# American Outlaws

American Outlaws is a 2001 Western alternate history film about five Southern friends who return home when the Civil War ends in 1865. But Yankee soldiers and Pinkertons are busy helping a railroad baron grab land from farmers along the planned railroad west. The five friends fight back.
    Directed by Les Mayfield. Written by Roderick Taylor and John Rogers.

## Jesse James

* Just because we're robbing a bank doesn't mean there's no reason not to be polite.
* [to Zee] You got big. I mean, you aged. What I mean is in a good way you got big and older.
* If I can get you today, then you damn sure know I can kill you anytime I want now that I'm free. You sleep on that for the next twenty years.

## Cole Younger

* You tell anyone I said this, I'll have to kill you, cause everyone knows I'm the toughest man in this town. But you are one terrifying son of a bitch with them guns.

## Allan Pinkerton

* My professional opinion is that you've managed to piss off the wrong bunch of farm boys this time.

## Dialogue

    [An agitated Bob Younger storms into a township meeting]
    Bob Younger: They took Cole! They came up. They made the same offer they made you folks. Our little brother Jim tried to chase them off. One of the detectives hit him in the head and knocked him out. Cole lost his temper.
    Frank James: Oh lord...
    Bob Younger: Well he just lost his temper a little!
    Jesse James: How many of them did he kill Bob?
    Bob Younger: Two.
    Bob: He's smiling.
    Jim: Is that bad?
    Frank: Very.
    Jesse: Hey Doc, I was wonderin' if, eh, later this evening I could come by?
    Doc Mimms: You're always welcome here, Jesse.
    Jesse: Yeah, I know, Doc, but well, I was thinking maybe I could come by and take Zee out. Some place near, with other folk. Near here, but... [clears throat] Out.
    Doc Mimms: That's fine by me, Jesse.
    Frank: [with a grin] Oh, no worries, sir, I'll make sure they're properly chaperoned!
    Doc Mimms: Why that hadn't even occurred to me, Frank. I am deeply in your debt.
    Cole: Why the hell aren't we the "Younger-James" gang? I mean we got three Younger brothers and two James brothers.
    Jim: Well, I kinda like the sound of the "James-Younger" gang.
    Cole: Hey Jim, I'll beat the piss out of you right now, now stay out of this.
    Bob: Oh, Jimmy's got a point, Cole. The "Younger-James" gang is confusing.
    Cole: How's that, Bob?
    Bob: Well, say we burst into a bank and we go, "We're the Younger-James gang!" Now people are gonna be thinkin', "The younger James gang? Is there an older James gang? How come we never heard of the older James gang?" So people are tryin' to figure that out instead of raisin' their arms.
    Frank: "From women's eyes this doctrine I derive, they sparkle still the right Promethean fire. They are the books, the arts, the acedemes that show, contain and nourish all the world."
    Cole: Well, I don't know what it is that you just said, but it sounded real nice.
    Frank: That's Shakespeare. Now he's European.
    Frank: That Zerelda turned into a hell of a woman, eh?
    Jesse: Oh yeah.
    Frank: "Big and older"?
    Jesse: You can shut up now, Frank.
    Frank: You are a charmer.
    Jesse: I swear to god I will shoot you in your sleep.
    Frank: Next time try "Fat and haggard"!
    Jesse: A war against the railroad... what the hell was I thinking?
    Frank: Well, I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.
    Bob: They arrested Jesse! What have you done?
    Cole: What's that, Bob?
    Bob: What have you done, Cole?
    Cole: I ain't done nothing, Bob.
    Bob: Swear it. [points his gun at Cole] Swear on Jimmy's grave.
    Tom: Bob, you know Cole would never do such a thing. He and Jesse are best friends, cousins, blood brothers. Bob...
    Bob: [lowers his gun] Sorry, Cole.
    [walks away]
    Tom: If I find out you had anything to do with what happened to Jesse... I'll kill you myself.
    Jesse: So we got a plan?
    Bob: Yeah, my plan of lying here pissing myself seems to be working mighty fine, thank you!
    Zee: [while reading a book] Hmm...
    Jesse: "Hmm" what?
    Zee: "But the life of the James gang wasn't all robbing and shooting and killing. For these young Missouri bucks had a taste for the ladies. Especially the handsome and charismatic Jesse James."
    Jesse: I beg your pardon!
    Zee: Blazing Guns of The West: The True Story of Jesse James. Only a dime in the hotel lobby.
    Jesse: Let me see that.
    Zee: Oh, I'm not finished. "When he sauntered into a saloon, his spurs jangling and his pockets full of gold, the ladies flocked around him like flies to a candied apple." As I said... hmm.
    Jesse: I should've just killed Thaddeus Reins.
    Pinkerton: That's what I'd have done.
    Jesse: I'm not hanged yet.
    Pinkerton: You cocky little bastard.
    Jesse: Oh, you'll miss me.
    Pinkerton: No... I'll hang you. But I might miss you a little bit.
    Pinkerton: Tennessee. The railroad has no business in Tennessee, therefore I have no interest in the state of Tennessee.
    Jesse: Thank you.
    Pinkerton: I'd just as soon kill you, Jesse James. But chasing you takes up too much of my time.
    Clell: What'll we do?
    Jesse: Nothin'! You folks are gonna do nothin'! You're gonna go home right now, you too Doc, so you can swear on a Bible that you don't know anything about what's gonna happen tomorrow!
    Doc Mimms: Boys...
    Jesse: Doc! Go home. They ain't gonna hang no more Liberty boys.
    Thaddeus Reins: What the hell is that?
    Pinkerton: Vengeance.
    Zee: There are certain things that have to wait until after the wedding.
    Jesse: Driver, change of plans. Can you take us to the nearest church, please?
    Zee: When were you plannin' on telling me?
    Jesse: I just did!
    Zee: Only because I asked!
    Jesse: Damn, am I ever gonna win with you?
    Zee: Don't change the subject!

## Taglines

* Bad Is Good Again.
* This Much Fun Can't Be Legal!
* Sometimes the wrong side of the law is the right place to be.

## Cast

* Colin Farrell - Jesse James
* Scott Caan - Cole Younger
* Ali Larter - Zee Mimms
* Gabriel Macht - Frank James
* Gregory Smith - Jim Younger
* Harris Yulin - Thaddeus Rains
* Will McCormack - Bob Younger
* Kathy Bates - Ma James
* Timothy Dalton - Allan Pinkerton
* Ronny Cox - Doc Mimms
* Terry O'Quinn - Rollin Parker
* Nathaniel Arcand - Comanche Tom
* Ty O'Neal - Clell Miller
* Joe Stevens - Loni Packwood
* Muse Watson - Burly Detective

## External links

* American Outlaws quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* American Outlaws at Mojo
* American Outlaws at Rotten Tomatoes