Kansas Raiders

Kansas Raiders
1956 newspaper advertisement
Directed by	Ray Enright
Screenplay by	Robert L. Richards
Story by	Robert L. Richards
Produced by	Ted Richmond
Starring	Audie Murphy Brian Donlevy Marguerite Chapman Scott Brady
Cinematography	Irving Glassberg
Edited by	Milton Carruth
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal International
Release date	November 15, 1950 (1950-11-15) (United States)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.2 million (US rentals)[1]

Kansas Raiders is a 1950 American Western film distributed by Universal-International, directed by Ray Enright, and stars Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, and Scott Brady. It is set during the American Civil War and involves Jesse James coming under the influence of William Quantrill.

Plot[]

Jesse James (Murphy) and his friends—brother Frank (Richard Long), brothers Cole (James Best) and Jim Younger (Dewey Martin), plus Kit Dalton (Tony Curtis) -- arrive in Lawrence, Kansas, and are falsely accused of being members of Quantrill's Raiders. They are about to be lynched but are saved by the intervention of a Union officer.

The men are released and they go on and join Quantrill (Donlevy). Jesse at first admires Quantrill but comes to question his devotion after seeing atrocities committed by the man and his troops. He also falls for Kate Clarke (Marguerite Chapman).

The raiders take part in the Lawrence Massacre in which Jesse and his men rob their first bank. Most of the raiders abandon Quantrill except for Jesse. Quantrill is blinded then killed in a shoot out with Union troops. Jesse leaves Kate and heads off with his friends to a life of crime.

Cast[]

• Audie Murphy as Jesse James
• Brian Donlevy as William Quantrill
• Marguerite Chapman as Kate Clarke
• Scott Brady as Bill Anderson
• Tony Curtis as Kit Dalton
• Richard Arlen as Union captain
• Richard Long as Frank James
• James Best as Cole Younger
• John Kellogg as Red Leg leader
• Dewey Martin as James Younger
• George Chandler as Willie
• Charles Delaney as Pell
• Richard Egan as First Lieutenant
• David Bauer as Rudolph Tate (as Dave Wolfe)

Home media[]

Universal Pictures released the film on DVD in 2007 as part of its Classic Western Round-Up, Volume 1 set, a 2-disc set featuring three other films (The Texas Rangers, Canyon Passage, and The Lawless Breed). The exact same set was re-released in 2011, as part of Universal's 4 Movie Marathon DVD series, being repackaged as the "Classic Western Collection". In 2014, the film was bundled in a different Universal set, Classic Westerns, 10 Movie Collection; the only difference in this release is that no subtitles were provided on-screen.

References[]

External links[]

• Kansas Raiders at IMDb
• Kansas Raiders at the TCM Movie Database
• Kansas Raiders at Letterboxd

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