Good movie, but why so many false facts?

I noticed a lot of gun goofs in the movie, too.

(1) The Youngers and Clell Miller are using Colt Single Action Armies in the 1869 bank robbery, in the scene where they're shot while wearing that body armor. Actually, the Colt SAA wasn't available until 1873 at the earliest--and then only to the US Army. They should've been using the same kinds of weapons the Jameses were using--cap-and-ball Colts or Remingtons.

(2) Similarly, in the train robbery, nearly all of the James Gang--and Pinkerton, too--are using SAAs, while Frank James is depicted wielding a pair of .44 cap-and-ball Remingtons, which would be accurate for the time depicted (1873).

(3) All of the shotguns depicted should be double-barrel weapons, but when Bob Younger is standing guard at the house-warming party, he's got a Winchester M1897 slide-action shotgun, which wasn't designed until the early 1890s. And later, in Northfield, Minnesota, Cole Younger is using a Winchester M1887 lever-action shotgun, which wasn't available until 11 years after the Northfield gunfight.

(4) And Pinkerton uses a Colt SAA to shoot Charlie Ford with on the train--and he shoots right-handed. But in every other scene where we see him armed, he's using a British Webley--a double-action, break-open six-shooter that wasn't introduced until November 1887 at the earliest. And he shoots lefty.

No need for me to apologize--I'm a gun buff, who loves things that go "BANG!" Western guns, in particular.

I'm gonna reply not to refute what you're saying...but just to clear up a few things. You're right Jesse was shot in the back of the head by Robert Ford, not Charlie. Jim (not John) Younger was in the film though...he was the young man blown away in the stomach with a shotgun. Bob Younger WAS a mute, that he was finally killed by his own brother Cole is still up in the air. And the main thing...Jesse and Frank's mom Zeralda..."Z"...whom Jesse married...no Zeralda wasn't their mother, no idea where that came from. And the Union soldiers didn't come looking for Frank at all...they came and got what they were looking for, Frank and Jesse's father...whom they killed on the spot. That's why Jesse turned out "the way he did" and in actuality 'dragged' Frank into it. Frank was the peaceful one and never wanted to fight, but once Jesse started he didn't turn his back on his brother. That's just a few clarifications to your comments.

This film was awful I thought, so melodramatic.

"If I'm laughing at what I think I am, its very funny"

[deleted]

Fubar: I enjoyed your post. Thanks for your effort.

P.S. Little known fact Jesse James actually had a second older brother, but he only lived a month dying in 1845
Jesse James and Billy the Kid met before Billy was killed as they talked about joining forces, but Jesse didn't like the way Billy did some things. (This is not proven however)
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Hello, fubar12,

I realize your post was a great while ago, and forgive me for the long post I'm about to make, which probably doesn't interest you much, but:

In response to this, I have a HUGE affinity for Billy the Kid and a fair enough disdain for Jesse James. Still, I'm an unbiased entity simply because these two legends lived so long ago.

That being said, and I'm a good authority on BOTH individuals, it was the other way around...

Billy wasn't into robbing banks and trains - he was all about crushing cattle kings and helping the little man stand up to the crooked politicians running Lincoln. Billy stole horses (a necessity in those days and the life-style he was forced to live) and any other thing he needed to survive. But money was not his goal. The Spanish speaking New Mexican natives protected him as he knew their tongue very well, and he made his living playing poker. So he only needed so much to get by. Also, it's accepted that Billy never had any intentions of leaving the New Mexico territory. He could have easily lived among the Mexicans in "Old" Mexico, but he loved his home and wasn't going to be driven out (stupidly, though if he had left, he might not be the incredible historical enigmatic figure he is today!), and he had a few loves there, the most important being Paulity Maxwell whom it's fair enough to assume he had no intention of leaving either (there was speculation they intended to marry, which I would imagine they very well may have). He was protected by the people he loved (the Mexican population) and he loved their way of life, and he wanted to stay as a matter of pride as well as love. I don't think he was about to leave for Missouri either way. Let's not forget he was New Mexico's most "famous" citizen and he just LOVED that! He basked in his notority!

However, as you also noted, this is legend, though I'm prime to believe it actually happened as JJ was out in Sante Fe during Billy's famed existence and I would probably pay good money to the positive that they did actually meet in one of the few ways it has been stated ( though I doubt it was by happenstance in some saloon) since it's so often mention and relatively accepted as true.

