Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Zandra 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.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

harobed226 It's a wonderful and skillful retelling of a legend that imaginatively shows another possible side of history. This movie creates an youthful, energetic yet thoughtful contemporary action-adventure without those epic-sized scenes.While other movies aim to be serious portrayals of the outlaws' lives and historical events, this picture just wants to have fun with bits & pieces of accuracy. It is not a docudrama nor should it be and It's funto root for the bad guys.The boys are buff good-looking Robin Hood-esque with a great sense of humor and some witty one-liners. Don't dismiss Ali Larter either as the strong believable Zee Mims and love interest of Jesse. Great soundtrack also, what more could you want from a light fun movie night out.

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

ianlouisiana This is fun and never a "Western" in exactly the same way as "Butch Cassidy" was fun and never a "Western".Moby's music is just as anachronistic as Burt Bacharach's."American Outlaws" presents Jesse James as a "Dark Knight"if you like,a Batman but without the brooding self - pity,a superhero with a sense of fun,immortal yet vulnerable.In all likelihood of course,Mr James was a grungy amoral killer but Mr Colin Farrel plays him like a guy in a Calvin Klein ad.And do you know what?It doesn't matter.From the opening sequence when the nascent James/ Younger gang destroy half the Union Army it is plain that this is not a movie that takes itself seriously. I have never seen so many bleached teeth outside of a California Teen movie,Mr Ronny Cox as the inevitable "Doc" is particularly well - endowed in that department,although Miss Ali Larter as his daughter and Jesse's squeeze runs him close.But it's easy to be picky. There's a lot of shootin' but very little killin',much stylised balletic action and a brilliantly bad performance from Mr Timothy Dalton as the founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency whom I believe to have been of Scottish extraction,and Mr Dalton does what I can only assume to be his level best to reflect that fact. "American Outlaws" is great entertainment in a Mouseketeer kind of way and only the grumpiest of purists will begrudge it.

zardoz-13 As westerns go, "American Outlaws" amounts to an above-average horse opera that knows when to giddy-yap and when to giddy-up. Les Mayfield, who directed "Flubber" and "Blue Streak," stages several exhilarating but bloodless gunfights that owe their epic grandeur to Hong Kong action maestro John Woo of "Face/Off" fame as much as traditional cowboy classics like Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales." While this blatantly romanticized account of the notorious Jesse James-Cole Younger gang lacks the authenticity of either "The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid" (1972) or "The Long Riders" (1980), Mayfield keeps the action going at a gallop. Moreover, writers Roderick Taylor and John Rogers have juggled the chronological order of events to heighten dramatic impact. Clearly, "American Outlaws" duplicates the surefire "Young Guns" formula, portraying Jesse as a saintly Robin Hood bandit. While Irish heartthrob Colin Farrell resembles actor Tyrone Power, who starred as Jesse James in the prototypical 1939 Technicolor version "Jesse James," he looks nothing like the real-life Jesse Woodson James. Nevertheless,western aficionados should applaud the way that Mayfield has kept the conventions of the genre intact while adding enough fresh touches to enhance this superficial but stimulating shoot'em-up."American Outlaws" covers the early years of James-Younger gang. The upbeat Taylor & Rogers script doesn't depict the tragic demise Jesse met at the hands of the double-crossing sidewinder who bushwhacked him for the bounty. This flavorful variation unfolds as the Civil War concludes. Federal troops have pinned down Frank James (Gabriel Macht of "Simply Irresistible"), Cole Younger (Scott Caan of "Varsity Blues"), and Bob Younger (Gregory Smith of "Boiler Room") with cannon fire when Jesse (Colin Farrell of "Tigerland") rides to their rescue. Mayfield establishes Jesse's hell-bent-for-leather audacity when our impetuous protagonist launches a fearless charge against an army of Yankees. Farrell imitates John Wayne in "True Grit" as he rides full-tilt into battle, blazing away with two six-shooters while he keeps his horses' reins clenched between his teeth.After surviving this fracas, our heroes return to Missouri to resume farming. Along come villainous railroad baron Thaddeus Rains (Harris Yulin of "Rush Hour 2") and henchman Rollin Parker (Terry O'Quinn of "The Stepfather") who are stealing property at two dollars-per-acre. When they approach Ma James (Kathy Bates of "Misery"), she wants her sons to gun them down. Frank convinces Ma to hold off. Rains' chief troubleshooter, Allan Pinkerton (Timothy Dalton of "License to Kill"), warns them that was Rains' only offer. Parker retaliates after the James refuse to sell and sends his ruffians to dynamite their farm. Ma James dies in the explosion, and Jesse and Frank saddle up with the Youngers to wreck vengeance on the railroad.While "American Outlaws" doesn't qualify as a classic, this better-than-average sagebrusher provides a glimpse of the old West we haven't seen in many moons. As Jesse's stalwart wife Zee Mimms, Ali Larter of "Final Destination" has a way with stopping trains dead in their tracks. A crackerjack supporting cast, especially Dalton as Pinkerton, makes "American Outlaws" fun to watch.