The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid

The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid is a 1972 American Western film about the James-Younger Gang distributed by Universal Pictures. It was written and directed by Philip Kaufman in a cinéma vérité style and starring Cliff Robertson. The film purports to recreate the James-Younger Gang's most infamous escapade, the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the Mississippi", in Northfield, Minnesota.

The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid
1972 Theatrical Poster
Directed byPhilip Kaufman
Written byPhilip Kaufman
Produced byJennings Lang
StarringCliff Robertson
Narrated byPaul Frees
CinematographyBruce Surtees
Edited byDouglas Stewart
Music byDave Grusin
Color processTechnicolor
Production
companies
Robertson and Associates
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • April 28, 1972 (1972-04-28) (Los Angeles)
  • June 14, 1972 (1972-06-14) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

In the mid 1870s, outlaws Jesse James, Cole Younger and their brothers are granted amnesty by the Missouri legislature, sympathetic to the troubles created for all citizens by the American Civil War. The bankers victimized by the James and Younger gangs are vehemently opposed to this action and hire a Pinkerton agent to follow the outlaws' every move.

Younger has put aside plans to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, said to be the largest west of the Mississippi River. The job appeals, however, to Jesse and Frank James, who have no intention of changing the way they make a living.

Cole is ambushed by the Pinkerton's agent men, who use a prostitute as bait. And when the bankers succeed in overturning the amnesty by bribing the politicians, Cole travels by train to Minnesota to check out the bank.

Once there, Cole discovers that townspeople are unwilling to risk placing their money in the bank owing to concerns over its safety from thieves. Jesse, Frank, and their men arrive on horseback and, together with Cole, persuade the locals that a gold shipment is on its way to the bank because it is supposed to be the safest possible place for it.

Once the citizens begin banking their money, the robbery commences. Many things go wrong, though, including one outlaw being locked inside a vault and Clell Miller is killed by the townspeople. Cole Younger and his men flee to a nearby farm, but a posse tracks and apprehends them. The James brothers get away. But when Jesse mentions to Frank his intention to permit Bob Ford to join the gang back in Missouri, his fate is sealed.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in Jacksonville, Oregon.[1] It is classified by AllMovie as a revisionist Western and a crime drama.[2]

See also

References

  1. "Filmed in Oregon 1908–2015" (PDF). Oregon Film Council. Oregon State Library. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  2. The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid at AllMovie
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