The Long Riders
Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
During the years following the Civil War, banks and trains become the targets of the James-Younger gang, outlaws who terrorize the Midwestern United States. The band of robbers is led by Jesse James and Cole Younger, along with several of their brothers.
A detective, Mr. Rixley from the Pinkerton's agency, is assigned to capture the outlaws. Leading his own large team of men, Rixley doggedly remains on their trail, killing several innocent relatives of the gang in the process. By the time, at Clell Miller's suggestion, the James-Younger Gang rides far north in September 1876 to rob a bank belonging to "squareheads" in Northfield, Minnesota, word is out about them and the town has been warned by the Pinkertons.
The holdup goes wrong in every way. The bank's vault has been set on a timer and cannot be opened. A cashier and another citizen are shot and killed. While trying to escape, the gang is fired upon by the townspeople, who, setting a trap, have barricaded both ends of the main street. Two outlaws, both recently recruited by Jesse, are killed, Clell is fatally gutshot, Frank is hit in the arm, and all of the Youngers are badly wounded.
Finally escaping Northfield, the surviving gang members temporarily make camp in some woods. Clell Miller is dying. Jim Younger, sporting more than several wounds, cannot speak due to a bullet piercing his cheek. Bob Younger, flat on his back, moans pitifully, shot multiple times. Cole Younger, seeming the most mobile of his siblings, has (as later reported by a physician) been hit by no less than eleven bullets. Frank James has only one minor injury. Jesse James appears to have escaped unscathed.
Hard decisions have to be made. A posse will be soon coming for the outlaws. Miller is on his last breaths. The three Younger brothers are so injured that they are unable to continue. Only Jesse and Frank James are in any condition to ride further. Even though it is his gang, and they follow his commands, Jesse elects to leave all the badly wounded behind. Frank reluctantly agrees. Cole objects, implying that it is disloyal to abandon them, but Jesse ignores him, while Frank declares that he has to abide by his brother's decision.
The James brothers return home to Missouri. An attempt is made by Pinkerton Rixley to make the Youngers, now in a prison hospital, reveal where the Jameses can be found. Rixley states that the Youngers will face life in prison (the state of Minnesota does not have the death penalty), but he offers them a more lenient sentence if they betray the James brothers. The Youngers, despite their abandonment, refuse to inform on the Jameses.
Jesse, not terribly affected by the disastrous Northfield raid, chooses to recruit a new gang. Bob and Charlie Ford, previously spurned in their efforts to join Jesse's outfit, are now invited to Jesse's home for dinner. The expectation is that Jesse will ask the two brothers to join him in further robberies. However, having made a prior deal with Rixley for a lucrative reward, Bob and Charlie shoot an unsuspecting Jesse James in the back while he straightens a picture frame.
Upon learning of his brother's assassination, Frank James surrenders his gun and turns himself in to Pinkerton Rixley, but only on the condition that he can first attend his brother's funeral. Rixley suggests that he might not agree to such terms, whereupon Frank declares that he will kill him if he refuses.
A train transports a wooden coffin bearing the body of Jesse James. Frank James, handcuffed to Rixley, stands at the railcar door, looking out, noting the people beside the tracks, paying their final respects to his brother, as the train passes by.

Review: Over the length of his career, he would return to the genre again and again, giving us offerings that ranged from the large-scale excess of Geronimo: an American legend, to the smaller, but just as historically accurate Wild Bill.By far the best of his Western work, The Long Riders tells the tale of the James/Younger legacy, a slice of history that has been adapted for the silver screen on countless occasions.
Perhaps the film's strongest and most alluring attribute is the fact that the cast contains real life acting siblings in the shape of the Carradines, the Keaches, the Guests and the Quaids as the band of outlaws.
As Sam Peckinpah's 'The Getaway,' Walter Hill's 'The Long Riders' almost elevates cinema violence into an art form Visually, 'The Long Riders' contains much that is stunning, even mesmerizing: the green Missouri scenic landscapes; the train robbery sequence; the stagecoach heist; the crossing of a wild river; but there is no question that it is the scene of the gang's disastrous foray into Northfield, Minnesota - that highlight this film These specific episodes give 'The Long Riders' its rhythm, power, spectacle, and excitement With his slow motion 'terror shootout,' Hill seems to impress his viewers by showing them an inventive montage of high-level gory violence But Hill's most wonderful sequences are those that were the most reserved: the wonderful moment when Frank is cutting the hardest wood with a forest ax and his brother Jesse, walking with his fiancée, attempting to settle down and raise a family Hill may have a reputation for being a tough guy, but his best screen moments (in "Hard Times", "The Warriors", "Streets of Fire") are the ones in which he allows his romantic tendencies to slip through, when he gives his characters the dignity that means so much to them Hill tries to debunk the American myth that Western gunfighters were "heroes," and to show these embittered guys for the 'rough men that they really were.'Hill's real intention is to present us with a gang of four families of brothers, and get us to accept them on their own terms, in their own brutal world The men of 'The Long Riders' are at their most dastardly at the beginning of the film when Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) indiscriminately shoots an innocent clerk, but for the rest of the film - one by one - Hill reveals their better, more 'human' sides We further get to appreciate them as we compare them to the awful men around them; next to the Pinkertons killing a simple-minded 15 year old boy, they come out best, the 'good guys.'To Hill, good and bad aren't on opposite sides of the coin; they share the edge.
