The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
by Philip Kaufman
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Actor: Dana Elcar, Elisha Cook Jr., Luke Askew, R.G. Armstrong, Royal DanoDirector: Philip Kaufman
Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
Cinematographer: Bruce Surtees
Composer: Dave Grusin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-25
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
DVD Review: Failed Revisionist Western
Summary: 2 Stars
"The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" is a 1972 Technicolor revisionist western about the most infamous bank robbery by the gangs of Jesse James and Cole Younger that took place in 1876.
Cliff Robertson (1923) plays Cole Younger. He won the Oscar in 1968 for "Charly" and has been in more than 100 films since 1943. Among his better roles are JFK in "PT 109" (1963), Presidential candidate Joe Cantwell in "The Best Man" (1964), and CIA spook in "Three Days of the Condor" (1975). Since 2002 he has played Spider-Man's uncle Ben in the series of the same name.
Cole Younger has been portrayed over the years by Dennis Morgan (1941), Wayne Morris (1949), Alan Hale Jr. (1957), Frank Lovejoy (1958), David Carradine (1980), Randy Travis (1994), and Scott Caan (2001). Personally I prefer Frank Lovejoy and David Carradine.
Robert Duvall (1931) plays Jesse James. Duvall loves playing southerners and in westerns. He was nominated 6 times for an Oscar, winning once for "Tender Mercies" (1983). He won a BAFTA as the helicopter officer in "Apocalypse Now" (1979) and an Emmy for his work on "Broken Trail" (2006).
Jesse James has been portrayed over the years by Tyrone Power (1939), Roy Rogers (1941), Clayton Moore - the actor who played "The Lone Ranger" - (1947), McDonald Carey (1951), Robert Wagner (1957), James Keach (1980), Kris Kristofferson (1986), Colin Farrell (2001), Brad Pitt (2007), and twice by Audie Murphy (1950, 1969). Personally I prefer Tyrone Power and McDonald Carey.
Matt Clark (1936) plays Bob Younger. Clark appeared in dozens of films, often westerns. I remember him best as the townfolk in "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976) who calls Clint Eastwood a "big spender" and from "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973) when he played the sheriff J.W. Bell, the sheriff that Billy didn't kill.
Luke Askew (1937) plays Jim Younger. Askew usually appears in westerns ("Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", "Will Penny", "The Magnificent Seven Ride"), although he has made good contributions in films like "Easy Rider" as a stranger on the highway and "Cool Hand Luke" as Boss Paul.
R.G. Armstrong (1917) plays Clell Miller, another gang member. Armstrong has been in more than 100 films since 1954, and is perhaps best known for his work with Sam Peckinpah whom he worked with in TV in the 50s. He played the religious zealot in "Ride the High Country" (1962), Reverend Dahlstrom in "Major Dundee" (1965), and Deputy Bob (the guy who gets blown in half by a shotgun) in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973).
Look for Madeline Taylor Holmes, Elisha Cook Jr., and Royal Dano in small roles, which is unfortunate as they were gifted actors.
Madeline Taylor Holmes (1914-1987) has a small part as a medicine woman. She only appeared in 7 films and a few TV shows, but her performance as Grannie Hawkins (the woman Clint Eastwood meets at the ferry crossing who prepares a poultice for him) in "the Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976) was a true scene stealer.
Elisha Cook Jr. (1903-1995) is best known as the "gunsel" from "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). He made nearly 200 films from 1930 to 1987. He plays a bank guard.
Royal Dano's (1922-94) tall lean figure and his marvelous voice graced more than 100 films. He played Lincoln in a 1952-3 mini-series on TV and subsequently provided the voice for Lincoln for Disney since 1964. Dano plays a madman and a beggar.
The film was written and directed by Philip Kaufman (1936). Kaufman often wrote and directed his own films ("Rising Sun", "The Right Stuff", "The Wanderers"). He was nominated for an Oscar for "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988), and worked as the writer on films like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and "The Outlaw Josie Wales" (1976). This was his third film.
The essential story of the James and Younger gangs revolves around the chaos surrounding The Civil War, and how the issue of slavery impacted the new states. Without this understanding, the James/Younger saga looks like simply a crime story, which it was not. This film spends a little time explaining the issue of amnesty, but little time about the fundamental causes of the violence that swept the era.
The top grossing films in 1972 included the terrific western "Jeremiah Johnson" along with "The Godfather", "The Poseidon Adventure", "Cabaret", "Deliverance", and "The Getaway". The big Oscar winners were "The Godfather" (Picture, Actor) and "Cabaret" (Director, Actress, Supporting Actor). Other memorable films from that year included "The Candidate", "Last Tango in Paris", "The Ruling Class", "Way of the Dragon", and "Pink Flamingoes". Westerns from 1972 include "The Cowboys", "High Plains Drifter", "Dirty Little Billy", "Ulzana's Raid", "Junior Bonner", "Bad Company", "Joe Kidd", "Buck and the Preacher", and "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean".
With such a plethora of good westerns in 1972, it's hard to recommend this film. Robertson and Duvall give what may their worst screen performances ever, Robertson as a simple minded cross eyed prophet who stumbles around saying "It's a wonderment" and Duvall at his over-acting worst, even resoting to twitching and blinking It's a shame, the photography is beautiful and many of the supporting actors do a great job. In addition, a lot of the background material (e.g., a baseball game, the start of the machine age) is excellent. But at its core, terrible acting from the stars and a quirky revisionist story are the undoing of this film.
Some reviewers have suggested that this isn't a western or a revisionist western but a comedy. There is some justification to this POV since the music is clearly inserted for comic effect, and the terrible performances by Robertson and Duvall might be considered comic since these are gifted actors at their very worst and one has to wonder (as Robertson does in the film). Yet almost every other facet of the film is clearly a western, and quite frankly, as a comedy or even a black comedy, the film comes off just as poorly.
Finally, it's impossible to review this film without comparing it to "The Long Riders" (1980), the George Hill film that starred 4 sets of brothers. That film is far superior in almost every aspect.
BTW - I am not opposed to revisionist westerns if they bring something significant to the table. For example, the same year as this film came out, we have "Dirty Little Billy" which seeks to re-write the legend of Billy the Kid and gives us a memorable film. Other revisionist westerns like "High Noon" (1952), "Ride the High Country" (1962), "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962)and "Little Big Man" (1970) have been great films
Description of The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/25/2007 Run time: 91 minutes Rating: PgBestsellers in DVD
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