It's a strange mixture of comedy and dramatic action, cheerfully ripping off two wildly successful movies of a few years earlier, "The Wild Bunch" and "Bonnie and Clyde." Pekinpah's influence is much in evidence in the editing, since there are many brief shots of the faces of participants laughing pointlessly or gaping in shock. No slow motion, though. It's hard to imagine how director Kaufman missed that stylish trait. The long, retrograde title brings to mind several lavish flicks of the 60s -- "The Great Race," "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines," which may in turn have been influenced by Tom Wolfe.
Cliff Robertson, in a typically restrained but effective performance, is Cole Younger, the outlaw who leads a dozen others in a raid on the bank at Northfield, Minnesota, the kind of place we don't normally associate with the outlawism of the Old West.
Actually, he's kind of a co-leader of the gang, the less reckless and less bloodthirsty one. His partner is Robert Duvall as Jesse James. Jesse doesn't mind slinging lead around because, in addition to stealing money, he wants to demonstrate that "the war is still going on." Kids, that war is what we call "the American Civil War." It was fought between the Northern and Southern states in the early 1860s. That's "1860s AD". The "AD" stands for "anno domini." That's Latin and it means "in the year of our Lord." Jesse James is talking about "the American Civil War." Jesse fought for the South and, like a few others, turned outlaw when the formal conflict ended. PS: The South lost.
Most of the gang have nothing but contempt for the good folk of Minnesota they are about to rob of all their money. Ain't nothing' up there but Squareheads anyhow. Squareheads are most Scandinavians like Swedes and Norwegians but can include Germans and Poles too. The outlaws can't tell the difference. Kielbasi and knockwurst become jokes at the dinner table.
When they reach Northfield and begin to case the joint, they are introduced to the game of baseball. They've never heard of it. "Yep, it's our National Sport!", one Squarehead brags. The baseball scene is played for laughs but, to tell the truth, it's a bit extended. After a while it no longer seems so funny when the ball lands in a cow flop or a brawl breaks out. I, for one, was happy when Cole Younger finally shoots the ball into sawdust while it's in mid air.
Finally we get to the robbery itself, which takes place in rain and mud, not the dusty and sun-baked little towns we usually think of. (It was shot in Oregon, where it rains a lot.) Murphy's Law applies. "If something can go wrong, it will." The townspeople are as ready to shoot as the bandits are and all hell breaks loose. Cole Younger winds up with some 28 bullets in his body but manages to live out the rest of his life in prison, dying only in 1916.
I found it kind of entertaining. The baseball scenes do have some laughs after all. And Cole Younger is as amusing as Jesse James is chilling. Not that Younger actively tries to be funny. It's just that his character has some engaging quirks and some good lines. I also thought it might be, well, instructive for younger viewers, the kind who have little history and less general knowledge, the kind who think that baseball and pipe organs, like tooth decay, have always been with us, maybe invented by cave men.
Cliff Robertson, in a typically restrained but effective performance, is Cole Younger, the outlaw who leads a dozen others in a raid on the bank at Northfield, Minnesota, the kind of place we don't normally associate with the outlawism of the Old West.
Actually, he's kind of a co-leader of the gang, the less reckless and less bloodthirsty one. His partner is Robert Duvall as Jesse James. Jesse doesn't mind slinging lead around because, in addition to stealing money, he wants to demonstrate that "the war is still going on." Kids, that war is what we call "the American Civil War." It was fought between the Northern and Southern states in the early 1860s. That's "1860s AD". The "AD" stands for "anno domini." That's Latin and it means "in the year of our Lord." Jesse James is talking about "the American Civil War." Jesse fought for the South and, like a few others, turned outlaw when the formal conflict ended. PS: The South lost.
Most of the gang have nothing but contempt for the good folk of Minnesota they are about to rob of all their money. Ain't nothing' up there but Squareheads anyhow. Squareheads are most Scandinavians like Swedes and Norwegians but can include Germans and Poles too. The outlaws can't tell the difference. Kielbasi and knockwurst become jokes at the dinner table.
When they reach Northfield and begin to case the joint, they are introduced to the game of baseball. They've never heard of it. "Yep, it's our National Sport!", one Squarehead brags. The baseball scene is played for laughs but, to tell the truth, it's a bit extended. After a while it no longer seems so funny when the ball lands in a cow flop or a brawl breaks out. I, for one, was happy when Cole Younger finally shoots the ball into sawdust while it's in mid air.
Finally we get to the robbery itself, which takes place in rain and mud, not the dusty and sun-baked little towns we usually think of. (It was shot in Oregon, where it rains a lot.) Murphy's Law applies. "If something can go wrong, it will." The townspeople are as ready to shoot as the bandits are and all hell breaks loose. Cole Younger winds up with some 28 bullets in his body but manages to live out the rest of his life in prison, dying only in 1916.
I found it kind of entertaining. The baseball scenes do have some laughs after all. And Cole Younger is as amusing as Jesse James is chilling. Not that Younger actively tries to be funny. It's just that his character has some engaging quirks and some good lines. I also thought it might be, well, instructive for younger viewers, the kind who have little history and less general knowledge, the kind who think that baseball and pipe organs, like tooth decay, have always been with us, maybe invented by cave men.