Watch The Long Riders For Free

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I couldn't agree more with the first reviewer. This is one of the most UNDERRATED WESTERNS, ever. First, the cast. It's the only full length feature film to my knowledge that utilized the unique acting efforts of the top four acting families in the business—the Carradines, the Keachs, and the Quaids, including Christopher and Nicholas Guest, all in their prime, and all superbly suited to portray the members of the most infamous gang of post-Civil War brigands and thieves of the era, the James Gang and the Youngers. But to have a truly great Western, you must first have a great director, and it doesn't get any better than Walter Hill. And you can't have a great film without a script, and this one was first-rate, perfectly realized and fitting this modern day classic to a "tee." In fact, this film is so good that it easily takes it rightful place among the Ten Best movies of the genre. Among the wonderful cast of character actors, incidentally, is a superb portrayal of the famous saloon girl Belle Starr, played to perfection by a likewise underrated Pamela Reed. To top this fabulous Western off, however, is a truly memorable score by the iconic guitar master, Ry Cooder, a classic in his own right. Without his singular, noble soundtrack, this movie wouldn't have been the perfect masterpiece that it is.

Released in 1980, I would include this movie with the likes of Silverado, Pale Rider, Young Guns, Unforgiven, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill, and Open Range as one of the great modern westerns.This is the story of the James/Younger Gang, and contains an all-star cast that delivers. Also directed by Walter Hill...which I discovered that I like several of his films. The unique soundtrack is also composed by renown musician Ry Cooder.Story depicts the gangs robbery of banks, trains and stage coaches, as well as their saloon life of drinking, gambling, bar fights, romance and hostesses. It also shows the frontier life of simpler means, family loyalty and hard work.If you like modern westerns, make sure to catch this one...it won't disappoint.

I saw this movie around 1986 and was told by my mother that real life brothers played the James-Younger gang. When this movie started, i was glued to the t.v. It was a very good movie. I already knew who Walter Hill was from his directing triumphs of 48hrs and The Warriors, as well as composer Ry Cooder who scored the movie Southern Comfort (another hidden gem) so i had faith in this movie. I sure was not disappointed.This movie scores high on almost every level. There's the unity among the gang yet u see some disagreements but through it all they persevere for years together. The historical bank robbery near the end was well done and makes u wish you were there when it happened.This is one of my all time favorite westerns. See this movie as soon as u can if you love westerns. You won't be disappointed.

The story of Jesse James is the richest source of material for westerns. There is so much written about it and only a small part of it was shown on the screen. 'The Long Riders' keeps to the same part of the story as most other films: what happened shortly before Northfield, Minnesota and a bit after. I wish a more complete film would be made about it, starting with the civil war and ending after the trial of the Ford brothers, also showing the alleged involvement of the Governor of Missouri in the cowardly killing of Jesse. The film has great moments: the "handkerchief" fight between Cole Younger and Sam Starr where each man has to hold on his mouth a part of a handkerchief, while they fight with "Bowie" knives, a fight that was probably inspired by "Kansas Raiders"(1950), the night before Northfield with the members of the gang and their women, the beautiful landscape with the group riding their horses. The Carradine brothers as the Youngers are superb and so are Randy and Dennis Quaid as the Millers. Same for Pamela Reed as Belle Starr. I cannot think of a Frank James that can compare to Henry Fonda. Stacy Keach does his best but there is something lacking. James Keach underplays Jesse. It is not a bad performance, far from it, but from what I read Jesse was more outgoing than Frank, who was the guy who wanted no publicity.The shootout at Northfield would have come out better without the slow motion scenes.