Synopsis
The Return of Frank James (1940) is Fritz Lang's Western with Henry Fonda, and you can watch online on iFILM. It picks up where Jesse James left off, with the older brother out for revenge.
When Frank learns that the Ford brothers shot Jesse in the back, he walks away from quiet farm life to hunt them down. Short on cash, he ends up pulling a robbery to fund the chase. Along the way a young reporter, Eleanor Stone — Gene Tierney in her screen debut — latches on for the story. John Carradine's twitchy, cowardly Bob Ford is the man Frank wants most.
This was Lang's first Western and one of his earliest films in color, a long way from the German émigré's noir roots. He shoots it wide and bright, then lets the revenge curdle into a question about law versus taking justice into your own hands. Solid genre work with a softer ending than you'd expect. Stream The Return of Frank James (1940) online on iFILM.
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