The idea of casting real life brothers David, Keith and Robert Carradine and Stacy and James Keach (as well as Randy and Dennis Quaid and Christopher and Nicholas Guest) was an inspired one and really helps make this something special.
Walter Hill uses the Carredine, Quaid and Keach brothers in real life to perform the former bandits and it is a great attraction in this film.
Very similar to Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (the best film of all time...Western or otherwise) in the sense that the characters aren't romanticized outlaws that only steal to support the poor and only kill bad people (if you want crap like that see the piece of excrement known as "American Outlaws").
"The Long Riders" is a Western which lacks many of the directors' clichés associated with the genre.The casting is of course impeccable; with four sets of brothers playing the real-life Jameses, Youngers, Millers and Fords.
Historically, several of the leading gang members fought in guerilla bands against the Union armies in their native state of Missouri during the American Civil War and presumably learned their contempt for the law there, but in this film they spring onto the screen already established as outlaws in a staid and sober society.To a non-US audience, this also makes some of the references to music popular with the Union and Confederate causes in the Civil War, and some of the attitudes and insults, rather puzzling.However, the plot does develop through the film, and does show how some of the gang become better characters through marriage, the influence of families and changing fortunes, while others degenerate over time.Overall, this is one of the most likable Westerns I have watched..
Responsibility to your family and fellow outlaws drives the plot.The film itself is remarkable at every turn : the acting, the photography, the soundtrack, the script; all blend into a perfect representation of a different time and place: the poverty of Missouri after the war; the drudgery of every day existence, broken only by the occasional wedding when everyone can get cleaned up to look their Sunday best and dance and eat and drink and forget about getting up the next morning to milk the cows.
Deadwood director Walter Hill knows how to put a western together, and he gives a good band of brothers flick in this story of the James-Younger gang.
It doesn't hurt that the film features the original music of Ry Cooder, who gave us the great Buena Vista Social Club, As to the brothers; the Younger brothers were David, and Robert Carradine; the James Brothers were Stacey and James Keach, who also did some of the script; The Ford brothers were Christopher and Nickolas Guest.It also featured John Wayne favorite Harry Carey Jr.Great adult western showing the impact of the gang's life on the families, the failed efforts of the Pinkertons, and the eventual break-up in the Great Northfield Missesote Raid, and the murder of Jesse James by the Fords..
The Carradines are the Youngers (David Carradine's best film performance; he dominates all the other actors), the Quaids as the Millers, the Keatches as Jesse and Frank James and the Guests as Bob and Charlie Ford.
Brilliant Casting in a Very Underrated Outlaw Western Film That De-mythologizes the James-Younger Gang.
Sometimes guns were in fact the only equalizer available, although many innocent bystanders paid an enormous price."The Long Riders" depicts this very peculiar period of American history that lasted from roughly 1840 until about 1900 through the stranger story of one of the most notorious of outlaw mobs: the James-Younger Gang.
The filmmakers opted for casting each of these family groups with real siblings: the Keach brothers Stacy and James play Frank and Jesse James; David, Keith and Robert Carradine play the Younger's; Randy and Dennis Quaid play the Millers, and newcomers Christopher and Nicholas Guest play the Ford's.
Nice backdrops and occasional dollops of historical authenticity can not distract from what is otherwise a tribute to a band of killers.The horrors of the Civil War and the deprivation of the South afterwards are given as the sole reasons for the violent activities of the James-Younger gang, who rob and kill their way across the Mid West.It's difficult to know where to start with a movie like this, because though there is much to applaud - pleasing cinematography, likable performances (from some of the cast), and Hill's trademark, a climactic, balletic gun-battle - the whole enterprise is morally flawed.
