The Long Riders

This is one of those rare Westerns to come out of the 1980's, and one of the least remembered. It takes place not long after the Civil War when a handfull of Rebels, pissed that they lost the war, join forces to rob banks and create one of the most mythologized gangs of the period -- the James/Younger gang. It's not a spectacular film, but aided greatly by an inspired bit of casting: three Carradine's (David, Robert, Keith) as the Younger brothers (Cole, Bob, and Jim), two Keach's (Stacy and James) as the James brothers (Frank and Jesse), two Quaid's (Dennis and Randy) as the Miller brothers (Ed and Clell), and two Guest's (Christopher and Nicholas) as the Ford brothers (Charlie and Bob). It's too bad I can't watch Christopher Guest as a tough cowboy type because I keep seeing the six-fingered man from The Princess Bride or the gay dog trainer in Best in Show. Walter Hill directed the film with more than a little inspiration from The Wild Bunch, but let's fact it, Hill is no Sam Peckinpah. The cast has good chemistry (it should), and there's a spectacular climactic sequence involving a bank robbery the subsequent escape, but ultimately it will be remembered as the kind of film that inspired Young Guns, than the kind of film that was inspired by actually great Westerns.