As much as I keep hearing the mantra on here that the historical inaccuracies are forgiven if it is a good movie. Well, it is extremely inaccurate and it is not a good movie.If you would like to make a western and ignore the majority of the facts, go ahead, just change the names of the characters and there will be no problem. Maybe it is because I live in the area that this movie is located, but it makes me cringe when I see Jessie's home as a two story mansion in St. Joseph when I have toured the actual home many times and the house is no bigger than my living room. The Northfield raid was horrendous with more inaccuracies and contrived stunts that seemed to be added to the movie just because they were filmed.The acting was bad with Lowe looking like a glamor shots version of Jessie and Paxton alternating between playing Frank James as Frank James and Frank James as Doc Holiday. I give this movie a 5 just because it is a western and it could be a serviceable story if they would have just changed the names.All in all, there were many times I was just itching to reach up and grab my 'The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Bob Ford' DVD and throw it in, but I waited to watch all of 'Frank & Jessie'. If you have the choice, just watch 'Assassination' again (which was extremely accurate and well written and acted), and you'll be better for it.

The ever fascinating saga of Frank and Jesse James gets another treatment and a good one in Frank&Jesse starring Bill Paxton and Rob Lowe as the James Brothers. I've seen and reviewed now three films about the James brothers and their gang, Jesse James, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and now Frank&Jesse. It's interesting to me how similar the characters are in all the films.Jesse is the hardened bitter outlaw who may have started with justifiable reasons on his outlaw career, but has taken to the criminal life and likes it. And it brings out the bad points of his character as well. Whether played by Tyrone Power, Brad Pitt, or Rob Lowe, Jesse is given the same interpretation.As is Frank the charmer of the two brothers. Whether laconic charming like Henry Fonda or pretty garrulous as Bill Paxton does him, he's apparently the public relations man for the gang.The characters of the Younger Brothers are brought in here as well with country singer Randy Travis giving an outstanding portrayal of Cole Younger. In real life Younger like Frank James lived to a ripe old age way after the action in this film.Jesse is the king of outlaws, his reputation against fighting the railroads has made him notorious enough for Allan Pinkerton to be employed to take him down. Jesse is a wily one and after Pinkerton's nephew Tom Chick is killed in an attempt to arrest Jesse, it becomes a personal crusade for Pinkerton.As much as I liked the rest of the cast, the best in the film is William Atherton as the dedicated Allan Pinkerton. He's determined to use any means to bring Jesse and the gang and I do mean ANY. The wives have their moments also with Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Frank's wife Annie and Maris Pitillo as Jesse's wife Zee. Pitillo's performance is hardly like the one by Nancy Kelly in the 20th Century Fox classic. She saves Jesse's bacon on one memorable occasion in the film.Frank&Jesse is one very good western which should have received a lot more attention than it did.

Over the years there have been many films depicting the lives & events of the James Gang. A few of them were more or less factual, this version is more fiction than fact. Rob Lowe & Bill Paxton are the James boys.Of course IMHO the best Jesse & Frank were Tyrone Power & Henry Fonda, Rob & Bill do not come close..The most glaring and obvious error was this,. IT WAS BOB FORD not CHARLIE FORD that shot Jesse in the back at end of film.There are other errors as well, which will not be detailed.Alexis Arquette portrays Charlie Ford, He does try I will say that,William Atherton gives the best performance as the detective Alan Pinkertion, he is a fine actor to boot & here he does a first class job. This may have been a better film if the acting by the leads was better. The production credits were OK.ratings **1/2 out of 4---67 points out of 100 IMDb 5 out of 10NOTE on points the 67 grad is just 3 points above a ** rating

This was the second Jesse James film I ever saw. I first saw American Outlaws and realized that it wasn't very accurate. This is not a great film like Dances With Wolves or Tombstone, but is very good in my book. It shows a lot about what the former confederates had to go through after the war. The movie really shows the darker side of Jesse James and how passionate he was about what he did. Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton, and Randy Travis are great. But why do they have to change things like Bob Younger being a mute, their first bank robbery being in 1869 when it was in 1866, the fact that Jesse was shot once in the head and the second shot missed, and Bob Younger being shot by his brother Cole when he was actually captured with Cole after the North Field Raid. I believe that these things could have been changed and made a even better movie. Besides some other little things this is a fine historical movie and one of my personal favorites. If you like it see The Long Riders.