Oregon Movies, A to Z

Warning: this film is made in response to John Ford’s Monument Valley Westerns, and takes place in an upside down universe called Minnesota.

When Missouri terrorist Jesse James (Robert Duvall) tries to avenge the fall of the South by robbing a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, Cole Younger (Cliff Robertson, pictured above) goes after him, thinking he can head off the robbery.

Here’s the real bank. You can visit it today. The bullet holes are still in the walls.

Jesse James was first played on the big screen by his own son,  Jesse James, Jr. Other Jesses include Tyrone Power, Roy Rogers, Audie Murphy (twice), Robert Wagner, Kris Kristofferson, Rob Lowe, Colin Farrell and Brad Pitt.

If you are a huge fan of Jesse James himself, you would be better off with any of the above alternatives. Kaufman’s telling of the story focuses on the role played by Cole Younger.

Philip Kaufman’s staging of the shootout carefully incorporates eyewitness accounts of participants. Apparently the real life James gang was not prepared for a bank where people would shoot back at them.

Fans of vintage baseball – there is a long scene involving the game the way it was played in 1876.

This film is good for history nerds, graduates of Carleton College (who can snicker at the ways Jacksonville, Oregon does not resemble Northfield, Minnesota) and those who can appreciate Kaufman’s Oedipal struggle against John Ford.

I claim The Creat Northfield Minnesota Raid as an Oregon film on the basis of the location shooting.