Audie Murphy plays a young Jesse James falling under the Svengali-like spell of the outlaw William Quantrill, played by Brian Donlevy. Jesse and his youthful gang join the rebels to avenge the ...

But Edward E. Leslie, author of “The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders,” said Quantrill’s legacy is neither all-good nor all-bad.