KANSAS RAIDERS (1950)

Early Audie Murphy western (that also stars a young James Best and Tony Curtis) features Murphy as a young Jesse James who along with his brother and three friends leave Missouri after seeing his family slaughtered by "red leggers". They want to join the militia of William Quantrill, a Confederate guerrilla leader who claims to be helping the South but in reality is just killing everybody he sees to line his pockets. Once James comes to see this he's disheartened but still sticks by Quantrill. Even with the Union Army breathing down their necks.

How historically accurate is KANSAS RAIDERS? I have no idea, probably not too much, but it's still a entertaining watch and worth your time if your into such things. There's plenty of action and the pace is fast. My only major complaint would be Marguerite Chapman who played Quantrill's wife looked really old. According to Wikipedia when he died his wife was only 17. Marguerite Chapman was 32.

Recomended for fans of older Western movies.

CRISS CROSS (1949)

"I wish we'd never met."

Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo have been in a troubled on-again-off-again relationship for years. At one point they were even married!  The marriage only lasted for a few months though before they busted up and Burt hit the road (for over a year) in hopes of getting her out of his system.  It didn't work, cause now he's back and immediately looking for her.  Well, he finds her and quickly discovers that she's now the main squeeze of a local gangster (Dan Duryea), but that's not gonna slow him down though. Ohhh no, not this idiot.  He's head over heels for this chick, no matter how bad is gets.  He even goes so far as to agree to be the inside man on an armored car heist!!! Holy fook!

CRISS CROSS is a highly entertaining film packed into a tight 87 minutes and it has a lot of things going for it.  Most notably Burt Lancaster, director Robert Siodmak, a pre-"Munsters" Yvonne De Carlo, an uncredited appearance by a young Tony Curtis and nice photography by Franz Planer.

If you're into film noir, then I say check it out. I think you'll enjoy it.