The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

The year is 1881 and most of the famed Jesse James gang is dead or in prison.

But Jesse (Brad Pitt) and Frank James (Sam Shepard) are planning another job, a train robbery in Jackson County, Missouri. And they’ve recruited malcontents from the surrounding countryside as their gang.

Those malcontents include Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), his 19-year-old brother Bob (Casey Affleck), Jesse’s cousin Wood Hite, Ed Miller and Dick Liddil.

When the train robbery doesn’t yield the expected bounty. Frank decides it’s his last job; that it’s time to make an honest living.

But Bob holds out hope of becoming a permanent member of a reorganized James gang. He’s grown up idolizing Jesse, reading about his daring feats, even making a long list of things he and the famed outlaw have in common.

Meanwhile, Jesse settles back into his family life, passing himself off as businessman Thomas Howard back in Kansas City.

But trouble is brewing. Jesse senses the law closing in. Already prone to fits of violence, he’s becoming paranoid and mistrusting, even of his old allies.

Eventually, Bob decides to help bring Jesse to justice. He’s been a nobody all his life, someone people are more prone to laugh at than respect. This is his chance to make a name for himself.

If he lives long enough. He and Charlie fear for their lives, wondering if Jesse has figured out what they’re up to.

Review:

Excellent performances from Brad Pitt and Academy Award nominated Casey Affleck carry a surprisingly effective film.

Surprisingly effective because its runtime checks in at 160 minutes, and this isn’t a Western chock full of action.

Instead, the focus is on the assassin and the assasinated and their shifting relationship.

The assassin is an awkward young man who realizes his idol is as prone to ridicule him as everyone else, who loses respect for, then comes to fear the man he once wanted to emulate.

The assassinated is haunted by the double life he’s leading, prone to move his family from one town to another in the middle of the night, willing to kill old friends in order to prevent his own apprehension.

Remarkably, the original cut of the film — and the version shown at the Venice Film Festival — was nearly four hours long.

Directed by:
Andrew Dominik

Cast:
Brad Pitt … Jesse James
Casey Affleck … Robert Ford
Sam Rockwell. … Charley Ford
Jeremy Renner … Wood Hite
Sam Shepard … Frank James
Garrett Dillaunt … Ed Miller
Paul Schneider … Dick Liddil
Mary-Louise Parker … Zee James
Brooklyn Proix .. Mary James
Dustin Bollinger … Tim James
Zooey Deschanel … Dorothy Evans

Runtime: 160 min.

Memorable lines:

Bob Ford: “I got qualities that don’t come shining through right at the outset.”

Frank James: “Look at those fools. They’re gonna trip and shot themselves into females.”

Bob Ford: “I can’t believe I woke up this morning, wondering if my daddy would loan me his overcoat. Here it is, just past midnight, I’ve already robbed a railroad train, and I’m sittin’ here in a rockin’ chair, chattin’ with none other than Jesse James.”
Jessie: “Yeah, it’s a wonderful world.”

Jessie James to Bob Ford: “I can’t figure you out. Do you want to be like me? Or do you want to be me?”

Jesse James of Bob Ford: “Oh, no, I made him cranky.”

Jesse James: “You ever consider suicide?”
Charley Ford: “Can’t say that I have. There was always something else I wanted to do. Or my predicaments changed or I saw my hardships from a different slant; you know all what can happen. It never seemed respectable.”

Jesse James: “You know I’m real comfortable with your brother. Hell, he’s ugly as sin and he smells like a skunk and he’s so ignorant he couldn’t drive nails in the snow, but he’s sort of easy to be around. I can’t say the same for you, Bob.”
Robert Ford: “I’m sorry to hear you say that.”

Robert Ford to Dora Evans: “You know what I expected? Applause. I was only 20 years old then. I couldn’t see how it would look to people. I was surprised when they didn’t applaud.”