What can you say about a movie whose two outstanding features are the casting and the music? Yes, there are a lot of gunfights, much blood and many chase scenes, but James Keach isn't much to build a movie around, I've seen major appliances that are better actors than he is...on the other hand, when you and your bro are the executive producers AND the writers, well, I guess you can be the star if you want to...it's the Mel Gibson effect...

Not a bad retelling, really, and the rest of the actors are fun to watch; they cast real-life actor brothers as all of the sets of brothers in the gang: three Carradines as the Youngers, two Keaches as the Jameses, two Quaids as the Millers, and Nicholas and Christopher Guest as the Fords, who end up killing Jesse James. Interesting.

The musical score, by Ry Cooder, is GREAT! Full of wonderful folk tunes, excellent instrumentals, real nice fiddling by Tom Sauber, very much more fun to listen to than paying attention to the plot at many points. But when (at the end credits) you FINALLY get to hear The Ballad of Jesse James, it's a really sucky version of a wonderful folk classic. Oh well.

Not bad for a modern day western...a little ponderous and slow moving; I think David Carradine is the only person in the whole movie who smiles even once...but if you like westerns or old-time music, it's worth seeing.

Imponderable: And what the heck does the title mean? Long Riders? Because they've been together a long time? Because they go far? Huh?