Sam Fuller's writer/ director debut foreshadows much of the quirky originality one would come to expect from his pictures in the decades to follow. Leave it to Sam to have a protagonist that cowardly shoots an infamous icon in the back as opposed to making another oater featuring Jesse James. I Shot Jesse James is a fresh approach to the western canon and from this angle makes for a more than satisfying ride for a B western with something extra. Jesse James is living incognito in St. Joe MO with his family as well as providing shelter for the Ford brothers. When Bob Ford (John Ireland) learns he can receive amnesty as well as a fat reward for Jess dead or alive he plans his future to run off with his entertainer girl friend and start anew. After performing the dastardly act he fails to get the full reward so he agrees to go on tour re-creating the scene on stage as well as avoid a similar fate.Fuller presents James as a decent man while Ford displays a loutish personality filled with jealousy and paranoia. Ireland does a fine job of managing to evoke sympathy for a an execrable character looking for a way out as he displays just enough sensitivity to temper his surly ways. Eventually you find yourself rooting for him and perhaps identifying with him since he is not only an assassin but a dreamer as well.

Six days after seeing Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, it's still the film at the forefront of my mind. I saw this as a followup to that. Like most Hollywood films of the era (and most of today), I Shot Jesse James plays fast and loose with the facts. In this film, Ford (John Ireland) shoots James for the reward money so he can marry his sweetheart (Barbara Britton). Unfortunately, that cowardly act turns her off of him, and she gravitates toward a man named John Kelley (Preston Foster). Kelley is a fictionalized version of Ed O'Kelley, the man who ultimately shot Robert Ford for nothing more than fame. It's pretty hilarious that he's more or less made into the hero of this picture. Jesse James is ludicrously depicted as an avuncular Abe Lincoln figure. Besides all of this hoo-ha, Sam Fuller, whose debut this was, does a decent job characterizing Ford. Too bad Ireland, an actor I immediately recognized but couldn't say for the life of me where I know him from (I looked it up – he also played the reporter, and pretty much the lead character, in the Best Picture of that year, All the King's Men), is a pretty boring actor. I usually associate Fuller with fast pacing and good plotting, but this one plods along lamely with its romantic triangle melodrama. It does have a couple of good scenes, though, like one where a goofy looking teen (Gene Collins) tries to assassinate Ford, and another where Ford encounters a folk singer performing the Jesse James ballad, a scene which is echoed in Dominik's film.

This was the first film directed by Samuel Fuller. The producer was Robert Lippert, who gave total freedom to Fuller as long as the budget was low. The result was a financial success considering the amount that was invested and it established the pattern that Fuller's films would follow: low budget, but control of the film by Fuller.If ever a film deserved to be called "noir" it is this one. Apart from being filmed in black and white, but more black than white, it is the story of a man so blinded by love that all through the film you feel his anguish and desperation. Fuller took the liberty of adding this love story to the tragic life of Robert Ford, who is known up to our days as "the dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard.". John Ireland is a convincing Ford, Preston Foster is John Kelley a man that is in love with the same woman.. Barbara Britton is outstanding as Cinthy Waters, the woman. She is beautiful and has an incredibly modern look for a film that was made in 1949, makes you think of Nicole Kidman. She is unreachable to Ford, he knew that as a fugitive their love could not survive, but he did not realize that as a cowardly killer, even though he was pardoned, the people would hate him and the odds would be that she would not accept him. She was unwillingly the cause of his tragedy.

The Jesse James gang was a group of Missouri farmers turned outlaws. Heading the gang was Jesse (Reed Hadley)and his brother Frank (Tom Tyler). Other members included Charlie Ford (Tommy Noonan)and his younger brother, Bob (John Ireland.)While the law hunts him, Jesse lives quietly in a rented house on the corner of Lafayette and Twenty-first street in St. Joseph, Missouri, under the alias of Tom Howard. His wife Zee (Barbara Woodell) begs him to end his association with the Ford brothers. Before they can leave on a "last" bank holdup, Bob learns that is childhood sweetheart, Cynthy Waters (Barbara Britton), now an actress, is in St. Joe and he brushes aside all caution to see her.Cynthy is beginning to realize that she is a liability to her manager, Harry Kane (J. Edward Bromberg), because she will not leave Missouri. Meanwhile, John Kelley (Preston Foster), has come into her life. She pleads with Bob to turn honest.Cynthy tries to get a pardon for Bob, but the best offer she can get is for a 20-year stretch in prison. Then, the Governor offers amnesty and a $10,000 reward to any member of the James gang betraying Jesse. When his chance comes (April 3, 1882)Bob shoots Jesse in the back. He gets the amnesty but the reward is cut to $500. He also loses the love and respect of Cynthy, but he blames John Kelley. Bob, needing money, joins Kane's show in an act showing how he killed Jesse James, but the act is a miserable flop.Bob goes to crowded Creede, Colorado, scene of a silver boom.There, he has to share a room with another prospector, who turns out to be Kelley. The next morning, Kelley and a diamond ring that Bob had bought for Cynthy are both gone. While hunting for Kelley, Bob meets an aged prospector, Soapy (Victor Kilian), who takes him in as a partner. They strike it rich and Bob sends for Cynthy, who arrives accompanied by her maid (Jeni LeGon) and Kane, and Bob meets the arriving party.Kelley also shows up, dragging a hotel clerk who admits to stealing the ring. Kelley is surprised to find Cynthy with Bob and thinks they are married. He is relieved to learn the truth and soon accepts the job of Creede's town Marshal. Cynthy admits to Kelley that she does not love Bob, but she feels responsible for his having killed Jesse.Frank James comes to her hotel suite demanding that Cynthy tell him where Bob is. Kelley disarms him and locks him in jail. Days later, Bob and Soapy and others are celebrating in the hotel bar, awaiting news of the verdict on Frank James. The news of his acquittal and Frank himself arrive simultaneously, and Frank, who holds the upper hand informs Bob of Kelley's and Cynthy's relationship, knowing its effect on Bob would be worse than death.Bob leaves to have a shoot-out showdown with Kelley. This film was the third time Tom Tyler had played Frank James. Reed Hadley played Jesse James in this film and had the role Frank James in 1950's "The Return of Jesse James," making him and Wendell Corey the only two actors who had portrayed both brothers on the screen.