Taglines: Bad Is Good Again.
American Outlaws movie storyline. A group of Confederate guerillas are trying to raid the Union Army, very late in the American Civil War. The southerners are ambushed, but thanks to the sharp-shooting of Frank James (Gabriel Macht) and the distracting and at the same time clever antics of Jesse James (Collin Farrell), the guerillas manage to survive and pull through. The James brothers, along with their war buddies, the Younger brothers, congratulate themselves, but (during the ride to reconnect with their unit) are surprised to learn that their army has pulled out, General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the previous day at Appomattox, and the war is over.
The group decides to return home to their families and farms. Things have changed when they get back to Missouri. The town is occupied by the Union Army, Jesse’s childhood friend, Zee (Ali Larter), has grown up into a very attractive young woman, and there is a man hanging in the town square, ostensibly for treason against the North.
In actuality, those farmers with large amounts of land are being pressured to sell their farms to the railroad company, who are pushing across North America. If they don’t sell their land to the well-groomed, suit-wearing Thaddeus Rains, (Harris Yulin) and his secret-service organizer, Allan Pinkerton (Timothy Dalton) the farmers are burned out of their homes, or killed outright.
Frank James finds that the railroad doesn’t even need their land—they’re just buying it as cheap as they can get, to push the railroad through. The James and Younger brothers don’t want to sell, and Cole Younger (Scott Caan) loses his temper when several ‘railroad men’ approach him about selling, and kills two of them. The army decides to hang him (since they were working for the government, he faces charges of treason), but his brothers Bob (Will McCormack) and Jim Younger (Gregory Smith), along with Jesse James and Frank James, decide to rescue him, with some help from Zee. During the rescue, Jesse is shot in the shoulder, and has to hide out at Zee’s farm.
American Outlaws is a 2001 Western film directed by Les Mayfield and starring Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, Ali Larter, Gabriel Macht, Gregory Smith, Harris Yulin, Will McCormack, Kathy Bates, Timothy Dalton, Barry Tubb and Kathy Bates.
vAmerican Outlaws (2001)
Directed by: Les Mayfield
Starring: Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, Ali Larter, Gabriel Macht, Gregory Smith, Harris Yulin, Will McCormack, Kathy Bates, Timothy Dalton, Barry Tubb, Kathy Bates
Screenplay by: Roderick Taylor, John Rogers
Production Design by: John Frick, Cary White
Cinematography by: Russell Boyd
Film Editing by: Michael Tronick
Costume Design by: Luke Reichle
Set Decoration by: Barbara Haberecht
Music by: Trevor Rabin
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for western violence.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: August 17, 2001
Views: 107
