The Long Riders

""All the world likes an outlaw. For some damn reason they remember 'em." - Jesse James"

1980 1h 40m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 300

WesternActionCrimeDramaHistory

Synopsis

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The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of revenge.

“"All the world likes an outlaw. For some damn reason they remember 'em." - Jesse James”

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Cast

David Carradine
Cole Younger
Keith Carradine
Jim Younger
Robert Carradine
Bob Younger
James Keach
Jesse James
Stacy Keach
Frank James
Dennis Quaid
Ed Miller
Randy Quaid
Clell Miller
Kevin Brophy
John Younger

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Walter Hill
Writers: Stacy Keach, James Keach, Steven Philip Smith
Languages: English, Swedish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

46 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Swedish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Walter Hill, shot by Ric Waite. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ry Cooder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Editor David Holden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

David Carradine and Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: ""All the world likes an outlaw. For some damn reason they remember 'em." - Jesse James".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0081071 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Walter Hill directs. Ric Waite behind the camera. Ry Cooder scores. David Holden cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Swedish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

146 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Swedish.
3Directed by Walter Hill, shot by Ric Waite. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Ry Cooder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor David Holden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6David Carradine and Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: ""All the world likes an outlaw. For some damn reason they remember 'em." - Jesse James".
8IMDB entry: tt0081071 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ric Waite
Original score: Ry Cooder
Editing: David Holden
Production design: Jack T. Collis
Costume design: Bobbie Mannix
Makeup / hair: Christine Lee
Stunt coordinator: Craig R. Baxley
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $15,795,189
Return: 158% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Long Riders (1980)

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Walter Hill

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2026-07-27
★ 8/10
Realistic, Grim, Mature, Modern Western (actually an Eastern) Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" is about the James-Younger Gang, former Confederate bushwhackers in Missouri during the Civil War who kept on fighting after the conflict. The movie details the events over the next sixteen years during which the gang robbed banks, trains, and stagecoaches in Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, West Virginia and Minnesota. The ill-fated Northfield, Minnesota, bank robbery on the first day of hunting season September 7, 1876, is depicted in the second half, as well as the fact that Jesse started a new gang by 1879, which carried on the criminal legacy in Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana and Mississippi. The film climaxes by showing how things ended for Jesse and Frank in 1882. \ \ There are some inaccuracies; for instance, Jesse James wasn't as wooden as James Keach portrays him, Belle Starr wasn't a prostitute, although her daughter Pearl was, and there's no record of a fight between Cole Younger and Sam Starr. Nevertheless, Hill gets the gist of the story right and he James-Younger guys are not painted as a bunch of good-guy Robin Hoods, but rather as outlaws who steal & kill for a living, justifying it by their bitter experiences in the Civil War. Nor are the Pinkerton detectives made out to be the bad guys; they make some mistakes, as is common, but they ultimately find a way to get their quarry, although it wasn't easy and took forever.\ \ The gimmick with this film is that they used real-life siblings to portray the outlaw brothers: James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank; David, Keith and Robert Carradine as Cole, Jim and Bob Younger; Randy and Dennis Quaid as Clell and Ed Miller; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest as Charlie and Bob Ford.\ \ There's a bar knife fight that's an intense highlight. While this particular fight never happened, fights like it did (Heck, when I was a teen a friend of mine got stabbed in the gut in a bar knife fight in a small town in Ohio; so I personally know it happens).\ \ One striking aspect of the flick is that it's actually an Eastern rather than a Western. The events take place in the technically Eastern states noted above and was filmed largely in southwest Georgia (in Leary, Westville and Parrott) with the train robbery sequence done in Rusk in east Texas. I should add that Tuolumne County, California, was also used for a sequence or two, which is located southeast of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada wilderness.\ \ David Carradine is notable as Cole Younger. Remember him as humble Kwai Chang Caine in "Kung Fu"? His character here is the express opposite. James Keach is also potent as Jesse James, a grim, hard man. You can easily see him leading this tough band of outlaws. In addition, Stacy Keach is likable as always and James Remar is memorable as the half-Indian Sam Starr. On the feminine front, Pamela Reed plays Belle Starr well, albeit coming across as lifeless and sleazy, which is unsurprising given she's a prostitute and hard drinker; meanwhile Amy Stryker is worth a mention as petite redhead Beth. Lastly, "The Long Riders" is a modern 'Western' even though it was released in 1980. In support, I recently let a friend borrow it, a friend who refuses to watch "old" movies (which, according to him, is anything made before 2000), and he loved it. When I told him it was from 1980 he was aghast; he couldn't believe it. To be expected with Hill at the helm, it has artistic cinematography; and maintains your attention even after seeing it several times, which is a sign of a worthy film.\ \ It was shot Aug-Nov 1979 and runs 1h 40m.\ \ GRADE: A-

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