The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2011)

I had heard about this film because of the genre and two of the leading actors starring, and obviously it is mostly based on fact from the 19th Century, from director Andrew Dominik (Chopper). Basically this sees the last months in the life of Jesse James (Brad Pitt), the wanted man carrying out train robberies under a fake name with his small gang of criminals. One man who idolises James and all his crimes, collecting newspaper clippings, wanted posters, toys and much more memorabilia, is nineteen year old Robert Ford (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Casey Affleck). With Jesse constantly under tension, murdering, depressed and cautious, Robert does get to meet him in the flesh, and what starts out rather well slowly becomes sour as the criminal dismisses his existence almost entirely. Ford and his brother join the gang in Kentucky, and help a little with a planned bank robbery, but while he and Jesse get away the rest of the gang are arrested, fleeing to Missouri or dead. Robert obviously wants to be somebody some day soon, and with James becoming increasingly hard to be around, he decides to claim the reward money for his capture or death, shooting Jesse in the back of the head, but his fame as the man who killed him doesn't last long enough for anyone to take notice. Also starring Sam Shepard as Frank James, Mary-Louise Parker as Zee James, Paul Schneider as Dick Liddil, Jeremy Renner as Wood Hite, Zooey Deschanel as Dorothy Evans, Sam Rockwell as Charley Ford, Garret Dillahunt as Ed Miller, Dustin Bollinger as Tim James, Lauren Calvert as Ida and Ted Levine as Sheriff Timberlake. Pitt is pretty good as the infamous train and bank robber, and I can see why Affleck was nominated his awards for an equally good supporting performance, I did drift off a little in parts, especially with it being twenty minutes short of three hours long, but there are some moments that were good watching, and I guess it is a should see western drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Good!