The Return of Frank James (1940)

Frank James continues to avoid arrest in order to take revenge on the Ford brothers for their murder of his brother Jesse.

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writer:

Sam Hellman (original screenplay)

Stars:

Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Jackie Cooper

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Henry Fonda	...	Frank James
Gene Tierney	...	Eleanor Stone
Jackie Cooper	...	Clem
Henry Hull	...	Major Rufus Cobb
John Carradine	...	Bob Ford
J. Edward Bromberg	...	George Runyan
Donald Meek	...	McCoy
Eddie Collins	...	Station Agent
George Barbier	...	Judge
Russell Hicks	...	Prosecutor
Ernest Whitman	...	Pinky
Charles Tannen	...	Charlie Ford
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Randolph Stone
Victor Kilian	...	Preacher
Edward McWade	...	Colonel Jackson

Storyline

Frank James sets out to find the men who killed his brother. When the killers are pardoned, he takes matters into his own hands. The reporter who hopes to tell his story winds up in love with him.

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | farm | murder | female reporter | revenge | 

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 August 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le retour de Frank James

Filming Locations:

Round Valley, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original treatment had Frank romantically interested in the reporter played by Gene Tierney, but the studio became fearful of a possible lawsuit by Frank's widow and/or son, so it was eliminated from the script.

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Quotes

Clem, aka Tom Grayson: There ain't no right for us poor people than the end of a gun.

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Connections

Features Jesse James (1939)

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Soundtracks

"Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair"
(uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster

User Reviews

good follow up to Jesse James

The first western directed by Fritz Lang and it wouldn't be his last. Henry Fonda returns as Frank James and so do several other cast members like John Carradine and Henry Hull. There is a new cast member played by Jackie Cooper who is playing Jesse James grown up kid. This one starts out with Frank wanting to give up bank robbing until he hears about Jesse getting killed and then going after the Ford brothers who killed him. The Ford brothers, by the way, are putting on a show about how they killed Jesse.

Frank doesn't have that much money so he decides to rob a bank and a man is killed by the posse but they think Frank did it. There's more to the plot by you can find that out for yourself. This is Gene Tierney's first film and in this movie Frank had to avenge Jesse's murder without actually killing anyone himself, do to the strictures of the censors.