The last seven months in the life of Jesse James

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2016)

Released in 2007 and directed by Andrew Dominik, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" stars Brad Pitt as the famous outlaw in a chronicling of the last seven months of his life. The movie begins with the Blue Cut Train Robbery that took place in Missouri on September 7, 1881. Casey Affleck co-stars as Robert Ford, a 20 year-old member of Jesse's gang, who kills James for the reward, but also (presumeably) because he and his brother, Charles (Sam Rockwell), feared Jesse was going to kill them. The final 25 minutes detail the Ford brothers lives over the course of the next decade after James' execution on April 3, 1882. Paul Schneider,Garret Dillahunt, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker, Kailin See and Zooey Deschanel have notable support roles.
This is a funereal, realistic Western consisting of long dramatic sequences spiced with flashes of violence. Although critically praised, it bombed at the box office and some people scoff at it as a slow bore, but I found it pretty mesmerizing, even haunting. There are numerous highlights during its 2 hour and 40 minutes, like the opening train robbery, the outhouse rendezvous between Schneider and See, the tense gunfight in the upstairs of a frontier house, Jesse's death and the interesting aftermath.
The movie makes a point of depicting Jesse as a paranoid man on his way to an early grave because of his foolish choice to be an unrepentant outlaw. At least Frank James (Shepard) had the scruples to leave outlawry and move east. Jesse is shown lamenting what his life had become and even shooting one of his comrades in the back, like a coward, not to mention abusing an adolescent. Yes, Ford later shoots Jesse in the back, but it had to be done. Jesse's days were numbered due to his own bad choices. Plus Robert and his brother were afraid that Jesse was going to shoot them at any moment. Also keep in mind that Jesse wasn't no frickin' Robin Hood; he stole from the rich and regular folks alike and gave to... well, himself. In light of all this the title of the movie is purely ironic, but when the legend becomes fact, print the legend, as they say.
The Alberta and Manitoba locations are picturesque, but they don't look like Missouri and Kentucky (and surrounding states), where the events took place. These are Eastern states, albeit "midwest." The locations in the movie look like what they are -- the northern prairie. "The Long Riders" (1980) is more accurate on this count.
GRADE: B+