Jesse James' Women (1954)

A couple of southern theatre exhibitors decided they could make a western (or, in this case, a Southeastern) just as bad as the worse of those coming from Hollywood and proceeded to prove they could be not only as bad, they could be much worse. They ensured their success at obtaining this goal by hiring Don Barry as the director. Barry was the best choice, as only the egotistical-and-sad Barry could direct (or believe) a film in which he starred as a lady-killer whose charms women could not resist.(The Susan Hayward real-life swimming-pool incident not withstanding.) Jesse James (Don Barry), leaves Missouri for Mississippi, and immediately charms all the women in the cast out of their bloomers and garters, even though three of them towered over him. His first conquest is the banker's daughter who helps him loot the bank in exchange for a promise of marriage; he wanders over to the saloon and runs the crooked partner of the proprietress out of town, takes all of his-and-her money and leaves her, between kisses, hounding him for her share; the third one, the saloon singer, actually makes a mark out of him as she cons him into a boxing match against a professional fighter and he loses the fight and his money, but he holds the singer and the fighter up as they leave town and gets his money back; and then he romances and swindles Cattle Kate, a replay of what he had done somewhere before to Kate and the "gotcha-again" Kate even ends up behind bars. But no film that contains a cat-fight between Peggie Castle and Lita Baron can be called a complete waste of time

This is an undiscovered treasure and deserves to be considered right up there with "Plan 9 from outer Space" as the worst movie ever made. Outside the four or five professional actors this low budget could afford to hire, the cast is filled out with Mississippi amateurs who would embarrass a small town little theater production with their stiff, wooden acting. It is a real hoot.You will not believe the sets where someone's idea of art direction was to dab spots of paint all over the walls. Along with the most painful acting, this has to also be the worst photographed film where the idea of lighting is to turn on some overhead floods. And the staging could serve as a textbook on how to NOT stage where you can see the "actors" walk to hit their mark and stomp on it like a bug.The only explanation for the positive reviews above is that these people must be getting a share of the DVD sales. "Jesse James' Women" is to bad films what "Citizen Kane" is to great films.

What a fun film this turned out to be! I stumbled on it hidden away on Platinum's Great American Western DVD Volume 36. JESSE JAMES' WOMEN was Dan "Red" Barry's magnum opus, the one film that he wrote, produced, directed and starred in.I'll admit up front that I'm weak on the real story of Jesse James and the Youngers, so can't say how much of this is fact or fiction. One point of history does come up when someone asks about the train robbery in "Adair, Ioway." This hold-up on July 21, 1873 was indeed the first train robbery west of the Mississippi River and there's a monument to it along Highway 6 just southwest of Adair (about 50 miles west of Des Moines).Barry's is the white-washed Jesse James of legend; in fact I was reminded of the BRADY BUNCH episode where Bobby idolizes Jesse and learns the hard way that he is not the stuff of heroes. Barry's Jesse knows that and anticipates that sitcom's message here when he meets the young girl Angel, who's hero is Jesse James. Little does she know she has befriended him in his incognito guise of Jay Woodsen (Woodson being Jesse's real life middle name). But despite his telling Angel to find another hero, Red Barry's Jesse James is one you could almost idolize in good conscience. He's a lovable rogue who charms multiple beautiful women and who like Robin Hood shares his spoils with those oppressed by the town plutocrat Banker Clark, who berates the hapless sheriff and who is too stingy to give the church he attends a loan for needed repairs. James' beneficence will allow the Sheriff to live his dream of retiring on a ranch and on his way out of town he even stops by the church to give the poor parson a bag of money.The film seems to end with the James Gang riding off to new exploits, but there's suddenly splashed on the screen an 1882 newspaper front-page announcing that Jesse James was shot in the back by Bob Ford. Then we see Angel and her siblings heading into church (I guess she took her hero's advice to seek the parson's counsel on establishing a new hero). I wondered if this ending was tacked on to get the film approved. After all, the James Gang did get away with an awful lot of loot here with no comeuppance, which could leave impressionable young moviegoers with the notion that crime does pay (and that being a baddie is a babe magnet).Red Barry had a big ego, was difficult to work with and thus he saw his star fall in the fifties to where he was doing low-budget films. JESSE JAMES' WOMEN was a low budget picture, but I think it holds its own against the bigger budget pictures of its time, like the Warner Bros. westerns Randolph Scott was churning out in the mid-fifties. Yes, most of the cast were unknowns and in clicking on their names I see that for many this film was their only acting credit. It was disappointing, because I would have liked to have seen more work from Betty Brueck (Cattle Kate Kennedy), Al Hillman (Sheriff Botts) and especially Jimmy Hammons (Champ O'Toole) who really brought an infectious enthusiasm to his role.Another film that came to mind watching JESSE JAMES' WOMEN was TERROR IN A Texas TOWN, which is known for featuring an unorthodox gunfight. Barry's film was the first time I've ever seen two women square off for a gunfight, and it was very well done (even if ultimately anticlimactic). Waco Gans and Cattle Kate had already treated the audience to a rousing catfight earlier in the picture.What a fun movie and one well worth the five or six bucks these Platinum Great American Western packages cost. The color is bright, the picture crisp; the only detractions being the occasional missing frames and minor print damage. Dan Barry's JESSE JAMES' WOMEN is clearly a labor of love and dare I say more fun to watch than my hero John Wayne's similar labor THE ALAMO? A few closing thoughts as a P.S.: (1) It was interesting to see the dawn of photography and how James rightly saw it as a potential threat to outlaws like himself. (2) James' eventual killer Bob Ford is featured here as the disgruntled Judas of the gang. I wondered if he eventually teamed up with Delta, whose face after Jesse gave her a swift kick in the rear implied she was going to seek vengeance; and finally, (3) I suspect the naming of the bumbling but lovable Sheriff Clem Botts was inspired by the similarly bumbling but lovable Alexander Botts, the tractor salesman of many a fun Saturday Evening Post story.

Famed outlaw Jesse James is on the dodge and holding up in a small town in Mississippi. Before heading back to Missouri, James manages to complicate the lives of several women-mostly in low-cut gowns. This was star Don Barry's only stab at direction, and from the looks of it,all will be glad that he stopped here.**UPDATE**My earlier review of this picture was based on a viewing many years (decades?) prior. I recently obtained a copy of this movie, and I must say, that it is extremely BETTER than I remembered.Not filmed in Hollywood, this one has a different feel than most of Barry's B Westerns, almost a nostalgic quality...it was to be his last starring role, of course. The acting isn't as bad as I recalled and Barry plays the Jesse role almost tongue-in-cheek. The story moves along at a nice pace and the bare knuckle fight between Barry and a boxing champ is good fun. Yes, the LOW budget shows, but it isn't any worse than some of what Barry did for Lippert a few years earlier. If you love B Westerns, or Don "Red" Barry, I would highly recommend this one.