It's a handsome and skillful retelling of a legend that imaginatively draws on conventions of both the western and the gangster movie to create an energetic yet thoughtful contemporary action-adventure.

Jas lots of action, drama, comedy, and corn -- and few pauses, which is striking.

A pretty dreadful affair -- ludicrous as history and a veritable gallery of visual cliches.

At least hits a certain adrenaline level, and the stunts have panache. If you crave the ''Young Guns'' approach to the Old West, here it is again.

It's a sad day for film lovers when the best thing that can be said about a Western is that it's pleasant.

The best work comes from Timothy Dalton as the grizzled, Scots-accented head of the Pinkertons.

While movies like "The Long Riders" (1980) and "The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid" (1972) aim to be serious considerations of the outlaws' lives and legends, this picture just wants to have fun.

A weak whinny of a horse opera tailor-made for those who can't quite locate "Young Guns" or "The Long Riders" in their video store.

May be simple, but it's also simple-minded; this is, after all, a movie determined to transform its Rebel soldier heroes into men of the people, making it as neglectful of politics as last summer's "Patriot," which evaded that nasty issue of slavery during the America Revolution.

Repackage clichés and stereotypes with attractive young performers in a simple-minded script that panders to the teen audience.

Bogusly wholesome six-gun dud.

So desperate are the filmmakers to create a "hip" western that they try to cram it with action sequences that aren't very exciting.

This plot leaves ample room for viewers to sweat the small stuff, like whether Trevor Nunn's score is more Marines ad or deodorant commercial.

For years there have been reports of the death of the Western. Now comes American Outlaws, proof that even the B Western is dead.