edwagreen
Funny film as Bob Hope portrays insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth. As Wendell Corey, who portrays James asks, "What's a Milford Farnsworth?"As far as I'm concerned, Mary Young as Ma James steals this picture as the soft spoken mother of the outlaw who only wants her Jesse to eat a good breakfast before he goes out to steal. With her sing-song voice, Ma comes across as a kindly old lady only to resort to the shotgun when Rhonda Fleming jumps ship in her wedding dress and flees with Hope.The plot is hilarious. The inept Farnsworth sells James an insurance policy and James in turn plans to have Hope dressed like him, and killed so that he can enjoy the $100,000 that the policy is worth. What's even funnier is that dance hall queen Cora Lee, Fleming, falls for Hope.The picture provides good laughs and was appropriate for the 1950s light comedies with Hope.
bkoganbing
Bob Hope plays his usual dimwitted cluck who in this film happens to be an insurance salesman. Only Hope, one step from being given the boot and desperate to sell a policy, would sell one to Jesse James. Jesse being the smart guy he is decides this has potentiality. He can fake his own death and lay low for a while with a nice nest egg. Bank robbery, train robbery, his usual line of work does have some risk attached to it. Now guess who the schnook he figures he'll bump off to be the dead Jesse James? Why its Hope come west to protect Jesse until the home office figures a way to cancel the policy.I saw this in the movies way back when I was 12 years old and it first came out. As such I appreciated fully the significance of the cameo appearances of all those TV western stars. TV westerns were at their height at that time so anyone who saw this knew for instance that Ward Bond was Major Seth Adams of Wagon Train. Today, I wager, that viewers will recognize Bond as Bert the Cop from It's A Wonderful Life unless Wagon Train is being run on Hallmark at the time. Similarly Gail Davis as Annie Oakley or Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp (a show I wish some cable channel would pick up). Nice gag, but dated now.Nevertheless its a very funny picture with the lovely Rhonda Fleming as Jesse's girl and beneficiary until she falls for Hope. So many smart women keep falling for Hope the schnook in his films. Wendell Corey is a crafty Jesse James with Jim (Dallas) Davis as brother Frank. And of course the obligatory appearance by Bing Crosby.
Matthew_P_Johnson
I don't know much about Bob Hope except that he was a famous comedian in a time when the majority of TV shows and movies were westerns. Although "Alias Jesse James" was produced 15 years before Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles , it is still an equally enjoyable western-comedy.Mel Brooks plays Milford Farnsworth, an insurance salesman from New York whose career is failing. Farnsworth unknowingly sells a life-insurance policy to Jesse James (Wendell Corey) at a bar. When his employer finds out that Jesse James is a policy holder in the company, he sends Farnsworth to the west to try and get Jesse James to cancel his policy and if he won't, he wants Farnsworth to protect his life. There is an ironic scene on a train where Jesse James robs Farnsworth of his own premium return. Farnsworth is then left to protect Jesse James at all costs.Farnsworth meets Cora Lee Collins (Rhonda Fleming), Jesse James love interest and mistakingly falls in love with her. Throughout the rest of the movie Farnsworth fears for his own life while protecting the life of Jesse James. The best scene in the movie is the shootout at the end, where Farnsworth never hits anyone but thinks that he does because there are citizens hiding in doorways and windows, doing Farnsworth's job for him.If you are in the mood for a clean comedy with an enjoyable plot, this is the movie for you. It is a nice break from the comedies today that rely on sexual jokes and pure stupidity. I saw it on AMC but I definitely plan on buying it and adding it to my library.
meatpuppet
If you don't like bob hope, you might want to pass on this one. It is funny, but it's not as quick as the "Road" movies. Hope plays a life insurance salesman in the old west, who sells a huge policy to Jesse James! Bob is then sent to protect his policy holder and his job. In order to keep jesse safe, Hope risks life and limb by acting and dressing as the real gunslinger would. In his "alias" will Bob steal the trainrobber's girl to boot? Western fans might want to watch the Paleface, or Son of Paleface, before judging Hope on this one though. Basically the same movie made three times. "Alias" does have some cameo appearances from early television and movies i think western fans will find fun. Worth a watch.
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