Thanks for the memories!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The unstated theme of this film is to dramatize the outlawry of William Quantrill(Brian Donlevy) in Kansas and western Missouri, primarily, and to suggest his influence on the subsequent criminal careers of Jesse and Frank James, the Younger Brothers and the Dalton gang, as an apparently cohesive buddy group within Quantrill's raiders. There is the initial conflict of purpose between Quantrill and Jesse(and the other members of Jesse's gang?). Jesse and friends joined Quantrill's band supposedly to take revenge on the lawless Red Legs(Northern bushwhackers) who victimized the James farm and that of neighbors who favored the South. But, Jesse soon discovered that, as reports claimed, Quantrill's raiders were primarily a brutal outlaw gang, who pillaged, burned and killed in the name of revenge for wrongs committed by the Red Legs and others. Only seldom were the victims of their attacks actual Red Legs. Jesse complains about this discrepancy and Quantrill falsely promises that he will mend his ways. As a result, Jesse threatens to quit, but doesn't see how his small friendship group can be very effective in accomplishing his purpose. Quantrill knows that he could not sustain the support of his group without plunder of 'ordinary folk', the burning and killing functioning as revenge for similar acts by Red Legs. Jesse gradually becomes hardened to Quantrill's ways.Kate(Marguerite Chapman), Quantrill's moll, has become disillusioned with Quantrill's methods, thus is attracted to Jesse(Audie Murphy)because of his seeming objection to Quantrill's brutal ways. However, gradually, Jesse accepts Quantrill's brutality and choice of victims. He unnecessarily kills Tate: Quantrill's 3rd in command, in a knife fight challenge. Then, he unnecessarily shoots dead the 2nd in command: Bill Anderson, in an altercation, making him now second to Quantrill. Kate periodically tries to convince Jesse to quit Quantrill, to no avail. At the end of the film, after Quantrill has died, when Jesse asks her to go with him, she begs out, foreseeing that Jesse and his gang will not likely quit their outlaw ways after the war is officially over.Hollywood film writers sometimes couldn't resist putting together icons of the old West or the Civil War in ways that had no or little historical basis. Thus, the team of the James brothers, the Younger brothers and Kit Dalton as a cohesive unit is a gross simplification of history. Even Jesse and Frank James sometimes went their own ways for a while. Another notorious example of this occurs in "Santa Fe Trail", where various future important generals in the Civil War were seen graduating in the same WestPoint class, and being assigned as a group to 'bloody' Kansas. Later, it becomes evident why this fiction was important in conveying the main point of the film(as I see it).There's plenty of 'action', beginning with the threatened lynching of Jesse's gang as suspected members of Quantrill's raiders(They weren't, yet). All the action involved in several raids on individual homesteads, as well as the massive raid on Lawrence, Kansas, in which the town was largely burned down. There's the knife fight between Jesse and Tate. Jesse gunned down several raiders, and here were several engagements with blue belly patrols. Most of the troops decide to desert after a series of costly skirmishes, and Quantrill's suggestion that they make a last stand until every man is dead. This is as sensible as his prophesy that the South could still win if Lee's army were transferred to west of the Mississippi. "Let the North win the battles. We'll win the war"(presumably by guerilla activity). Historically, his sizable 'army' did eventually split into several groups. In the film, only Jesse's friendship group remained loyal. In the film, Quantrill says he is heading to western KY to do some raiding. But, he never made it. Union troops surrounded his headquarters, first blinding him, then killing him when he walked out the front door with guns blazing, knowing that his time had come. Historically, he did go to KY, where he was ambushed by Union troops, a bullet in the back paralyzing him, with a lingering death....Various actors have played Quantrill in film. I rate Brian Donlevy as one of the best, aside from the fact that he was twice the age of the real Quantrill. He made a handsome oily villain in many a picture."Dark Command" is another film that features Quantrill, including the spectacular attack on Lawrence. It might be interesting to compare the two stagings of this event. See it in color at YouTube

