# Jesse James (1939 film)
*Jesse James* is a 1939 American Technicolor Western directed by Henry King and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for Twentieth Century-Fox, starring [Tyrone Power](https://www.edgepedia.org/tyrone-power) as the outlaw [Jesse James](https://www.edgepedia.org/jesse-james), Henry Fonda as his brother Frank, and Nancy Kelly as Zerelda "Zee" Cobb. Released on 27 January 1939, it was Twentieth Century-Fox's top hit of that year and, according to film historian Jeremy Arnold, the first true Western shot in three-color [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 27 January 1939; New York opening the week of 14 January 1939; production began late August 1938[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) |
| Principal cast | Tyrone Power (Jesse James), Henry Fonda (Frank James), Nancy Kelly (Zerelda "Zee" Cobb), Randolph Scott, Henry Hull, John Carradine (Bob Ford)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) |
| Key crew | Director Henry King; screenplay Nunnally Johnson; cinematography George Barnes; editing Barbara McLean[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) |
| Format | Technicolor, Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording, 105 minutes (9,600 feet)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) |
| Budget | $1,600,000, shot on location at Pineville, Missouri[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) |
| Reception | Fox's top hit of 1939; the New York Times called it "the best screen entertainment of the year"; IMDb rating 7.0/10 from about 5,600 users[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031507/ratings/) |
| Historical standing | Described as Hollywood's first "A Western" of the 1930s and part of the early-1939 A-Western revival alongside *Stagecoach* and *Dodge City*[4](https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/38329/chapter-abstract/333311445) • [5](https://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/93315/sample/9780521793315ws.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens in Missouri, where Barshee ([Brian Donlevy](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-donlevy)), an agent of the Midland Railroad sent to swindle farmers out of their land, kills the James brothers' mother. Forced to renounce farming, Jesse and Frank organize a band of outlaws to rob the railroad, later expanding into banks. Jesse's sweetheart Zee, niece of newspaper editor Major Rufus Cobb (Henry Hull), persuades him to consider surrendering under a reduced sentence offered by the railroad head McCoy (Donald Meek); after they marry, Jesse learns McCoy plans to double-cross him and escapes with the gang.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES)
Zee, tired of hiding, returns to Liberty, Missouri, and Jesse chooses not to follow, judging she will be happier without him. Five years later, detective George Runyan (J. Edward Bromberg) announces complete amnesty and a $25,000 reward for the death of Jesse James, while Jesse plans a raid on the bank at Northfield, Minnesota. The gang member Bob Ford ([John Carradine](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-carradine)) learns of the reward and, as the AFI synopsis puts the historical outcome the film follows, Jesse is shot and killed by Ford for the reward.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES)
## Production
Production began in late August 1938 on location at Pineville, Missouri, with additional filming at the [Lake of the Ozarks](https://www.edgepedia.org/lake-of-the-ozarks) near [Bagnell Dam](https://www.edgepedia.org/bagnell-dam); *Life* reported the budget as $1,600,000.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) In October 1938 director Henry King was confined to bed with a swelling of his inner ear, and Irving Cummings substituted until King returned to the set on 24 October.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) Arleen Whalen was originally reported as the intended female lead before Nancy Kelly took the role.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES)
**Zanuck's contribution.** According to materials in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, Darryl Zanuck suggested that the desire for revenge for the railroad's murder of his mother should motivate Jesse to become a renegade, the story engine of the finished film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) The Production Code Administration issued certificate No. 4590, and the American Humane Association took a corporate credit, a detail connected to a stunt in which a horse and rider fell off a cliff into a river.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES)
## Historical accuracy
King and Johnson did historical research, but drama took precedence over fact, and the film was criticized from the start as more fiction than reality.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939) The AFI history notes that the real Jesse James was not the handsome romantic figure played by Power but a cold, ruthless killer: born in Missouri in 1847, he joined the pro-Confederate guerrillas led by William C. Quantrill at fifteen, robbed banks and trains after the Civil War, and was shot by Bob Ford on 3 April 1882.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) The Western writer Johnny D. Boggs has written that the film "helped propagate the myth that Jesse James was fighting evil railroads" when in truth James "started robbing banks in 1866 and didn't start robbing trains until 1873." Boggs also lists inaccuracies including the mother's name (Mrs. Samuel in life, Mrs. Samuels in the film), the omission of the stepfather and siblings, a Northfield raid that was not an ambush, and a Jesse who was not on the verge of retiring when killed.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939)
## Reception and significance
The New York Times called the film "the best screen entertainment of the year," noting the date was only January 13, and praised it as "an authentic American panorama." Variety praised its "consummate showmanship" and the performances of Power, Fonda, and Kelly.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939) Power, at the peak of his popularity, was voted the number one male box-office draw in Hollywood by exhibitors while the film was in production; film historian Jeanine Basinger noted that for the first time he was not paired with one of Fox's box-office queens.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939) The film became Fox's top hit of 1939.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939)
Scholarship places the film at the start of Hollywood's late-1930s A-Western revival: with the early-1939 releases of *Jesse James*, *Stagecoach*, and *Dodge City*, the A-Western renaissance was underway, and estimates put A-Western output from 1939 through 1941 at about thirty films.[5](https://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/93315/sample/9780521793315ws.pdf) Gillian Kelly, writing on Tyrone Power's star image, calls it Hollywood's first "A Western" of the 1930s and argues it marked a shift in Power's screen masculinity toward tougher roles.[4](https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/38329/chapter-abstract/333311445) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer of 66 percent from three reviews, and on IMDb it rates 7.0/10 from about 5,600 users.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jesse_james) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031507/ratings/)
## Legacy
The film's success did not immediately make Power a Western star; he made only four Westerns in total, and twelve years passed before his next.[4](https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/38329/chapter-abstract/333311445) The James legend returned to the screen repeatedly, including *The Great Missouri Raid* (Paramount, 1950), *The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid* (Universal, 1972), and *The Long Riders* (1980), directed by [Walter Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-hill) with Stacy and [James Keach](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-keach) as the James brothers.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES) [Henry Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-fonda), who played Frank James, later admitted a lifelong discomfort with horses, writing, "I never felt secure. I may have looked okay, but I wasn't any good."[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939)
## References
1. [Jesse James (1939), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5107-JESSE-JAMES)
2. [Jeremy Arnold (2012). Jesse James (1939), Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/489501/jesse-james-1939)
3. [Jesse James (1939) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031507/ratings/)
4. [Gillian Kelly. The tough Westerner, in Tyrone Power: Gender, Genre and Image in Classical Hollywood Cinema, Edinburgh University Press](https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/38329/chapter-abstract/333311445)
5. [Stagecoach and Hollywood's A-Western Renaissance, in John Ford's Stagecoach, Cambridge University Press](https://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/93315/sample/9780521793315ws.pdf)
6. [Jesse James, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jesse_james)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns before 1980 › Released 1930 to 1960*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license