The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Everyone in 1880s America knows Jesse James. He?s the nation?s most notorious criminal, hunted by the law in 10 states. He?s also the land?s greatest hero, lauded as a Robin Hood by the public. Robert Ford? No one knows him. Not yet. But the ambitious 19-year-old aims to change that. He?ll befriend Jesse, ride with his gang. And if that doesn?t bring Ford fame, he?ll find a deadlier way. Friendship becomes rivalry and the quest for fame becomes obsession in this virile epic produced in part by Ridley Scott and featuring gripping portrayals by Brad Pitt (winner of the Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award) as Jesse and Casey Affleck as the youth drawn closer to his goal?and farther from his own humanity.
Of all the movies made about or glancingly involving the 19th-century outlaw Jesse Woodson James, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the most reflective, most ambitious, most intricately fascinating, and indisputably most beautiful. Based on the novel of the same name by Ron Hansen, it picks up James late in his career, a few hours before his final train robbery, then covers the slow catastrophe of the gang's breakup over the next seven months even as the boss himself settles into an approximation of genteel retirement. But in another sense all of the movie is later than that. The very title assumes the audience's familiarity with James as a figure out of history and legend, and our awareness that he was--will be--murdered in his parlor one quiet afternoon by a backshooting crony. The film--only the second to be made by New Zealand?born writer-director Andrew Dominik--reminds us that Dominik's debut film, Chopper (2000), was the cunningly off-kilter portrait of another real-life criminal psychopath who became a kind of rock star to his society. The Jesse James of this telling is no Robin Hood robbing the rich to give to the poor, and that train robbery we witness is punctuated by acts of gratuitous brutality, not gallantry. Nineteen-year-old Bob Ford (Casey Affleck) seeks to join the James gang out of hero worship stoked by the dime novels he secretes under his bed, but his glam hero (Brad Pitt) is a monster who takes private glee in infecting his accomplices with his own paranoia, then murdering them for it. In the careful orchestration of James's final moments, there's even a hint that he takes satisfaction in his own demise. Affleck and Pitt (who co-produced with Ridley Scott, among others) are mesmerizing in the title roles, but the movie is enriched by an exceptional supporting cast: Sam Shepard as Jesse's older, more stable brother Frank; Sam Rockwell as Bob Ford's own brother Charlie, whose post-assassination descent into madness is astonishing to behold; Paul Schneider, Garret Dillahunt, and Jeremy Renner as three variously doomed gang members; and Mary-Louise Parker, who as Jesse's wife Zee has few lines yet manages with looks and body language to invoke a wellnigh-novelistic backstory for herself. There are also electrifying cameos by James Carville, doing solid actorly work as the governor of Missouri; Ted Levine, as a lawman of antic spirit; and Nick Cave, composer of the film's score (with Warren Ellis) and screenwriter of the Aussie "Western" The Proposition, suddenly towering over a late scene to perform the folk song that set the terms for the book and movie's title. Still, the real costar is Roger Deakins, probably the finest cinematographer at work today. The landscapes of the movie (mostly in Alberta and Manitoba) will linger in the memory as long as the distinctive faces, and we seem to feel the sting of its snows on our cheeks. Interior scenes are equally persuasive. Few Westerns have conveyed so tangibly the bleakness and austerity of the spaces people of the frontier called home, and sought in vain to warm with human spirit. --Richard T. Jameson
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Reviews
If you enjoy counting the number of holes in the ceiling tiles of your office or enjoy watching paint dry on the wall, this movie is definitely for you.
This was just about the most boring movie I have ever watched. I tried giving the Blu Ray away twice and had it given back to me both times after they watched it.
That should tell you a whole lot about the movie.
This movie was the most pathetic movie I have ever seen in my life. It gets lost & boring, tells nothing about Jesse James...I found this movie in a budget bin at Walmart...and when I was done watching it, I threw it in the trash. Total garbage. Don't waste your money.
It's really striking how so many films are so determined by their last moments. For nearly all but the last 15 minutes we have here a wonderful cinematic narrative, and a dynamic where the dour moods of James and Ford seem to blend with the 19th century American scenery. The best part about this film is that, along with the most effective western/historical pictures, it recognizes that its success hinges on its story and characters and not really on its nifty gun battles. The drawback here is that the ending assumes too much the dimensions of a Ken Burns documentary (as one critic put it) and dilutes the marvelous affect of the rest.
got the product exactly as described for a fair price much faster than I expected. A+
There are enough intelligent and well-written reviews here that I'm only weighing in to bring the average rating up and throw a barb out. For those of you that didn't understand this film: If you're 10 years old, then your inability to have at it in one sitting might make some sense. Otherwise, you're just another example of how people have been so poisoned by 3-second cuts and soulless, effects-driven garbage that such things as theme, character development, irony and sound storytelling have become anathema. For you folks, I recommend that you only play video games and watch "300" for the rest of your lives. This way, at least you will have removed yourself from any serious contention in human affairs and maybe that will give the rest of us a chance to keep humanity from going extinct in the next 50 years.
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