The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
Encyclopedia
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid is a 1972 Technicolor
Western
film about the James-Younger Gang
distributed by Universal Pictures
. It was directed by Philip Kaufman
in a cinéma vérité
style and starred Cliff Robertson
as Cole Younger
, Robert Duvall
as Jesse James
, Luke Askew
as Jim Younger
, R. G. Armstrong
as Clell Miller
, John Pearce as Frank James
, and Matt Clark
as Bob Younger
. The film recreates the James-Younger Gang's most infamous escapade: the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the Mississippi" in Northfield, Minnesota
.
, Cole Younger
and their brothers are granted amnesty by the Missouri legislature, sympathetic to the troubles created for all citizens by the Civil War. The bankers victimized by the James and Younger gangs are vehemently opposed to this action and hire a Pinkerton
agent to follow the outlaws' every move.
Younger has put aside plans to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota
, said to be the largest west of the Mississippi River. The job appeals, however, to Jesse and Frank James, who have no intention of changing the way they make a living.
Cole is ambushed by the Pinkerton's agent men, who use a prostitute as bait. And when the bankers succeed in overturning the amnesty by bribing the politicians, Cole travels by train to Minnesota to check out the bank.
Once there, Cole discovers that townspeople are unwilling to risk placing their money in the bank due to concerns over its safety from thieves. Jesse, Frank and their men arrive on horseback and, together with Cole, persuade the locals that a gold shipment is on its way, being delivered to the bank because it is supposed to be the safest possible place for it.
Once the citizens begin banking their money, the robbery commences. Many things go wrong, though, including one outlaw being locked inside a vault. Younger and his men flee to a nearby farm, but a posse tracks and apprehends them. The James brothers get away, but when Jesse mentions to Frank his intention to permit Bob Ford
to join the gang back in Missouri, his fate is sealed.
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film about the James-Younger Gang
James-Younger gang
The James-Younger Gang was a notable 19th-century gang of American outlaws that included Jesse James.The gang was centered in the state of Missouri. Membership fluctuated from robbery to robbery, as the outlaws' raids were usually separated by many months...
distributed by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
. It was directed by Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His movies have adapted novels of widely different types – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun; from Tom Wolfe’s heroic epic The Right Stuff to the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin’s...
in a cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
style and starred Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
as Cole Younger
Cole Younger
Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger was an American Confederate guerrilla during the American Civil War and later an outlaw with the James-Younger gang...
, Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
, Luke Askew
Luke Askew
Luke Askew is an American actor best known for his role in the 1969 film Easy Rider.Askew was born in Macon, Georgia. He made his film debut in Otto Preminger's Hurry Sundown , but was first noticed as an actor for his role in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke...
as Jim Younger
Jim Younger
James Hardin "Jim" Younger was a notable American outlaw and member of the James-Younger gang. He was the brother of Cole, John and Bob Younger-Life:...
, R. G. Armstrong
R. G. Armstrong
Robert Golden "R.G." Armstrong is an American actor and playwright. A veteran character actor who appeared in dozens of Westerns over the course of his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director Sam Peckinpah....
as Clell Miller
Clell Miller
Clell Miller was an outlaw with the James-Younger Gang who was killed during the gang's robbery at Northfield, Minnesota....
, John Pearce as Frank James
Frank James
Alexander Franklin "Frank" James was a famous American outlaw. He was the older brother of outlaw Jesse James.-Childhood:...
, and Matt Clark
Matt Clark (actor)
Matt Clark is an American actor and director with credits in both film and television. Clark has played diverse character roles in Westerns, comedies, and dramas....
as Bob Younger
Bob Younger
Robert Ewing "Bob" Younger was an American criminal and outlaw, the younger brother of Cole, Jim and John Younger , he was a member of the James-Younger gang.-Life:...
. The film recreates the James-Younger Gang's most infamous escapade: the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the Mississippi" in Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...
.
