FRANK AND JESSE
A film review by John Panago
Copyright 1996 John Panago
Vidmark Entertainment Malofilm Video
Starring Character
Rob Lowe Jesse James Bill Paxton Frank James Cole Younger Randy Travis William Atherton Allan Pickerton
My rating: four and half stars out of five
While looking for a video to rent, I found Frank and Jesse. I never heard of this movie before (just like many you find in the new releases section) and took a gamble on wether my $3.98 would be worth the trouble. As luck would have had it I picked a winner.
Whenever you hear about the Frank and Jesse James gang you tend to think of a bank robbing and cold blood murdering gang that should be put to jail and the key thrown away. History books may tell you this but as usual there are two sides to every story.
The movie stars Rob Lowe and Bill Paxton. These guys may not be in the same class as Al Pacino or Gene Hackman but they are perfect in this movie. They were believable and they seemed to suit their characters well.
The movie ends at the end of the American civil war and a Chicago railroad company is trying to buy up Missouri land. In this process the company kills many innocent people. Most of these people include the Confederate side of the war. One man killed was the father of the then young Frank and Jesse James. The brothers seek revenge and this starts their epic life of crime.
The brothers assemble a gang which inlcudes their former mates from a guerilla band from the civil war. Their gang is good with the steel and have the look of being tough guys. Also in the gang is Cole Younger who is played by country music star Randy Travis who surprised me with a fairly good performance.
The gang emerges as a powerhouse and became heroes by the media for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor (a la Robin Hood). As the boys become more and more famous the railroad company (who is being robbed by the gang) have had enough and hire Allan Pickerton to lead the charge to bring justice to the land by putting the gang behind bars. I will leave the plot here as to not give away too much.
The one thing that I paid attention to in the movie is the part of the rivalry and hatred that existed in the USA during the frontier years and what it made. Watching this movie took part of the James brothers evil side away and brought them the hero side as it shows that they were fighting a losing cause against people who wanted to walk all over them but they just would not give up.
Furthemore this movie showed that the James gang were real people with families and lived basically normal lives. The family theme really shines as it shows how the two brothers, Frank and Jesse, depended on each other and cared. They were alwasy there for each other. This is something that we rarely see in movies these days that the family is always there to support and that is one thing that society need to take a closer look at these days.
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