Kansas Raiders *** (1950, Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady, Tony Curtis) – Classic Movie Review 6491

Audie Murphy stars as one of the Old West’s legendary outlaws – Jesse James – in director Ray Enright’s robust and welcome 1950 American Civil War-set Western.

The screenplay by Robert L Richards finds Jesse James enlisting in the outlaw band of Quantrill’s Raiders headed by Colonel William Quantrill (Brian Donlevy), along with Frank James, the Younger Brothers and Kit Dalton, and racing off to raid a Kansas town.

This taut, quick-paced and quite tough (for its day) cowboy action movie centres on the appeal of Universal’s young contract players. The good production and cinematographer Irving Glassberg’s handsome filming in Technicolor balance story shortcomings.

Donlevy gives a good account of himself in an interesting bad but fatherly role, and Murphy is fine in a role that is basically a re-run of his turn in the same year’s Billy the Kid (The Kid from Texas). It was released in March 1950 and Kansas Raiders in November 1950.

It is a kind of Young Guns of its day, with Universal Pictures showing off its budding talent. Richard Long plays Jesse’s brother Frank, and James Best and Dewey Martin play the Younger Brothers, Cole and James.

Up-coming star Tony Curtis, in his ninth film and only his second year in movies, doesn’t really have enough to do as Kit Dalton. He does get one of the film’s best lines though: ‘I’m thinking this may not be the sweetest smelling way to live, but it’s downright better than walking behind a plow.’ Curtis later complained that Murphy was jealous of him and unpleasant to him.

Also in the cast are Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady, Richard Arlen, John Kellogg, George Chandler, Charles Delaney, Richard Egan, David Wolfe, Sam Flint, Larry McGrath, Mira McKinney, Edward Peil Sr and Buddy Roosevelt.

This Universal-International movie is produced by Ted P Richmond, scored by Milton Rosen, Wallter Scharf and Joseph Gershenson, and designed by Bernard Herzbrun and Emrich Nicholson.

Murphy played two more of the Old West’s legendary outlaws – Bill Doolin in The Cimarron Kid (1952) and Billy the Kid in The Kid from Texas (1950).

Most of the handguns used were invented after the Civil War.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6491

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