Plot
In the mid-1870s, outlaws Jesse JamesJesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
, Cole Younger
Cole Younger
Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger was an American Confederate guerrilla during the American Civil War and later an outlaw with the James-Younger gang...
and their brothers are granted amnesty by the Missouri legislature, sympathetic to the troubles created for all citizens by the Civil War. The bankers victimized by the James and Younger gangs are vehemently opposed to this action and hire a Pinkerton
Pinkerton
Pinkerton may refer to:*Pinkerton , a 1996 album by Weezer*Pinkerton, Ontario*Pinkerton National Detective Agency, a detective agency founded in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton*Pinkerton Academy, a high school in Derry, New Hampshire...
agent to follow the outlaws' every move.
Younger has put aside plans to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...
, said to be the largest west of the Mississippi River. The job appeals, however, to Jesse and Frank James, who have no intention of changing the way they make a living.
Cole is ambushed by the Pinkerton's agent men, who use a prostitute as bait. And when the bankers succeed in overturning the amnesty by bribing the politicians, Cole travels by train to Minnesota to check out the bank.
Once there, Cole discovers that townspeople are unwilling to risk placing their money in the bank due to concerns over its safety from thieves. Jesse, Frank and their men arrive on horseback and, together with Cole, persuade the locals that a gold shipment is on its way, being delivered to the bank because it is supposed to be the safest possible place for it.
Once the citizens begin banking their money, the robbery commences. Many things go wrong, though, including one outlaw being locked inside a vault. Younger and his men flee to a nearby farm, but a posse tracks and apprehends them. The James brothers get away, but when Jesse mentions to Frank his intention to permit Bob Ford
Bob Ford
Robert Alan Ford is a retired American basketball player in the ABA. He played college basketball at Purdue University before playing briefly for the Memphis Tams in the 1972-73 season, averaging 1.6 points and 1.3 rebounds in nine games played. Currently, Bob Ford is a full time telecaster for...
to join the gang back in Missouri, his fate is sealed.
Cast
- Cliff RobertsonCliff RobertsonClifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
as Cole Younger - Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Jesse James - Luke AskewLuke AskewLuke Askew is an American actor best known for his role in the 1969 film Easy Rider.Askew was born in Macon, Georgia. He made his film debut in Otto Preminger's Hurry Sundown , but was first noticed as an actor for his role in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke...
as Jim Younger - R.G. Armstrong as Clell Miller
- Dana ElcarDana ElcarDana Elcar was an American television and movie character actor. Although he appeared in about 40 films, his most memorable role was on the 1980s and 1990s television series MacGyver as Peter Thornton, an administrator working for the Phoenix Foundation...
as Allen - Donald MoffatDonald MoffatDonald Moffat is an English-born actor, now a naturalized American citizen.-Early life:Moffat was born in Plymouth, Devon, the only child of Kathleen Mary and Walter George Moffat, who was an insurance agent. His parents ran a boarding house in Totnes...
as Manning - John Pearce as Frank James
- Matt ClarkMatt ClarkMatthew or Matt Clark may refer to:* Mat Clark, American ice hockey defenceman* Matt Clark * Matt Clark * Matt Clark * Matt Clark *Matthew Clark*Matthew H. Clark...
as Bob Younger - Wayne Sutherlin as Charley Pitts
- Robert H. HarrisRobert H. HarrisRobert H. Harris was an American character actor born in New York City, New York.-Career:...
as Wilcox - Jack ManningJack Manning (actor)Jack Manning was an American film, television and theater character actor, teacher and stage director.-Early life:...
as Heywood - Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
as Bunker (as Elisha Cook) - Royal DanoRoyal DanoRoyal Edward Dano was an American film and television character actor.-Early life:Dano was born in New York City to Mary Josephine , an Irish immigrant, and Caleb Edward Dano, a printer for newspapers. He reportedly left home at the age of twelve and at various intervals, lived in Florida, Texas...
as Gustavson - Mary-Robin Redd as Kate
- William Callaway as Calliopist (as Bill Calloway)
- Valda HansenValda HansenValda Hansen was an American actress, known for her performances in a number of B-movies in the 1950s and -70s....
as Nude girl (as Valda J. Johnson) - Jennifer GanJennifer GanJennifer Gan was a sixties pop culture actress who appeared in fourteen movie and television show titles starting in 1964. Prior to this she performed on the stage in musicals such as "Li'l Abner" in 1958, "The Pink Jungle" in 1959 starring Ginger Rogers and Agnes Moorehead and "No Strings" in 1962...
as Abbie (uncredited)