The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972)

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(355 ratings)

The oft-told story of the rise and fall of the James Younger gang is given the Dragnet treatment in The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid. With meticulous attention to detail, the film recreates the outlaw gang's most infamous escapade: the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the… More The oft-told story of the rise and fall of the James Younger gang is given the Dragnet treatment in The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid. With meticulous attention to detail, the film recreates the outlaw gang's most infamous escapade: the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the Mississippi" in Northfield, MN. Cliff Robertson plays Cole Younger, and Robert Duvall appears as Jesse James, herein depicted as a pair of vengeance-driven sociopaths, but no worse than the greedy railroad magnates who've driven them into a life of crime. Younger is also quite the manipulator, convincing the immigrant farmers of Northfield that the bank is completely impervious to robbery, thereby increasing the deposits that he intends to steal. Duvall's Jesse James is a cold-blooded murderer, but, like Younger, not without his own personal charm. The climactic raid is filmed cinéma vérité style, looking more like a haphazard CNN news event than a well-oiled machine (this film is not, thankfully, the standard "slick" Hollywood product). Though it drags in spots, The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid is a superb, iconoclastic reproduction of an era long past. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 31 min.
Directed By: Philip Kaufman
Written By: Philip Kaufman
Genres: Western, Action & Adventure

In Theaters: May 12, 1972 Wide
On DVD: Sep 25, 2007
Studio: MCA Universal Home Video

Critic Reviews

Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
A Preston Sturgesian portrait of myth

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Featured Audience Ratings

Adam M

Robertson is a thinker and a dreamer, and Duval is a psychopath, who wants to keep on the Civil War to keep on killing; the film is unique for those two performances and the uncommented on psychedelic visions, which make science-enthusiast Cole Younger an unreligious prophet besides a… More
Robertson is a thinker and a dreamer, and Duval is a psychopath, who wants to keep on the Civil War to keep on killing; the film is unique for those two performances and the uncommented on psychedelic visions, which make science-enthusiast Cole Younger an unreligious prophet besides a decent man
Lafe F

An authentic and grungy western outlaw life is portrayed. There's little glamour here. It shows what drove the men to do what they did. It shows what a crazy guy Jesse James (Robert Duvall) was. The leader Cole Younger (Cliff Robertson) was a fun but reckless individual. They… More
An authentic and grungy western outlaw life is portrayed. There's little glamour here. It shows what drove the men to do what they did. It shows what a crazy guy Jesse James (Robert Duvall) was. The leader Cole Younger (Cliff Robertson) was a fun but reckless individual. They bring a few other oddball characters with them in their robberies. Some strange scenes are thrown in, which show the men enjoying a bathhouse, a trippy near-death scene, a whorehouse, and a muddy baseball game. Throughout the film, they earn their own misfortune. The ending was wacky with the posse parading the outlaws in a cage with calliope. It needs a DVD now!

Cast

            Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger

            Robert Duvall as Jesse James

            Luke Askew as Jim Younger

            R.G. Armstrong as Clell Miller

            Dana Elcar as Allen

            Donald Moffat as Manning

            Anne Barton as Clell's wife

            Nellie Burt as Doll Woman

            William Challee as Old Timer

            Elisha Cook Jr. as Bunker

            Royal Dano as Gustavson

            Liam Dunn as Drummer

            Marjorie Durant Dye as Maybelle

            Robert H. Harris as Wilcox

            Erik Holland as Sheriff

            Herbert Nelson as Chief detective

            John Pearce as Frank James

            Arthur Peterson as Jefferson Jones

            Mary-Robin Redd as Kate

            Inger Stratton as Singing whore

            Wayne Sutherlin as Charley Pitts

            Barry Brown as Henry Wheeler

            Matt Clark as Bob Younger

            Jack Manning as Heywood

            Madeleine Taylor Holmes as Old Granny Woman

            Craig Curtis as Chadwell

            Robert Gravage as Farmer

            Bill Callaway as Calliopist
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