Les Mayfield
Gli Ultimi Fuorilegge

Liberty, Missouri. The two brothers Jesse and Frank James (played respectively by Colin Farrell and Gabriel Macht) return to their hometown after the American Civil War. Once there, they discover that someone wants to build a new railroad on the town's land and therefore invites the citizens to donate their land. But a small band of outlaws (the last ones) will oppose in every way these emissaries of the American railways.

Les Mayfield's film, here in his fourth feature film, is a rather unusual combination of old-style western and "modern" comedy. A mixture of opposing genres: the western, always considered the wildest, where issues of honor among men emerge, and comedy, humor, and lightness to entertain the audience. From the union of these two different cinematic ideas comes "American Outlaws", shot with a not high budget and fairly unknown in the cinema landscape.

However, typically western is the main theme of the film: honor. Defending their lands becomes a matter of life and death for the citizens, a matter of honor to tackle so as not to yield to the state, interested only in its senseless works of modernizing the west. The gang of Jesse James (a famous character in western filmography and one of the most known American outlaws ever) and his "faithful" friend Cole Younger is respected not because they use violence, but because they are seen as a positive element that opposes state officials by damaging them not directly on their work, but rather on the resources destined for the construction of the mega infrastructure.

The film itself is nothing astounding, starting with the actors. What was supposed to be the fulcrum of the film, Colin Farrell, disappoints. Author of a flat performance and in my opinion also out of place, he aligns with the not-so-exciting performances of the other actors. In turn, the "comedy" script does not help the actors give a semblance of suitability to the work, which too often gets lost in jokes that, while funny, are not well assimilated in a western film.

Les Mayfield for his part does nothing to save the film and limits himself to staging a film set in the usual location already seen and reviewed, without introducing an element of originality into the narrative that could raise the level of the work. A "modern" western too "pleasing" and not very western.