Film:  The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford

Studio:    Warner Bros. Pictures

Director:  Andrew Dominik

Principal Actors:  Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell

Release:  2007; On DVD released February 5, 2008

Film length: 160 minutes

Rating: R for strong violence and brief sexual references

3 ½ Stars

Reviewer:  Deborah Ground Buckner

Cinematographer Roger Deakins deserves first mention in regard to The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford.  This film has some of the most beautiful images I have seen in a long time.  Deakins fully captures the world of Jesse James, from its barren plains, desolate farmsteads and sweeping railroad tracks with desperadoes waiting to ambush. 

But it is a good thing the film is so visually pleasing, because its story tends to become tedious.  At times, the pacing is incredibly slow, and the voice-over narration often serves to stop the story rather than keep it moving along.  There is a feeling that at times director (and screenwriter) Andrew Dominik lost the focus of how he intended to tell the story and became stuck, so quickly faded out, and cued the narrator to enter.

That being said, the story itself is a very interesting one.  Outlaw Jesse James' glory days are behind him.  Even brother Frank (Sam Shephard) has abandoned the gang, appearing only in the beginning of the film.  Jesse (Brad Pitt) holds on to remnants of his old gang and recruits new members, but there is very little activity for them.  At the same time, he is constantly on the move, shuttling his wife, Zee (Mary-Louise Parker) and two children from one home to another, living under the name of Howard.

Enter the Ford brothers, Charley (Sam Rockwell) and Bob (Casey Affleck).  Bob is a kid filled with hero worship.  He has read every dime novel and newspaper clipping ever written about Jesse James and desperately wants to follow his older brother, Charley, into the gang.  Interestingly, in his one encounter with Bob Ford, Frank James found something strange and uncomfortable, saying the kid "creeps me out."  Zee James, too, in her few scenes, displays a dislike for the young man.  Yet, Jesse, who in all other areas seems to have a sixth sense for danger and betrayal, allows Bob to stay, even keeping him alone a few days to help the family move to a new location.  Jesse, too, finds the "hero worship" a bit too much at times, once uttering, "You wanna be like me or you wanna be me?"

In the one robbery we see in this film, the James gang members stand along the railroad tracks wearing ghostly hoods and bandannas covering their faces.  It is an eerie image, stirring anticipation of the shock awaiting the the crew and passengers of the train.  As the train approaches, we miss the daring scenes of mounting so common in westerns.  But once aboard, this Jesse James is brutal and menacing-not at all the stuff that legends are made on. It provides a harsh awakening for the young Bob Ford.

For about the next hour and one-half after the robbery, the film drags on, with in-fighting among the gang, arousing Jesse's paranoia and leading to more scenes of Jesse's violent way of handling people who disturb him.

In his final days, Jesse has only the Ford brothers close to him.  The moment of the title event seems almost surreal.  There is almost a sense that Jesse knew what Bob Ford was waiting to do and deliberately created a moment to make it possible.

In this depiction, Bob Ford, not unlike John Wilkes Booth, expected, like Brutus, to be hailed as a hero.  In the ant-climactic scenes, Ford is shown on stage (with brother Charley playing the role of Jesse), re-enacting his one bold deed for hundreds of audiences.  Yet, he must deal with hecklers who call him "Coward!" and, in saloons, hear the popular ballad of Jesse James with the reference to "the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard."

As Jesse is presented in this film, one wonders why Ford didn't get the applause he anticipated.  There is nothing demonstrated in this telling to show why Jesse James became a figure of both enduring and endearing legend.  It might have been effective to have shared with the audience some of the stories the young Bob Ford had found so enchanting.  When Tyrone Power's Jesse fell to an assassin in the classic film, Jesse James (1939), the audience felt sympathy.  When Brad Pitt's Jesse falls, one can only sigh and think "it's about time."

Pitt's performance of a brutal, paranoid, nearly-has-been outlaw is on the mark.  He bears little resemblance to the real Jesse until after the death.  When the taking of the famous photographs of the dead outlaw is depicted, Pitt's resemblance to the real images is striking. 

The film truly belongs to Casey Affleck who runs the full gamut of emotion as Bob Ford and often displays a sweetness reminiscent of Toby Maguire in the more gentle moments of the Spiderman films. 

Mary-Louise Parker's brief moments as Zee James are well played, but she is kept very much in the background.  One of the real Zee's most famous utterances is the sarcastic statement, "I guess it was an accident," when the Fords quickly tell her Jesse fell by an accidental firing of Bob Ford's gun.  It would have been nice to have had Parker speak that line.

The overall theme seems to be Bob Ford's disappointment and dissatisfaction in the aftermath of his "glorious" deed.  That would have been better presented with an image of Jesse James worthy of legend.