The True Story of Jesse James (1957). Based on a true story after the South lost the Civil War to Northern yankees, the James family farm gets raided and searched for Jesse Jame's brother who fought for the Southern rebels as a wanted man. Jesse refuses to disclose where his brother is hiding out. When his family and himself were issued death threats by nearby Yankees in Missouri and their bank accounts frozen due to past allegiance to the South, Jesse decides to form a posse of rebels to start robbing Northern banks for retribution. After a series of murders and robberies Jesse James becomes a high valued wanted criminal all over the nation. Some Americans considered Jesse James to be a underdog hero fighting for a cause, while others hated his guts and wanted him dead or alive behind bars. Whatever anyone might think of this old time Missouri farm boy, he made a name for himself and became a highly controversial figure of American history.