Frank and Jesse James, along with the Younger brothers and their pal Kit Dalton join Colonel Quantrill's guerrillas in order to fight the Union, but soon realize they've joined an army of bloodthirsty murderers.This colorful studio B-picture is a decent enough showcase for war-hero Audie Murphy playing a teen-aged Jesse, as well as up-and-comers Tony Curtis and James Best, who aren't given enough to do.As William Quantrill, Brian Donlevey gives the film's most interesting performance, portraying the rebel leader as cold, calculated, and quite mundane, all at the same time! Murphy's strange attraction to and utter revulsion for him make up most of the film's conflict.One thing that disappoints though, is the throwaway nature of Scott Brady's character. Brady was always a pretty good character actor and a pretty mean heavy. Here, he leaves the picture way too early, long before the dramatic possibilities of his character are exhausted.Finally, during the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, the manager of the bank being robbed by the James gang rushes at Murphy exclaiming, "You little sh...!" before being interrupted. Was he going to say what I thought he was going to say? Did the actor's ad-libbing almost go too far?

Kansas Raiders was an opportunity for Universal-International to display some of its young contract players of the time to see who might have some career potential. In terms of career longevity all of them had varying degrees of success.With Audie Murphy as young Jesse James and Richard Long as brother Frank with Tony Curtis as Kit Dalton and James Best and Dewey Martin as the Younger Brothers we see them all as young guns during the Civil War from Missouri all joining up with William Quantrill to raid, plunder, and pillage the west.Quantrill has never really gotten a revisionist view from either history or Hollywood. He's a murdering skunk who's using the Civil War as cover for what he would be doing in civilian life anyway. But he's probably seen in the best Hollywood light possible in this film.Brian Donlevy in this very confused story is as bad as they come, but he does take a kind of fatherly interest in all these young men who've come to join up with him. That's the problem with Kansas Raiders, Quantrill's character is so badly written you can't understand why all those young potential outlaws see in him.Definitely for fans of the above named players only.

Oh boy, I really wanted to like this film, but as the story progressed it just got more and more unbelievable as major plot holes kept creeping into the story taking away any sense of credibility. I'm not disputing the historical accuracy of Jesse James riding with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War, in fact, at the start of the war, he would only have been about fourteen. So all those references to the boys being just kids when they first entered Quantrill's camp were more than justified.Here's where the problems start. Quantrill's (Brian Donlevy) third in command is a fellow named Tate, later revealed to be a Union plant. So why would Tate accept Jesse James' (Audie Murphy) challenge to a handkerchief fight with Bowie knives, putting his own life at risk above the call to duty? That one just doesn't make sense. But besides that, in addition to Tate, Jesse knocks off Quantrill's number two man Anderson (Scott Brady) later in the story without repercussion.All throughout the film, Jesse's disillusionment with Quantrill's methods is consistently put to the test, and each time he decides to hang around. For Quantrill's part, when Jesse challenges the killing of innocent civilians during his attacks, why would Quantrill simply allow the James boys, the Youngers and Kit Dalton to just sit out one of his raiding parties? There's more. It doesn't take long for Quantrill's lady Kate (Marguerite Chapman) to figure out just how ruthless he and his men are. "Kill 'em and bury 'em, all in a day's work, huh?" is how she sums things up. But she sticks around too, even while trying to talk Jesse and his comrades to leave the 'Butcher's Brigade'. As the Civil War rages on and Quantrill's ranks grow thin, there's a scene when all of his men dessert, along with Kate, and Quantrill seems no more upset than if he missed breakfast.But here's the best! During one of Quantrill's raids near the end of the movie, he's blinded by a gunshot from Union forces. Unable to see, and with his eyes blindfolded besides, he and Jesse's men arrive at the site of an earlier raid, and he says, "It looks like we've been here before Jesse". At that point, the movie nailed it's own coffin for me.I have to say though that the casting for the picture at least was inspired. I always enjoy seeing James Best, this time as Cole Younger riding with Jesse's crowd. Kit Dalton was portrayed by Tony Curtis, and Scott Brady looked a bit paunchy as Bloody Bill Anderson. It's a quandary to describe my feeling for Marguerite Chapman in the role of Kate; she managed to convey her anxiety about Quantrill's villainy well enough, but didn't do anything about it.I'm already on record with my thoughts on Audie Murphy playing a screen heavy ("Gunsmoke", "No Name On The Bullet"). Granted he was World War II's most decorated hero, but with his baby face he doesn't convince as a desperado. In keeping with the historical accuracy of Jesse James' age during the time of this story, Murphy's casting makes some sense, but I would have preferred to see him play it with the kind of intensity Emilio Estevez used in portraying Billy the Kid in "Young Guns".