The Great Missouri Raid *** (1951, Wendell Corey, Macdonald Carey, Ward Bond, Ellen Drew, Bruce Bennett, Bill Williams, Anne Revere, Edgar Buchanan, Louis Jean Heydt, Whit Bissell) – Classic Movie Review 13,433

The 1951 Technicolor Western film The Great Missouri Raid stars Wendell Corey and Macdonald Carey as Frank and Jesse James, and Ward Bond as a nasty Union Army officer who swears relentless vengeance on them.

Director Gordon Douglas’s 1951 Paramount Pictures Technicolor Western film The Great Missouri Raid stars Wendell Corey, Macdonald Carey, and Ward Bond, along with Ellen Drew, Bruce Bennett, Bill Williams, Anne Revere, Edgar Buchanan, Louis Jean Heydt and Whit Bissell.

The Great Missouri Raid is a Western tale of the outlawing of Frank James (Wendell Corey) and Jesse James (Macdonald Carey), after they engage in a skirmish with Union soldiers in Missouri during the final days of the American Civil War. Before fleeing, they kill a Union soldier, whose brother, tough and mean Union Army Major officer Marshal Trowbridge (Ward Bond), swears relentless vengeance.

After the war, Frank and Jesse become outlaws and start robbing banks with the Younger brothers, while Trowbridge opens a detective agency to find and put an end to them.

It may be just a routinely written oater that follows a familiar, well-worn path, with unexceptional playing by Corey and Carey. But it is really quite well handled and involving enough, with an excellent production that includes fine Technicolor cinematography by Ray Rennahan, and helped by the strong character playing of Bond, plus Bruce Bennett and Bill Williams as Cole and Jim Younger, as well as Louis Jean Heydt and Whit Bissell as Charles and Bob Ford.

To be fair, Frank Gruber’s screenplay is decent enough considering how often the story of the James brothers and Bob Ford killing Jesse James has been told on screen. The film portrays the James brothers sympathetically. The Great Missouri Raid itself forms only a small part of the film, which focuses on the life and death of Jesse James, portrayed sympathetically along with his brother. Wendell Corey and Macdonald Carey are both good, solid actors, but just lack vital spark and charisma as stars here, but Ward Bond does nasty real well.

It is filmed at RKO Encino Ranch, Balboa Boulevard & Burbank Boulevard, Encino, Los Angeles, and at Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles (for some group riding sequences). The railroad scenes are shot on the Sierra Railroad in Tuolumne County, California, and at Jamestown, California.

The cast

The cast are Wendell Corey as Frank James, Macdonald Carey as Jesse James. Ellen Drew as Bee Moore, Ward Bond as Major Marshal Trowbridge, Bruce Bennett as Cole Younger / Steve Brill, Bill Williams as Jim Younger, Anne Revere as Mrs Samuels, Edgar Buchanan as Dr Samuels, Lois Chartrand as Mary Bauer, Louis Jean Heydt as Charles Ford, Barry Kelley as Mr Bauer, James Millican as Sgt Trowbridge, Paul Lees as Bob Younger, Guy Wilkerson as Clell Miller, Ethan Laidlaw as Jim Cummings, Tom Tyler as Allen Parmer, Steve Pendleton as Arch Clements, Robert Bray as Charlie Pitts, Paul Fix as Sgt Brill, James Griffith as Jack Ladd, Robert Osterloh as August, Alan Wells as Dick Liddil, Whit Bissell as Robert ‘Bob’ Ford.

Release date: February 15, 1951.

Running time: 84 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,433

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