American Outlaws

American Outlaws is a 2001 American Western action film directed by Les Mayfield and starring Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, and Ali Larter. Plot Confederate guerillas attempt to raid the Union Army late in the American Civil War. The guerillas are ambushed, but thanks to the sharp-shooting of Frank James and the distractions of his brother Jesse they survive. The James, along with their buddies, the Younger brothers, congratulate themselves but learn that the Confederacy has pulled out of the war and it is over. The group decides to return to Missouri to their families and farms. When they arrive, their town is occupied by the Union Army. Jesse's childhood friend Zee has grown into an attractive young woman, and there is a man hanging in the town square. Farmers are being pressured to sell their farms to the railroad company, who are pushing across the United States. If they don't sell their land to Thaddeus Rains, and his secret-service organizer, Allan Pinkerton, the farmers are burned out of their homes, or killed. Frank finds the railroad doesn't even need their land. The James and Younger brothers don't want to sell, and Cole Younger loses his temper when several railroad men approach him about selling and kills two of them. The army decides to hang him, but his brothers Bob and Jim, along with Jesse, Frank, and Zee, decide to rescue him. During the rescue, Jesse is shot in the shoulder, and hides out at Zee's.