Highly Overrated But Still Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Kansas Raiders is directed by Ray Enright and written by Robert Richards. It stars Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady and Tony Curtis. A Technicolor production, music is by Milton Rosen and cinematography by Irving Glassberg. Plot has it that the James and Younger Brothers along with Kit Dalton, join Quantrill's Raiders after witnessing at first hand Redleg atrocities. However, after believing they would be fighting soldiers for the war effort, the men find themselves participating in equally worse war crimes. Something that deeply affects the young Jesse James.OK, it's very fanciful in its telling of a bitter and sad period of American history. Facts of the period and the characters are jettisoned in favour of making an exciting 1950 Oater. Any hope of a depth strewn historical take on William Quantrill's Raiders will lead to disappointment, something that is all too evident with many of the venomous reviews of the film out in internet world. Yet judged on its own unfussy entertaining terms, film scores high for the casual Western fan as shoot-outs, knife fights and stand-offs keep the film perky.The ominous black flag of Quantrill.As a story the film provides enough of an edge to make its point, we are left in no doubt about the "atrocity exhibition" dealt out by Quantrill's Raiders. There's also a neat thread within about the corruption of youth. Yes, for sure it's a picture low on accuracy, but it doesn't soft soap the subject to hand. This is a 1950 production after all and the makers at least manage to leave us in no doubt about the nature of the crimes committed by certain factions in the Civil War. In fact a couple of scenes really leave indelible images, and from an action viewpoint the "sacking of Lawrence" is excellent in construction and impact garnered.Production wise it's also good value, Glassberg's Technicolor photography is gorgeous, not just for the Garner Valley and Kanab locations, but also for bringing out the quality of the set decoration (Russell A. Gausman/Ruby R. Levitt) and Bill Thomas' costuming. Cast are fine without pulling up any trees. Donlevy is the class act on show, but here as Quantrill he gets by on presence alone, the absence of outright character nastiness is sadly felt. The latter of which, however, is provided by the solid Brady as Bill Anderson. Murphy as young Jesse James has youthful exuberance and bravado down pat, while Curtis as Kit Dalton is enjoyable in amongst the five group dynamic. Marguerite Chapman (Coroner Creek) as Kate Clarke (Quantrill's girl) has the tough task of playing the sole female in the film, and although well older than the character in real life, she does a nice line in sexy and wise older woman for the scenes shared with Murphy's James. 7/10

Frank and Jesse James, along with the Younger brothers and their pal Kit Dalton join Colonel Quantrill's guerrillas in order to fight the Union, but soon realize they've joined an army of bloodthirsty murderers.This colorful studio B-picture is a decent enough showcase for war-hero Audie Murphy playing a teen-aged Jesse, as well as up-and-comers Tony Curtis and James Best, who aren't given enough to do.As William Quantrill, Brian Donlevey gives the film's most interesting performance, portraying the rebel leader as cold, calculated, and quite mundane, all at the same time! Murphy's strange attraction to and utter revulsion for him make up most of the film's conflict.One thing that disappoints though, is the throwaway nature of Scott Brady's character. Brady was always a pretty good character actor and a pretty mean heavy. Here, he leaves the picture way too early, long before the dramatic possibilities of his character are exhausted.Finally, during the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, the manager of the bank being robbed by the James gang rushes at Murphy exclaiming, "You little sh...!" before being interrupted. Was he going to say what I thought he was going to say? Did the actor's ad-libbing almost go too far?

"Kansas Raiders" is supposed to be about Jesse James' early career when he purportedly rode with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War. Unfortunately, this film takes dramatic license to the extreme and is pure nonsense from start to finish. For openers, Audie Murphy, new to the acting profession at this point in his career, plays Jesse as a wide-eyed innocent humanitarian. Even Jesse James' most ardent supporters would be hard-pressed to place their hero in that category. As far as Murphy's wooden performance in this film, the less said the better. Historical accuracy takes a severe beating here as well. About the only thing factual about this movie is that, for a short while, Jesse and Frank and Cole Younger did fight as Confederate Guerrillas. Most well-researched history books, however, have those fellows riding around with "Bloody Bill" Anderson. In this movie, Bloody Bill (played by a young Scott Brady) is a psychopathic maniac who gets gunned down by Jesse himself. It seems that Jesse just couldn't stand for all that senseless killing and had to put an end to it. Brian Donlevy, who could play a rotten apple as well as anyone, has the thankless role of Quantrill. Besides being far too old for the part, he seems to have about as much enthusiasm for being in this film as he would shoveling snow during a blizzard. Lost in this travesty of a film are some up-and-coming actors who went on to bigger and better things including Tony Curtis, Dewey Martin, James Best, Richard Long and Richard Egan. Marguerite Chapman is also around as the love interest for Mr. Murphy, but that story line falls flat as a pancake.None of the actors here are at fault with this sham of a western. Hollywood Studios of the late 1940's and early 50's cranked out inexpensive and under-written films like this nearly on a weekly basis. Unfortunately for "Kansas Raiders", its cheap budget and bullet-riddled script stick out like a sore thumb to the detriment of all involved. Murphy did improve as an actor over time. For those unfamiliar with him, he was America's most decorated World War II soldier and already had a built-in audience when he decided to take up acting. Most film critics will agree that he was a far better soldier than an actor. I'm quite sure his German adversaries would second that opinion.

What are you going to do when you are a national hero; the most decorated combat soldier of WWII? Among his 33 awards was the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery that a soldier can receive. In addition, he was also decorated for bravery by the governments of France and Belgium, and was credited with killing over 240 German soldiers and wounding and capturing many more.Well, I guess you go kill out in the Ole West, and that is JustWhat Audie Murphy did. This is one of his early efforts and it really is not a bad one. He plays Jesse James who, along with his brother Frank, the Younger brothers and Kit Dalton join Quantrille's Raiders until they realize just what he was and become sick of the whole thing.Tony Curtis is here - I think it may have been the second film he did.A good shoot 'em up about a sordid chapter of our history.