According to the date on Queasley's telegram, the film takes place in 1880.
Yet Milford and Cora Lee sing a song mentioning Grant's Tomb, even though former President Ulysses S.
Grant didn't die until 1885, and his tomb in New York City wasn't built until many years after that.
Also, Milford sees a young boy playing the piano, who tells him his name is Harry Truman.
Truman wasn't born until 1884.
At the James' farm, Milford kills a gila monster.
The gila monster is found only in the deserts of the American southwest and northwest Mexico.
Jesse James's farm was in Missouri (in both the film and real life).
He clearly sells the policy to Jesse James during a lunchtime session in the bar (broad daylight, and a sign reading 'Free Lunch'), and his boss tells him to take the rest of the day off.
But when the boss points out that he's just sold a life policy to a notorious gangster, he says "Not once during the evening did he mention.
No stranger to comedy Westerns, Bob Hope's film with Roy Rogers in the early Fifties ("Son of Paleface") is better regarded than this one, but "Alias Jesse James" has it's share of laughs and offers a terrific punch at the finale. Hope's character is a hapless insurance salesman who's latest client is the notorious outlaw, who figures on cashing in by having his alter-ego Martin Farnsworth (Hope) replace him in a pine box.
This is one of Bob Hope's films before his movies really went downhill in quality in the 1960s. And, like his better films this is a period piece--his last one, in fact.
SonOfMoog wrote an earlier review where he talked about being 11 years old in 1959 and laughing so hard at the movie's end that his sides ached. The scene of Bob Hope stuck halfway through the wagon floor and having to run to keep up with the speed of the horses was so damn funny I thought I would die.
This movie begins with an incompetent insurance agent named "Milford Farnsworth" (Bob Hope) accidentally selling a life insurance policy to the notorious outlaw "Jesse James" (Wendell Corey) who just happens to be visiting New York. Needless to say, with so many people gunning for this particular outlaw his boss is not very happy with this transaction.
Not believable - and not meant to be.Prairie outlaw Jesse James (Wendell Corey) visits New York with a bagful of stolen dollars, and overhears a desperate salesman (Bob Hope) trying to sell life-insurance to a bartender.
I grew up on a steady diet of cowboys & Bob Hope, & I fondly remember this one from my teenage years at the local theatre. While it is not as great as "The Ghostbreakers", or "Son of the Paleface", it is still a very enjoyable and hilarious romp through the "old West".
If Bob Hope, Rhonda Fleming & Gloria Talbott aren't enough to perk your interest in this hilarious Western-Comedy, take a look at who else appears! It's an all-star cast guesting in cameos!
I saw this film when it first came out,probably one of my all time favorite films,I have been trying for years now to get a copy,but very few people in the U.K.
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.
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