filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Wuchak Released in 2001, "American Outlaws" is yet another rendition of Jesse James, Cole Younger and their Gang. This one focuses on the end of the Civil War and the first few years of the gang's activities,which lasted a whole decade in reality, from 1866-76, ending with the foiled Northfield, Minnesota, bank robbery on September 7, 1876. Jesse & Frank escaped while the others were captured or died. While Frank tried to settle down to a normal life in Virginia Jesse restarted the gang in 1879, but was shot by Robert Ford, one of his trusted gang members on April 3, 1882."American Outlaws" is highlighted by a great cast with palpable chemistry, including Colin Farrell as Jesse, Scott Caan (aka 'Danno') as Cole, the beautiful Ali Larter as Zee, Jesse's girlfriend/wife, and Timothy Dalton as the lead Pinkerton. Gabriel Macht, Will McCormack, Nathaniel Arcand and Gregory Smith are also on hand as notable members of the gang. The film plays it fairly serious accented by a fun, joie de vivre spirit, sorta like Indiana Jones in the wild West. You can tell the cast had a blast during filming. This is the exact opposite of the grim "The Long Riders" from 1980, which is arguably the best and most accurate film about the James-Younger Gang. As far as historical accuracy goes with "American Outlaws," well, there was a group of outlaws in Missouri called the James-Younger Gang and they did rob banks, trains, and stagecoaches in Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, West Virginia and Minnesota (whereas Jesse's later group continued the gangs' criminal legacy in Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana and Mississippi), other than this the historicity is pretty butchered for the sake of rousing Western entertainment. See "The Long Riders" for a more austere and accurate version of the tale.BOTTOM LINE: Even though "American Outlaws" loses points for inaccuracies and implausibilities, it scores high in overall entertainment value. It's a turn-off-your-brain-and-have-a-blast kind of Western. The movie performed poorly at the box office in 2001 and Roger Ebert gave it a scathing review. Ebert compared it to 1972's "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid," which he praised. This was strange because that film wasn't exactly realistic either; in fact, it's a veritable parody or black comedy. These movies shouldn't be compared in the first place since "American Outlaws" details the gang's first year in action and "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" the gang's final bank robbery, a whole decade later. Furthermore, the two films are expressly opposite in tone: "American Outlaws" makes the wild West larger-than-life and ALMOST fun while the other film de-glamorizes it, making it profane, ugly and idiotic. In any event, "American Outlaws" is seriously rollicking Western lore worthy of one's video library. The film was shot in Central-East Texas (great locations, by the way) and runs a short-but-sweet 94 minutes.GRADE: B

puttputtk American Outlaws (2001)American Outlaws is not historically accurate really at all except for a few small things, but that doesn't bother me at all, it is still a very fun movie. The film has a good blend of action, drama and comedy which makes it easy to watch. Its not as good as the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, as far as newer westerns go, but I still think it was well put together. Good western gun fights, and a good western storyline, blended with some funny one liners. The acting was decent as well. American Outlaws was the first film I saw Colin Farrell in and instantly became a fan, though now this is far from his best work. He does a good accent that would make you never guess he was Irish. The rest of the cast is a little hit and miss in my opinion. No one did terrible but even Kathy Bates didn't do that great. Timothy Dolton probably gave the best performance of the supporting cast. However, other supporting cast members like Scott Caan and Ali Larter didn't really give much of a performance at allI think the film is pretty fairly rated by most, because it's not great. The acting is OK, the story isn't that original, and it's not accurate, but it is fun and I still enjoy it. So overall, I can't guarantee anyone will like it. If you like westerns or you like Colin Farrell, I think you should at least give this film a try. Just remember it isn't a history lesson. 7/10

dontspamme-11 I am not sure what this movie was aiming for. Entertainment? Fail. A historical expose? Fail. Plot? Fail. Acting? Hahaha....."Lame" does not adequately describe this Hollywood trash. Comparing this movie to other movies of the same genre (eg. "Young Guns") just insults the other movies. All of rave reviews here come across as if they are written by 12 year old girls, and even then it's a bit shocking for me to see them gushing and fawning over this poor excuse for a movie. It's hard to imagine how anyone with even a single brain cell kicking would find this trash to be enjoyable. This film receives one star from me because I can't give half-stars on IMDb.

FloatingOpera7 American Outlaws (2001): Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, Gabriel Macht, Gregory Smith, Kathy Bates, Timothy Dalton, Al Larter, Harris Yulin, Will McCormack, Ronny Cox, Terry O'Quinn, Nathaniel Arcand, Joe Stevens, Ty O'Neal, Barry Tub, Tom Schuster, Robin Christian McNair, Brad Leland, Brady Coleman, Richard Jones, Jerry Cotton, Muse Watson, Ron Hayden, Riley Flynn, Shawn Patrick Nash, Kirk Hunter, David Jachin Kelley, Phillip Olivas, Frank Matthews, Chris Warner...Director Les Mayfield, Screenplay Roderic Taylor, John Rogers.American Outlaws from Director Les Mayfield, released in 2001, starred Colin Farrell, a rising star, as Jesse James. Essentially, this was about how Jesse James became the famed outlaw and it looks back at his youth in a sort of pre-quel to all subsequent Jesse James movies. Westerns on film have long enjoyed immense success. This film followed in the tradition of great Western-themed movies like Young Guns and Tombstone, though it did not do very well at the box office, possibly because this film uses humor to counter the action, in much the same way that "Maverick" with Mel Gibson did. Colin Farrell stars as a young Jesse James, who returns to his quiet home and mother (Kathy Bates) only to discover that a corrupt baron (Timothy Dalton) intends to buy the deeds to various homes and properties in order to build a railroad over them. It's up to Jesse and his band of brothers to fight off the bad guys and save his home. The film co-stars handsome Scott Caan, son of actor James Caan, in one of his better movies and roles as Cole, Jesse's brother. Gabriel Macht and Gregory Smith are the other brothers. Timothy Dalton, used to doing some "cruel guy" roles, is able to play the villain with natural ease. The music by Trevor Rabin is exhilarating and pulsating, the cinematography by Russell Boyd is larger-than-life, with vast town scenes and desert scenes. The writing/script is well done, with humorous touches here and there that provide relief from all the action. Because the film has some violence, it has either an R rating or PG-13 rating. It's one of the few Western films in recent years that I've enjoyed. Check out "American Outlaws".