicks, but noticed this one when I turned-on the t.v. today, with Audie on-screen in Western attire, Tony Curtis with his Bronx accent, and identified, respectively as Jesse James and one of the Dalton boys.
They escaped the clutches of some civilians about to lynch them, freed by a Union officer - soon to join Brian Donlevy, the notorious Quantrill, the "raider."
I remembered something of Quantrill from a long ago school paper on the Civil War - but was curious to refresh my memory, and relate the facts to this film.
This proved more entertaining than the film.
At the time of the flick, Audie was 27 - in the story Jesse James would have been 16.
Donlevy, in real life, was 49 - in the film, Quantrill would have been 24 or 25 (he DIED, after moving-on later, AT 27).
The actress playing Quantrill's wife, Kate, was 33 at filming. In real life, at the time of the flick, she would have been 15 or 16 (Quantrill married her when she was 14 - she was a ripe old 17 when he died). There is no record of her having been at-odds with her husband's activity - or that she was romantic with Jesse (although as teens, they might have played a game of tag, or could have innocently played some "spin the bottle").
The film also contains two segments. among its most entertaining. When Donlevy "swears-in" Audie and Tony, plus their three young cohorts, to his band - it's not unlike Errol Flynn as "Robin Hood," explaining the mission to some recruits as he adds them to his group of "merry men." And later in the film, Donlevy's brief lecture to Audie about leadership and its demands is akin to George Scott's ("Patton") conversing about the same with Karl Malden (Omar Bradley) in the A-level Oscar film. Donlevy also points-out that Kate, as a "woman," cannot understand this. This is especially humorous, again realizing the real-life men would have been in their mid-20's and late teens, respectively, and Kate 15 or 16.
You need some facts to view in contrast to the film to enjoy it even minimally -- although there is always at least a small measure of amusement in seeing these corny old Westerns which were often made during the 30's to 50's period.
For some reason, recently they seem to fill Saturday mornings with a lot of Audie Murphy oaters.
Audie was a good-looking young man, and well-known as our most-decorated soldier from WW II. Regardless, Audie had the acting talents of, say, the average second- or third-lead in a 7th-grade parents' night play.
I had never watched one of these Saturday flicks, but noticed this one when I turned-on the t.v. today, with Audie on-screen in Western attire, Tony Curtis with his Bronx accent, and identified, respectively as Jesse James and one of the Dalton boys.
They escaped the clutches of some civilians about to lynch them, freed by a Union officer - soon to join Brian Donlevy, the notorious Quantrill, the "raider."
I remembered something of Quantrill from a long ago school paper on the Civil War - but was curious to refresh my memory, and relate the facts to this film.
This proved more entertaining than the film.
At the time of the flick, Audie was 27 - in the story Jesse James would have been 16.
Donlevy, in real life, was 49 - in the film, Quantrill would have been 24 or 25 (he DIED, after moving-on later, AT 27).
The actress playing Quantrill's wife, Kate, was 33 at filming. In real life, at the time of the flick, she would have been 15 or 16 (Quantrill married her when she was 14 - she was a ripe old 17 when he died). There is no record of her having been at-odds with her husband's activity - or that she was romantic with Jesse (although as teens, they might have played a game of tag, or could have innocently played some "spin the bottle").
The film also contains two segments. among its most entertaining. When Donlevy "swears-in" Audie and Tony, plus their three young cohorts, to his band - it's not unlike Errol Flynn as "Robin Hood," explaining the mission to some recruits as he adds them to his group of "merry men." And later in the film, Donlevy's brief lecture to Audie about leadership and its demands is akin to George Scott's ("Patton") conversing about the same with Karl Malden (Omar Bradley) in the A-level Oscar film. Donlevy also points-out that Kate, as a "woman," cannot understand this. This is especially humorous, again realizing the real-life men would have been in their mid-20's and late teens, respectively, and Kate 15 or 16.
You need some facts to view in contrast to the film to enjoy it even minimally -- although there is always at least a small measure of amusement in seeing these corny old Westerns which were often made during the 30's to 50's period.