ALIAS JESSE JAMES (1959)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *naturalistic*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

In my college years I remember harboring a liking for Bob Hope's comedies, but for the most part I can't remember particular scenes or routines that made me laugh. It's entirely possible that I simply liked Hope's persona-- the cowardly nebbish who always got the hottest babes-- more than any specific Hope schtick.

All that said, ALIAS JESSE JAMES-- which was not one of the films I saw back during my modest Hope-fandom-- is almost completely laugh-free. Hope had trod this sort of western-spoof material in 1948's far superior THE PALEFACE, and his director for that film, Norman Z. McLeod, was probably selected for JAMES because of those credentials. Hope was also reunited with a previous leading lady, Rhonda Fleming, who doesn't have to do much more than look beautiful and feed the comedian his straight lines.

The concept: a prologue informs viewers of the noble role played by insurance companies in the winning of the American West. One such insurance salesman, Milford Farnsworth (Hope), is a total failure at his vocation until he has a chance encounter with famed bandit Jesse James (Wendell Corey). Upon meeting Milford, Jesse comes up with a scam, signing up for an expensive policy and planning to fake his death to collect a big payoff. Jesse departs for his Western haunts, and when Milford finds out he's insured an outlaw, the hapless salesman pursues the outlaw in the hope of reversing the policy. 

Eventually Milford overtakes Jesse, but the outlaw sees in Milford a "body double" he can use to complete his scam. However, Jesse's girlfriend Cora Lee (Fleming) quickly falls out of love with Jesse and in love with Milford, with barely any effort on Milford's part. Assorted jokes make use of fantasy in the naturalistic "fallacious figments" trope. like Milford's hat inflating when he drinks strong alcohol, or outlaws moving in slow motion when they're fed loco weed.

The only notable feature of JAMES is a gimmick at the conclusion, where Jesse's gang is beaten not by the incompetent Milford, but by eight familiar western heroes, mostly from the small screen, except for Gary Cooper, more or less essaying his "High Noon" character. Tonto is one of these heroes, though there's no Lone Ranger, and the ranks even include Davy Crockett, who would have been about a hundred years old by Jesse James' time. Sadly, even this appealing bit is stultified by yet another unfunny Bing Crosby cameo.