Great Film overall

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Director, Walter Hill was keen to make a western, following his successes with The Driver and The Warriors the previous two years but I don't feel this really is anywhere near as good as the following years Southern Comfort. That starred Keith Carradine and it is he and his brother David who take top honours here. The Keach brothers are fine and similarly the Quaids but although it must have seemed a good notion to have three pairs of siblings play in this Jesse James tale, I'm not sure it works as well as it should have. The men rob banks and then fade out whilst in-between they talk a lot about family and marriage and mothers but it is not too convincing. The film only looks good now and again and it is hard to care for anyone here.

"The Long Riders" doesn't sit at the top of Walter Hill's filmography, which explains why it's taken me so long to see this; but it's an absorbing Western that pulls you in with its characters and overall post-war fatigue ("I spent four years in the army and eleven years getting out). These are people on the wrong side of the law - beaten down by the bloody struggle - but they're still people beneath the myth. This, and the solid casting of siblings as siblings made for a memorable movie beyond the shootouts. It's honest, melancholy and altogether well made.

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 .

Too many reviewers extol this western. Apparently those folks have not seen The Wild Bunch, Silverado, the many Eastwood spaghetti westerns, or other excellent westerns. Or, positive reviewers simply have no taste. I rented Long Riders on Amazon. I fast forwarded through the dancing, extraneous bar scenes, family gunk, blabbering, etc. This 90 minute movie easily condenses to about 20 minutes. The rest is fluff. If you are determined to watch it, check it out of your library for free. Even then, you will waste your time. The movie wasted its stars and offered simplistic dialog. Most of the violence was clearly written in to attract the action freaks. Wild Bunch had a lot of violence. However, it all seemed a logical part of the movie.