The interesting thing to note, Billy really was the Robin Hood, whereas Jesse was the typical thief/murderer, and that this information is now turning the tables as of fairly late with all the new information being published, Billy for so long being labeled a psychopath and murderous villain and Jesse a poor working man's hero - things are now turning definitely in the other direction, thankfully. Billy never killed unless out of necessity (killing 4 men in total and mostly in self-defense; Frank "Windy" Cahill, who jumped on Billy and began beating him, despite Billy's pleas to "let him go", and Joe Grant who was publicly declaring and boasting he was going to "kill the kid", to which Billy walked up to him, tricked him (Joe) into giving him his gun, rotated the chamber so it would land on spent cartridge slots, turned his back after announcing that he was in fact Billy, and after hearing Joe's pistol click, Billy turned and shot him dead. He gave Joe the opportunity to let him simply walk away. When it was clear to him Joe was another "bounty hunter", he got rid of him). He did kill two deputies in order to save his own neck and in doing so really didn't want to kill J. Bell, but "it was a matter of having to, not wanting to", to quote Billy. Bell was going to shoot Billy, but Billy shot him first. It's been accepted as Billy's plan to simply get the keys for his chains from Bell. Bell treated Billy with respect and was very hospitable towards him. Olinger, the acting deputy, treated Billy terribly while he was in custody and ran with the corrupted Sante Fe Ring crowd, although the Sante Fe Ring was well on its way out. He was cruel and hateful and had his own bone to pick with Billy as Billy allegedly (as many murders he did not commit were pinned on him) shot and killed a "dear, dear" friend of Olinger's, and I don't think Billy would mind me saying that HE didn't mind blowing Bob O. to high-heaven. Any other men he may have "winged" or killed in battle was never documented, i.e., Morton, Baker, McKlosky, etc., etc... But what can you expect? There were plenty of skirmishes between the Dolan and McSween / Tunstall factions, some in which Billy was present, and some in which he were not. Do you honestly expect him not to shoot back? :o) Though to be fair, Billy was a vengeful thing, but he was just a kid afterall, hence, Billy the Kid. He was loyal to a fault, but if you crossed him and "did him dirt", then ok, he had it in for you.

So at any rate, I'm going off on this tangent because I hope to lend some credibility to the fact that I truly am not predjudiced against Jesse James simply because in my opinion he was a coward who terrorized people to make money (angry over the war or not) for himself to live "comfortably". This was not Billy's way. Billy was an excellent pistoleer, and again, I'd be willing to bet he was probably the best, if not in the top 3 during his day. He practiced every chance he got, wasting cartridges just shooting from every angle on the ground and on his horse. He had to be savvy with a pistol to survive as long as he did (not to mention he was incredibly intelligent, clever, and witty, which helped maintain his survival) and run with the type of crowd he was with, trying to make it being turned out on his own so young (12-15 years of age). Speaking of which, his first band of bandito’s were known as The Boys, run by Kinney, and Billy wasn't very particularly happy with the way they did things. He was happy and grateful to Tunstall (though they did not have the relationship portrayed in the Young Guns film, and Tunstall was only 24 years of age) because working for him meant a second chance at a decent life.

This just doesn't sound like the type of guy to be interested in killing for profit, does it? So in my personal opinion, as well as the opinion of Billy The Kid authorities (namely Bob Boze Bell and Fred Nolan), Billy turned Jesse down.

What I do appreciate about Jesse James where Billy is concerned is I have read that upon meeting Billy, Jesse stated he was "a kid who was more sinned against than sinning." A. Frank James, btw, was a great Shakespeare fan, and so it makes sense that Jesse might use this phrase to describe Billy as this quote is from one of Shakespeare's works.

Your #5 is incorrect. You are right that it wasn't in the "kitchen" (the movie depicts the DINING ROOM, not the KITCHEN). It was in the LIVING ROOM. That person was killed in the living room, not in a bedroom.

More importantly, that person was NOT Jesse James; even the James family descendants alive today believe/know that the real JJ was buried in the family cemetery in Granbury, Texas. See my thread, "The TRUTH About Jesse James."

I believe that the entire story about HOW he "died" was concocted as well and that JJ shot and killed that man for whatever reason, then substituted that corpse as himself and had his widow and other family members lie for him so everyone would believe that he was dead. JJ actually pulled off SEVERAL false identities; again, see my thread.