Telling the story of the James-Younger gang, it's writing is matched by some inspired casting of real life acting brothers to put a cherry on the already stylish cake.
this is a movie about the James/Younger Gang of the old west and their exploits.the gang is known for robbing banks and they also rob trains.it's sort of told from a sympathetic view of the gang.the movie doesn't really show them as bad men,but rather men who are a product of their time.David Carradine plays Cole Younger,Keith Carradine plays Jim Younger and Robert Carradine plays Bob Younger.Stacy Keach plays Frank James,while James Keach plays Jesse James.Dennis Quaid plays Ed Miller and Randy Quaid Plays Clell Miller,who also ride with the gang.for me,this western is above average.there's lots of action and some intense and(in my opinion)spectacular gunfights.this movie may have the distinction of being the 1st movie to have real life brothers playing brothers on screen.i thought the acting was pretty convincing,and the filmmakers did a good job in making me feel some empathy for the gang.if you like westerns,you should like this movie.for me,"The Long Riders" is a 7/10.
This western tells the story of a gang of outlaws who became folk heroes in Missouri in the years after the American Civil War. The gang consisted of the James brothers, most famously Jesse, the Younger brothers and the Miller brothers.
The slo-mo shooting sequences are a bit overdone though, and weren't necessary in the first place.Good performances from three sets of brothers in the main roles: David, Keith and Robert Carradine as the Youngers, James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank James respectively and Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Millers.Entertaining enough, but not great..
James Keach is pretty good in it as Jesse, but the Carradines take the film away from the Keachs', in their portrayal of the Younger Brothers.Also Dennis and Randy Quaid are good in it as well.
The same could be said of the casting of Christopher Guest (way before Spinal Tap!) and his brother NicholasIn my opinion, The Northfield Minnesota ambush scene is probably one of the best and most dramatic shootouts ever filmed.There are some awkward moments and some slow points but all in all a really great watch.
Randy Quaid plays gang member Clell Miller as so comfortable in his own skin that you can't imagine him doing anything in life but being an outlaw, which goes a long way toward answering the question that the movie barely asks: why did these men choose lives of robbery and murder?Walter Hill directs at a zippy pace that allows the story we all know to unfold with maximum tension as the characters reveal the traits and interpersonal conflicts that will seal their fates.
That the brothers in the movie were portrayed by real life actor brothers was kind of played up as a gimmick for the promotion of the film at the time of it's release, but it really gives the familial relationships that are central to the motivations and character development added depth.
The casting with real brothers works excellent through the WHOLE movie, giving lots of character to the James/Youngers.
This film notably has the gimmick, and it's a pretty good one, of casting real-life siblings to play the James brother (Stacey and James Keach), the Youngers (David, Keith, and Robert Carradine), the Millers (Dennis and Randy Quaid), and the Fords (Christoper and Nicholas Guest).
Released in 1980, I would include this movie with the likes of Silverado, Pale Rider, Young Guns, Unforgiven, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill, and Open Range as one of the great modern westerns.This is the story of the James/Younger Gang, and contains an all-star cast that delivers.
Released in 1980 and directed by Walter Hill, "The Long Riders" is a Western about the James/Younger Gang, former Confederate bushwhackers in Missouri during the Civil War who kept on fighting after the conflict, although they didn't officially become the notorious gang until 1868, at the earliest.
The James/Younger guys, thankfully, are not painted as a bunch of good-guy Robin Hoods; but rather as outlaws who steal & kill for a living, justifying it by their bitter experiences in the Civil War. Nor are the Pinkertons made out to be the bad guys; they make some stupid mistakes, as is common, but they ultimately catch their quarry.The gimmick with this film is that they used real-life brothers to portray the outlaw brothers: James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank; David, Keith and Robert Carradine as Cole, Jim and Bob Younger; Randy and Dennis Quaid as Clell and Ed Miller; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest as Charlie and Bob Ford.
That film was THE LONG RIDERS.This take on the venerable outlaw legend is notable for having sets of brothers play the outlaws: Stacy and James Keach play the James Brothers'; the Carradines (Keith, Robert, David) are the Youngers; the Quaids (Dennis and Randy) play the Miller Brothers; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest portray the Fords.
Hill and his crew were sticklers for authenticity, and it shows in every frame of the film, with each set of acting brothers doing convincing turns as the outlaws, and with Pamela Reed giving a fine turn as soon-to-be-outlaw cowgirl Belle Starr, a loose associate of the James/Younger gang.
I saw this movie around 1986 and was told by my mother that real life brothers played the James-Younger gang.
Anyway, between those two films he made "The Long Riders" a great and sympathetic portrayal of the James-Younger gang that roamed Reconstruction era Missouri, robbing banks, raiding passer byers and generally causing problems for the local authorities.
