The Long Riders

The Long Riders follows the James-Younger gang, a band of brothers whose bank and train robberies across Missouri turned them into folk heroes. After the Civil War, lingering resentment in the South allowed the outlaws to move between raids and ordinary family life, protected by neighbours who tipped them off about approaching posses. Their freedom erodes once the Pinkerton detective agency commits to hunting them down, and the gang faces an enemy determined to see them imprisoned or dead.

Walter Hill directed the film, his fourth of twenty-two features, arriving between The Warriors and Southern Comfort. James Keach and Stacy Keach wrote the screenplay with Bill Bryden, and the casting pairs actual acting brothers in the outlaw roles: James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank James, David, Keith and Robert Carradine as the Younger brothers, with Dennis Quaid among the credited cast.

Released in May 1980, the film had a budget of 10 million dollars and returned roughly 16 million worldwide. It holds a 6.9 rating on IMDb from about 15,000 votes and a 6.7 on TMDB from around 300 votes. A critics' rating of 6.9 from 25 reviews sits close to the audience scores, suggesting a broadly similar response from both groups.