Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Must See Movie...

best movie i've ever seen.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Cut from the Dirty Cloth and Whimsy of its Era, with Echos of "The Wild Bunch" (1969) and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), Director Hoffman Manages to Make the Film an Enjoyable Romp with Good Acting and a Visual Template that Works as a Time Machine Travel Back when the Future was Not Certain. The Country was in Flux.There are Many Colorful Details that Make the Movie Interesting and Fun to Watch, but there is also a Goodly Amount of Angst about the Civil War, Social Concerns, and of Course the Rivalry Between Cole Younger and Jesse James. Cliff Robertson is Cole and Robert Duvall is Jesse and They are Surrounded by Some Good Stalwart Western Character Actors.This Never Quite Attains the Entertainment Value of the Same Story Laid Out in Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" (1980) that Amped Up the Stylization and the Characters Prove More Profound and Engaging. But This One Came First and is Worth a Watch for the Better Parts with its Look More Effective Than its Tone.

Just saw this movie and must say without Duvall's performance this might rank as one of the worst Westerns ever made..I loved the snow capped mountains around Northfield and the hokey mustaches on some of the characters.. (some even looked like they were ready to fall off). The baseball game scene appeared to be just a way to lengthen the movie and had nothing to do with the actual raid. The chasing around by the Pinkerton group was almost comical and hard to watch. The only thing I did appreciate was Duvall's and Robertson's performances, but unfortunately neither warranted any type of awards because of the low budget antics of the screenplay. This very, very low budget film is not worth the time....

There are some very interesting moments in this movie. The performance by Cliff Robertson is indeed very good, and I think the movie raises some interesting points in its portrayal of the James/Younger gang as a metaphor for the final death rattle of the old south against the modernizing north. However, this movie can't seem to decide between a comedic tone or an ironic and cynical one. I would say it succeeds in its more serious moments, but the comedic sections are very contrived.I went to college in Northfield, and I was glad to see my alma mater represented in the film (before its name was changed to Carleton). I became pretty familiar with this raid after attending Northfield's annual "Defeat of Jesse James Days" festivities four times. Surprisingly, the actual raid itself is portrayed fairly accurately, with the proper body count and roughly similar series of events, although some details are different. I liked the irony the filmmakers added with the incident of Cole Younger fixing the rifle that was later used to snipe at his gang members. Oh yeah, and you gotta love those snow capped mountains that surround Northfield (yeah, right), and the whorehouse full of buxom Scandanavians!

I always cringe when someone claims a particular substandard movie is the worst ever, but I am genuinely tempted to make such a claim for "The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid". While Cliff Robertson is fine as Cole Younger the rest of the cast is pretty much hopeless (give Robert Duval some credit for expending a lot of energy as he chews the scenery to an unimaginable degree).The real problem is the hopeless historical distortion and the early 1970's counterculture revision of history. This is especially unforgivable because the actual events were more interesting that the contrived garbage shown in the movie; these were portrayed a little more accurately in "The Long Riders", a better film. The "actual" events were fascinating so distortion and silly embellishment are totally unnecessary. If they can't provide a reasonably accurate retelling of the story then they should change the names and call it by its right name-"fiction".A genuine piece of crap, if there is any justice everyone associated with this mess is or soon will be roasting in hell.