A little dull, but pretty good psychological exploration

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2010)

Don't expect an adventure, thrill ride, get you out of your seat movie when you watch this. This movie is 160 minutes long. It is a bit like watching Jeremiah Johnson. It is set in the backwoods of the plains states (particularly Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado). Nature is very much a part of this film, and much of it is set in dreary winter.
The characterizations are very earthy. None of the characters are particularly likable. Frank James is rather dour. Jesse James is not a nice man, especially when he beats up a boy. He is paranoid, arrogant, and dangerous. The antihero, Bob Ford, is probably the most likable of characters. Even he is not heroic, nor likable.
I suppose that is the point of this movie. They talk about the Bible (both Bob Ford and Jesse James are children of Baptist ministers), but know that they are not worthy of a seat in Heaven. In fact, they kid each other sarcastically throughout the movie about this (Don't play holy with me, etc.).
There is an interesting relationship between the two. They are almost like two sibling rivalry brothers. In fact, I think the Fords and the James were cousins of some sort. The real Jesse James was the son of the wealthiest slave owner in Missouri. The Civil War devastated the James family, and had everything to do with turning them into renegades .
Jesse James is arrogant, moody, deadly, and ever watchful. No one feels safe around him, because they know that at any moment he can unearth some secret betrayal/plot. In fact, a Marshall warns Bob Ford to never turn your back on him.
Bob Ford is the runt of the litter. He wants to prove his worth, but is dismissed as young, immature, and odd. He changes almost imperceptibly from a naive, loudmouth boy to one who is stoic and resentful of James. Jesse James realizes that he messed up when he beat up one of the Ford clans' young boys. It was a cowardly act by James picking on a boy. I think that Bob Ford never forgives him for picking on his younger brother or cousin (I never figure out which).
You feel a little sorry for James, because he is gunned down at the most innocent point in his life (the moment he finally lets down his guard and appears to finally trust the two Ford brothers who are the remnants of his gang. The last twenty minutes of the film are about how Bob Ford profits from his death, and then grows to regret his action.
I suppose a big mystery that movie leaves is how much of it had to do with Bob Ford's jealousy, his cowardice, and his need for self-preservation. When James reads a newspaper that George Liddle, a former member of his gang, has collaborated with the police, it is almost a certainty that James knows that Bob Ford was also secretly collaborating with the authorities. Does Bob Ford shoot him, because he knows that James will get him soon, for fame, because he is angry about how James dealt with members of the Ford clan, because he himself hopes to takeover, or because he wants to play good guy. The movie does a decent job of leaving that up in the air.