SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

JohnHowardReid Producer: Carl K. Hittleman. Executive Producer: Robert L. Lippert.Copyright 11 February 1949 by Lippert Productions. U.S. release through Screen Guild: 26 February 1949. New York opening at the Palace: 1 April 1949. U.K. release through Exclusive: floating from November 1949. No Australian release. 81 minutes (cut to 72 in the U.K.).COMMENT: Sam Fuller's debut as a director certainly starts off in a promising fashion. The credit titles are superimposed on posters in a complete 360-degree tracking shot. An opening sequence deftly conveys tension by a creative use of close-ups. But after these initial teases, the movie loses its impetus, reverting in the main to the disappointingly routine. True, there is an occasionally effective composition, but the climax is abjectly weak; and a fist fight, whilst vigorously staged, is filmed entirely in long shot to allow for stand-ins - very patently contriving to always keep their backs to the camera - to slug it out! The cast is not much help. Distinctly second-rate. The "B" budget also shows up in such money-saving devices as the over-use of the Silver King Saloon set and the comparative paucity of background extras. Not to mention the excessive dialogue. In a word - unimpressive.

rdoyle29 Sam Fuller's directorial debut is more of a character study than a traditional western. John Ireland stars as Bob Ford, who kills his friend Jesse James in order to get immunity for his past crimes so that he can settle down with the girl he loves. Wracked with guilt and feelings of inadequacy, Ford pursues the girl in the face of a rival for her heart. Fuller hasn't fully developed his dynamic style yet, in fact, this feels more like a low budget Nicholas Ray film than a Fuller film. A scene where Ford forces a dude to sing the ENTIRE song about Jesse James being killed by "that coward Robert Ford" is priceless and worth the price of admission.

evanston_dad This rather mediocre film doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it other than the fact that it's an early example of Samuel Fuller's filmmaking before he developed his unique, kinetic, and instantly recognizable style."I Shot Jesse James" feels fairly anonymous, as if anyone could have directed it. It clearly was made for peanuts, and I wonder if that had a lot to do with Fuller's unusually constrained choices. Scenes are often shot with a static camera planted broadside to a pair or trio of actors who stand in one spot and deliver lines like they're on the world's tiniest stage. There is no dynamism to the film, and not a single shot stands out as being especially creative, which makes it feel very unlike a Samuel Fuller film.One thing that DOES, however, mark "I Shot Jesse James" as a Fuller movie is its preoccupation with the psychological effects of violence and masculine insecurity.John Ireland plays Bob Ford, the "I" of the film's title in the same year that he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in "All the King's Men." Grade: C

Michael_Elliott I Shot Jesse James (1949)** 1/2 (out of 4) Fuller's directorial debut takes a look at the life of Bob Ford (John Ireland) after his cowardly killing of Jesse James. Ford is in love with a woman (Barbara Britton) but goes out West to try and make some money but what he doesn't know is that she's in love with another man (Preston Foster). The story of Jesse James in Hollywood has always been an interesting one because a lot of movies look at him as some sort of good guy when in truth he was pure scum who killed women and children. How this guy ever got to be looked at as a hero is beyond me but it's probably the same way Ford became a coward. People have debated on what Ford was but there's no question this Fuller film shows him as a weak coward and it even changes the ending of history to make him go out in a different way. This is technically a very well made film but at the same time there are quite a few problems with the screenplay. For starters, the movie seems to be hit and miss in regards to what it's trying to say. I didn't care too much for the way James was shown because they made him look and sound like one would expect Abraham Lincoln to come off. I'm not sure why they built Jesse up so highly just to change things around on Ford. The film seems to want to show Ford for a coward yet the screenplay goes off in different directions as to center on other aspects of his life and it's the later stuff that makes the film swing off track for me. With that said, the amount of talent on display here by Fuller can't be questioned. The visual style of the film is wonderful and he handles the action quite well. The psychological stuff comes off pretty well especially the scene right after the murder when Ford enters a bar only to have people looking at him differently than he expected. Ireland is very good in his role as is Foster. The two men work extremely well together and make the film worth seeing. There are many, many film dealing with this subject and while this one here isn't the best, there's still enough here making it worth checking out.