Who were the famous Wild West Outlaws?

The most famous outlaws in the Wild West were bank robbers, for the most part, and old west outlaws occupy a special place in the American story.  The most famous outlaws were men like Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Billy the Kid.  In the lawless old west, “outlaw” was almost a badge of honor among many, and the most famous Wild West outlaws, such as Jesse James, gained notoriety even within their lifetimes for their exploits.

http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/

Why were they famous?

Every era needs its romantic, heroic figures; even in their own time, the Wild West outlaws were media figures, and commanded front-page headlines in the newspapers of the American West.  They were given names like Sundance, or Billy the Kid, and turned into famous figures throughout the country.  Many editors and journalists sought to portray the American outlaws as heroic Robin Hood figures, but as we shall see, that was often not a very accurate picture.  Nonetheless, their fame traveled far and wide, and their reputations and nicknames often preceded them, and added to the aura of invincibility that many western outlaws seemed to possess.  Some of the most famous are here.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/LA-OutlawsandLegends.html

Were they like what we see in the movies?

Inevitably, the movies have a tendency to romanticize the Wild West outlaws out of all proportion to their real exploits.  The truth is that most American outlaws were ruthless and sometimes bloodthirsty men – willing to kill, let’s not forget, merely to steal money.  Many movies tend to give their famous outlaw heroes noble and glamorous deaths – but, while many western outlaws did indeed die violent deaths, they weren’t always very heroic.

However, many western outlaws were heroes in their own lifetimes, big names in the media of their day – so it’s hardly surprising that they have been turned into legends in modern folklore, over a hundred years after most of them died.

http://www.americanwest.com/pages/gunsoutl.htm

Did they elude the law for long?

Some of the most famous Wild West outlaws survived a long time without being caught, and succeeded in robbing banks and continuing their gun-slinging exploits for many years.  However, it’s noticeable when reading about the western outlaws how many of them died young, and violently.  They led lives that were exciting and occasionally glamorous, but the law did tend to catch up with them in the end – although not everyone believed that they had died…

http://www.utah.com/oldwest/butch_cassidy.htm