Watch Alias Jesse James For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Powerful

It is a performances centric movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Not believable - and not meant to be.Prairie outlaw Jesse James (Wendell Corey) visits New York with a bagful of stolen dollars, and overhears a desperate salesman (Bob Hope) trying to sell life-insurance to a bartender. This gives him an idea - why not fake his own death and retire on the proceeds? The Hope character eagerly delivers the loot to his boss, proud of having sold such a huge policy, not realising he has just insured a famous bandit. The boss orders him to go West and guard Jesse at all times, to save a payout that would bankrupt the company.It's really an excuse for another Hope movie in the popular 'Paleface' style, and a vehicle for Rhonda Fleming as Jesse's fiancée, displaying reasonable talent as a singer and comedienne, but mainly just dazzling us with one look from those limpid eyes.The gags are seriously creaky, and there appears to have been some clumsy editing, with lines that don't lead anywhere. But all the expected shootouts, poker-games and bar-room brawls are there to keep the story moving.Hope is his predictable self. Corey is nowhere near sinister enough to be Jesse, and should have swapped roles with the famously lean-mean Jack Lambert, playing only a small part as Jesse's rival in town, spoiling for a fight.But in any case, the show is stolen by an 80-year old unknown (Mary Young) as Jesse's doting mother, and briefly by Gloria Talbot as a young Indian princess.Couple of Missourian in-jokes - Corey, but not Hope, pronouncing it as 'Missoura', and a small boy with glasses giving his name as Harry Truman.For reasons we won't reveal, an all-star cast of film and TV gunslingers, with Bing Crosby roped-in too, make their cameo appearance near the end.

Somewhere about the mid-1950s, most of Bob Hope's films lost their punch...at least to me. And this is one of those films.There are three basic attitudes toward Bob Hope (and most actors) -- you're a fan, you're at the opposite end of the spectrum, or you take each film or project on a case-by-case basis. There are times I can remember watching a Hope film and laughing out loud. Then there are those times I simply smile. This is one of the latter.This film was produced by Bob's own production company, and perhaps that is one of the reasons is has a sort of "cheap" "television look" to it, although it is in color. For example, using exactly the same shot of a train rolling through the western countryside in two different spots in the film. Was it the train to nowhere? A couple of things about Hope's character in this film didn't quite make it. Instead of playing the coward who redeems himself...which he was so good at...he was actually rather brave (though foolish) in this film. I don't feel that went over so well. As was true in so many of the later Hope films, he was sort of a ladies' man here. Again, a lot less funny than his earlier personas. And, as it seemed to me as in "The Seven Little Foys" (a much better Hope film which was produced four years earlier), that Hope was sort of "walking through" this film. His one-liners weren't so snappy here...a talent he had once honed to perfection. Had Hope been spoiled by his success in television by this time)? I'm not saying there aren't some fun moments here. There are. Particularly the main gunfight when there are cameo appearances by stars such as Roy Rogers, Bing Crosby (very funny one liner), Gary Cooper, and several stars of television westerns.I have several Hope movies on my DVD shelf, as well as a couple dozen of his television shows. This film will never find a place on my DVD shelf. If you want to see a really funny Hope in a western comedy, try "The Paleface" -- Hope much more in his prime.

Assured and self-amused Bob Hope glides smoothly through jokey western involving an insurance salesman from New York unknowingly selling a valuable life policy to the infamous gunslinger/train robber Jesse James; he's forced by his boss to head West to find Jesse and ask for the policy back. Hope's nervous shtick routine (always followed by a series of variable one-liners) isn't quite the stuff of side-splitting comedy--and yet he's so adept at these gags, there's nostalgic pleasure in just watching him have at it. A few of the jokes and sight-gags which bomb out the first time are then repeated (such as Hope's brim unfurling after a stiff drink, or a goat snacking on playing cards). After an hour or so, fatigue sets in, and Wendell Corey seems to have no idea how to play outlaw James. Saloon singer Rhonda Fleming, in a succession of lovely Edith Head gowns, provides a nice love-interest and shares a fun duet with Bob. The finale is a real delight, great for movie and TV buffs, and nearly makes the picture worthwhile. ** from ****

This is a treat for those of us who enjoy side-splitting slapstick without being silly. Bob Hope has been an all-time favorite of mine and in this film he really knows how to get the laughs. He plays an insurance salesman who sells a life insurance policy to Jesse James (played by Wendell Corey) and falls for Jesse's saloon-singer/girlfriend (played by the lovely Rhonda Fleming). It has so many sight gags that it has to be viewed all the way through to really enjoy them. And the cameos by all the western stars during the shootout - what a great idea! Even the kids will get a kick out of this one. My 15-year-old even loved it, considering the junk that's called entertainment today for their age group. Get the family, get some popcorn, gather 'round the set, you baby boomers, and enjoy some great comedy.