The Long Riders

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The Long Riders

R,

1980,

1h 40m,

Western/

Biography

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Watchlist

78%

23 Reviews

Tomatometer

73%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

78%

Tomatometer

23 Reviews

73%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

During a bank robbery by the legendary James-Younger Gang, Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) impulsively kills a man, much to the displeasure of leader Jesse James (James Keach), who insists that the gang scatter until the heat is off. The groups of brothers go their separate ways, with Cole Younger (David Carradine) considering settling down with his feisty girlfriend, Belle Starr (Pamela Reed). But they soon regroup for an ill-fated bank job in Northfield, Minn., that results in an epic chase.

Critics Consensus

With its pared down storytelling, The Long Riders delivers with an evocative atmosphere and artful brutality.

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Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Oct 7, 2011

Hill is very much in the American grain, the inheritor of the Ford-Hawks-Walsh tradition of artful, understated action film making.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Feb 5, 2008

Walter Hill's first outright failure.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Feb 5, 2008

What's ultimately missing is a definable point of view which would tie together the myriad events on display and fill in the blanks which Hill has imposed on the action by sapping it of emotional or historical meaning.

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Mitchell Beaupre

Paste Magazine

Sep 29, 2023

7.5/10

Strips away a lot of the steely gazes and taciturn men from Hill's first few pictures and gives us richly detailed interpersonal dynamics in the James-Younger gang and the men and women circling around them.

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Stephen Farber

New West/California

Nov 3, 2021

The Long Riders is exceptionally well made, but I came out feeling that there was no pressing reason to make it at all.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Oct 3, 2021

3/4

The Long Riders sounds like merely a gimmick -- cast real-life brothers as real-life outlaw siblings -- but it turned out to be one of the last decent Westerns to hit the big screen until the early 1990s brought us Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven.

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Rey P

Mar 8, 2019

This is the greatest remake ever made. Loved the Sklar brothers as the Fords.

Hermione M

Sep 12, 2018

In my opinion, this is one of the best westerns ever made. The shoot out at the end is epic. A must see movie.

Poe W

May 19, 2018

What was cool about this particular Western was the fact that four sets of brothers were played by real life brothers(Carradines, Keachs, Quaids, Guests). It's a pretty decent movie, wouldn't put it in my top 5 Westerns list, but it's good nonetheless. One thing that kinda took me out of it a bit was the overplayed slow motion in the climax as it made the horses sound kind of demonic. I thought I was watching a horror movie for a sec, hah

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Rey R

Jan 30, 2018

C'est étrangement l'argument de vente numéro 1 des Long Riders qui marche le moins dans le film de Walter Hill. Western contant l'histoire de la fin du gang de Jesse James, quatre fratries d'acteurs (les Keach, les Carradine, les Quaid et les Guest) sont castées pour jouer les quatre fratries du gang (les James, les Younger, les Miller et les Ford). Certains acteurs sont donc castés en dépit du bon sens (James Keach en Jesse James à la place de son frère Stacy) mais cela n'empêche pas le film de Walter Hill d'être un divertissement réussi, avec des fusillades ultra réalistes et des séquences de camaraderie qui ne le sont pas moins. Peut-être aurait-il fallu une demi-heure de plus pour rentrer dans l'histoire, mais en l'état, The Long Riders est un western très compétent.

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Hagrid P

Oct 2, 2017

An interesting Western in that it is one of the early examples of Hollywood getting gritty and more realistic with their stories after the Spaghetti Western boom. Subsequently, it's failure was one of the final nails in the coffin for the genre. It's not my favorite Hill film, but it's a good Western. The gimmick of all these actual brothers in the cast was cool, and actually works to its favor. There's some great performances.

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Leia L

Sep 22, 2017

Amazing cast, we don't make westerns like this anymore.

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Walter Hill

Director

David Carradine

Cole Younger

Keith Carradine

Jim Younger

Robert Carradine

Bob Younger

James Keach

Jesse James

Stacy Keach

Frank James

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Synopsis

During a bank robbery by the legendary James-Younger Gang, Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) impulsively kills a man, much to the displeasure of leader Jesse James (James Keach), who insists that the gang scatter until the heat is off. The groups of brothers go their separate ways, with Cole Younger (David Carradine) considering settling down with his feisty girlfriend, Belle Starr (Pamela Reed). But they soon regroup for an ill-fated bank job in Northfield, Minn., that results in an epic chase.

Director: Walter Hill
Producer: Tim Zinneman
Screenwriter: Bill Bryden, Steven Smith, James Keach, Stacy Keach
Production Co: United Artists, Huka Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Western, Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 40m

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