It not like the James and Younger boys are the most sympathetic of characters, but it is their story from which the audience is transported through the movie.The Long Riders ends is a very violent and memorable showdown.
"The Long Riders" follows the trail of the infamous James-Younger gang, and the interesting novelty of it all is that there's a group of real-life brothers portraying the outlaws in the shape of the Carradine's (as the Younger's) and Keach's (as the James') and the Quaid's (as the Miller's).
I love how the makers of this movie use sets of 'American brothers in real life' to depict sets of 'American brothers in real-old American history!'David, Keith, and, Robert Carradine portray the Younger Brothers; James and Stacy Keach portray the James Brothers; Dennis and Randy Quaid portray the Miller Brothers; and, Christopher and Nicholas Guest portray the Ford Brothers - great casting!This is an excellent movie from start to finish!
The acting is excellent...as is the direction; the music; the sets; the settings and scenery; the costumes; etc., and, especially the action - the action is exemplary!"The Long Riders" is directed by Walter Hill ("The Warriors"), who is a protégé of the exUS Marine "Master Director" of movie-war, -battle, and, -violence...Sam Peckinpah; and, he obviously learned a lot!This is a great movie if you're into extreme and realistic westerns such as "The Wild Bunch" and, "Tombstone."I highly recommend this movie to those whom are!
The Long Riders (1980) *** 1/2 (out of 4)The story of Jesse (James Keach) and Frank (Stacy Keach) James and their exploits with the Younger brothers (David, Keith and Robert Carradine) and the Miller's (Dennis and Randy Quaid).Walter Hill always wanted to do a Western and many can spot various Western elements in his earlier films like THE WARRIORS and THE DRIVER.
Walter Hill directs this retelling of the real life exploits of the Jesse James gang, and its various bank robberies and conflicts.
A laid-back version of the James gang story and their war with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, this benefits from great characterizations, action sequences, an abundance of wonderful atmosphere, and it's unique emphasis on the Younger brothers, a story that's usually forgotten in the process of glorifying Jesse James alone.The stunt casting of the Carradines, Keachs, Quaids, and Guests, four sets of real-life siblings, really works here thanks to the fact that the brothers involved are all really talented actors.
These are the Younger brothers, Cole, Jim and Bob (David, Keith and Robert Carradine); the James brothers, Jesse and Frank (James and Stacy Keach); the lesser known Miller brothers, Ed and Clell (Dennis and Randy Quaid); and the Fords, Charlie and Bob (Christopher and Nicholas Guest).
Four sets of real life brothers play the four historic families of the Wild West: the Keaches are the James, the Carradines are the Youngers, the Quaids are the Millers, and the Guests are the Fords.
James and Stacy Keach play Jesse and Frank James, respectively; David, Keith and Robert Carradine are Cole, Jim and Bob Younger (and since there are not enough brothers, Kevin Brophy plays 4th brother John Younger, although he is a cousin in the movie) James; Dennis and Randy Quaid are Ed and Clell Miller; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest play the backstabbers Charlie and Bob Ford.
"The Long Riders" is yet another saga of the life and times of legendary outlaw Jesse James and his gang.
James and Stacy Keach play Jesse and Frank James, David, Keith and Robert Carradine play the Younger Brothers (Cole, Jim and Bob respectively), Dennis and Randy Quaid are Ed and Clell Miller and Christopher and Nicholas Guest, Charlie and Bob Ford.The film gives us a sample of the James Gang's repertoire through a bank robbery to a train robbery to a stage coach hold up ( with a delightful bit by Harry Carey Jr.), to their final caper, an attempted bank robbery in Northfield Minnesota complete with bloody Peckinpah-ish slow motion bloody violence.
When Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" hit movie theaters in 1980, his decision to employ real-life brothers to portray the James-Younger gang family members was considered nothing more than novelty casting.
"We done it for Dixie," was their common mantra and "The Long Riders" plays on the boys' Southern sympathies without excusing any of their actions.The Keach Brothers (Stacy and James) are a good match for Frank and Jesse James, but the casting of the Carradine brothers (David, Robert and Keith) is the masterstroke for director Hill.
This film's got a plethora of shootouts, squibs, slow-motion, amoral outlaw "heroes", and bumbling law men who aren't always in the right, but it's presented in a such a way that it lacks the impact of TWB, and fails to be anything other than a decent Western.For those of you who don't know the story: after the Civil War, ex-Confederates and outlaw brothers Jesse and Frank James (Stacy and James Keach, who co-produced), Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger (David, Keith, and Robert Carradine), and Clell Miller (Randy Quaid, with Dennis as his brother who's gone straight) rob trains, banks and stagecoaches in Missouri and Kansas.