The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford

I have been wanting to review this film on here for a while but was keen on seeing it again before I did. I wanted to make sure that It was really as good as I thought it was after seeing it the first time. Well I finally got to see it again and yes I was wrong with my thoughts after my first viewing. This film is not really good but is excellent. It has nudged itself to the top of my films of 2007 list and I am not sure whether It is this or No Country for Old Men that is my pick now.

It is funny that last year Ridley Scott gave an interview in which he said that in Hollywood the Sci-Fi was as dead a genre as the Western is now. Six months later we have seen 3:10 to Yuma, No Country for Old Men (which really is a western in disguise) and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. All of which are among the very best movies released last year and while 3:10 to Yuma was probably the most traditional western of the three and a lot more fun to boot, I have no doubt that Jesse James is the much more accomplished of the two proper westerns released last year. Though it is hard to have a dig at Ridley too much as along with Brad Pitt he was a producer on this film, which makes what he said even more the stranger.

Written and Directed by Andrew Domink who's only other credit was for writing the brilliant Australian film Chopper, Jess James is the first realistic Western I may have ever have seen, It certainly is the only one that portrayed the loneliness of the wild west in such a way.  Where going to visit a friend did not mean jumping on a horse and taking your posse for a trek across the hills and be there for dinner. But a lonely, desperate 200 mile journey through all kinds of terrain. In an America that is so big but back then had such a small population I would imagine the west could be a very lonely place indeed. Kudos too for not showing us a single Native American, some movies would have you believe that they were hiding behind every rock just waiting to kill a white man whenever they got the chance.

So the story is simple, we meet Jesse James when his best days are behind him. The James gang now split up he is planning a bank robbery and recruits family friends, the Ford brothers to assist him. The younger Ford brother Robert is dim-witted and has an unhealthy obsession with James, James now being a minor celebrity through the many novels and comics that he stars in. James himself is becoming paranoid and convinces himself that the old gang are plotting to turn him into the authorities for the hefty reward they have placed on his head. The film follows James during his last months and mainly concentrates on the relationship between him and Robert Ford. I guess the ending of the film should come as no surprise to anyone who reads the title but the movie does not stop there and there is a good deal afterwards that show us Robert Ford's life after the event which I did not expect but enjoyed.

So to start with what I felt stood out in this movie. Firstly and maybe most importantly is the Cinematography, Roger Deakin who is perhaps best known for his work on nearly all of the Coen Brothers movies does a fantastic job here. The film looks amazing, the scenery is wonderful and each frame of the film could be a picture. He truly is an outstanding cinematographer and is up for the Oscar for both this and No Country for Old Men.  

The script is outstanding, with so little real story to speak of the ability to have this movie stretch for the best part of three hours and not once drift away is a credit to the strong script. The Music really works very well, It was done by Nick Cave and while there are very repetitive themes they work very well and certainly not the usual score you would expect from a Western film. Lastly the acting, A really wonderful cast. Brad Pitt in the lead is probably the best I have ever seen him, he plays the part to perfection and handles the most paranoid moments of Jesse James very well. The supporting cast including Sam Rockwell are brilliant too but the undoubted star of the show is Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. It is a fantastic performance from him and very much deserves the Oscar nomination for supporting actor. He is outstanding and is what really makes this movie shine as much as it does.

Why this movie did not do well at the US box office is a compete mystery to me, some blame the title. I think it may have something to do with it, though reportedly Brad Pitt had a clause in his contract that the name could not be changed, It may well have faired better had it had a more conventional title. I have read that this movie was destined to fail from the beginning, It was filmed in 2005 and the producers were so unhappy with it that it was shelved and re-cut numerous times, each time being shown to in test screenings until they found the cut they wanted. Hence why it was not released until late last year. It certainly does not appear to have been promoted very heavily or given much chance in terms of the amount of screens it played in.

It faired much better in Europe however and one might be tempted to put it down as being a bit too arty for American audiences but that would be stereotypical and not really a stereotype I altogether agree with. It is a long film, very long and that certainly would not have helped. I have read a review that thinks that Dominik could have cut 20 seconds from every scene and not lost anything, I do not disagree with this but personally the length of the film did not bother me at all. It is a shame when such a great film has such a small reaction at the box office but sometimes it just happens that way. Though like Shawshank Redemption before it I think that Jesse James may end up reaching its true potential and find its audience now it is out on DVD.  It certainly is hard to believe that it never even got nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

Anyway a long review I know but It is obvious how much I loved this movie and wanted to do it justice and give it the consideration I believe it richly deserves.