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#621 - The Long Riders
Walter Hill, 1980
Based on the true story of the famous gang of bank-robbing outlaws led by Frank and Jesse James.
I'm not sure how it happened, but for most of The Long Riders I was not aware that it was based on the James Gang. Instead, I somehow thought that I was watching a film based on a completely fictitious gang of outlaws. Given the presence of director Walter Hill, I thought that he had just attempted to craft another ensemble-driven action film on the heels of gangland hit The Warriors, only with the streets of New York swapped out for the lawless frontier of post-Civil War Missouri. It also has a nice touch in that the gang, being comprised of three different sets of brothers, also managed to collect a bunch of actors who were related in real-life such as the Carradines (Robert, David, and Keith), the Quaids (Dennis and Randy), the Keaches (Stacy and James), plus the Guests (Christopher and Nicholas). Together or apart, they embody a number of constantly conflicting personalities who threaten to alternately keep the gang together or tear it apart - all while the authorities are planning on taking them down by any means necessary.
Unfortunately, The Long Riders ends up being merely alright. Despite its fairly brief length, it still has a tendency to drag when it dares to shift focus away from anything remotely resembling action. The downtime is often spent on developing the various siblings' rivalries not just within their bloodlines but also with other members of the gang (such as Keith and Dennis getting into a love triangle over the same woman or David's complex relationship with a saloon worker), which is passable but doesn't feel essential to the film's strength. It's more than compensated for by the ways in which Hill translates his action sensibilities to a Western setting as he is capable of staging shoot-outs or horseback chases (as well as one memorable scene in which David gets into a knife-fight with James Remar). If nothing else, the film is worth watching for the climatic sequence alone. Said sequence alone comes along a bit too early and so the film more or less putters to an end after that. As such, The Long Riders is pretty decent for the most part but it doesn't exactly offer a whole lot of depth to go along with its admittedly well-executed thrills or its clever casting of multiple groups of brothers to accurately capture the unfolding drama.
Walter Hill, 1980
Based on the true story of the famous gang of bank-robbing outlaws led by Frank and Jesse James.
I'm not sure how it happened, but for most of The Long Riders I was not aware that it was based on the James Gang. Instead, I somehow thought that I was watching a film based on a completely fictitious gang of outlaws. Given the presence of director Walter Hill, I thought that he had just attempted to craft another ensemble-driven action film on the heels of gangland hit The Warriors, only with the streets of New York swapped out for the lawless frontier of post-Civil War Missouri. It also has a nice touch in that the gang, being comprised of three different sets of brothers, also managed to collect a bunch of actors who were related in real-life such as the Carradines (Robert, David, and Keith), the Quaids (Dennis and Randy), the Keaches (Stacy and James), plus the Guests (Christopher and Nicholas). Together or apart, they embody a number of constantly conflicting personalities who threaten to alternately keep the gang together or tear it apart - all while the authorities are planning on taking them down by any means necessary.
Unfortunately, The Long Riders ends up being merely alright. Despite its fairly brief length, it still has a tendency to drag when it dares to shift focus away from anything remotely resembling action. The downtime is often spent on developing the various siblings' rivalries not just within their bloodlines but also with other members of the gang (such as Keith and Dennis getting into a love triangle over the same woman or David's complex relationship with a saloon worker), which is passable but doesn't feel essential to the film's strength. It's more than compensated for by the ways in which Hill translates his action sensibilities to a Western setting as he is capable of staging shoot-outs or horseback chases (as well as one memorable scene in which David gets into a knife-fight with James Remar). If nothing else, the film is worth watching for the climatic sequence alone. Said sequence alone comes along a bit too early and so the film more or less putters to an end after that. As such, The Long Riders is pretty decent for the most part but it doesn't exactly offer a whole lot of depth to go along with its admittedly well-executed thrills or its clever casting of multiple groups of brothers to accurately capture the unfolding drama.