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AMERICAN OUTLAWS Send This Review to a Friend
A western about the James brothers and their cohorts has been ludicrously dumbed down in a misfire meant to appeal to contemporary audiences. "American Outlaws" is the sort of yarn in which at the close of the Civil War the rebel boys are having a grand old time in combat excelling at all that killin'. Jesse James, his brother Frank and their cousin Cole Younger are bursting with enthusiasm as they inventively outshoot the Union soldiers who outnumber them.
But, as depicted in this hare-brained and fanciful version of the James legend, they can't settle down to a peaceful life back home because the railroad is acomin' through and the rail bosses, with their Pinkerton Detective Agency cronies, are trying to force the farmers to sell their land. What's a guy to do but rob banks and hit capitalism where it hurts? And so the gang is organized and goes on a long Robin Hood-like spree.
The performances by Colin Farrell as Jesse, Gabriel Macht as Frank and Scott Caan and Will McCormack as Cole and Bob Younger are all light-weight, and blonde Ali Larter as Jesse's girl seems to have stepped out of a fashion magazine. Timothy Dalton as Pinkerton struggles to strike a balance between professional determination to get the James gang and admiration for Jesse's courage. The screenplay by Roderick Taylor and John Rodgers is filled with the sort of banalities that can inspire laughs in the wrong places.
Director Les Mayfield keeps the action going, with daring rescues, robberies and shootouts, but nothing rings true or carries any dramatic weight. A Warner Brothers release.
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