Fine Western Revisionism

Rating: 8/10 (2 June 2009)

Since the release of Clint Eastwood's excellent Unforgiven back in 1990, the Western has slowly been making a comeback, especially in the 2000s, with films like the 3:10 to Yuma, the brilliant TV Series Deadwood to even foreign entries like Australia's the Proposition and South Korea's The Good, the Bad and the Weird. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the closest out of the modern Western to come need Eastwood's masterpiece.
As the title of the film suggests, this film is about Jesse James' assassination. It focuses on the end of Jesse James' (Brad Pitt) career and life and his relationship with Robert 'Bob' Ford (Casey Affleck). Jesse James was an outlaw in Missouri, with a reputation as a Robin Hood like figure. It starts out in a forest where Jesse James was with his gang. This is 19-year-old Bob Ford's first encounter with the man. He gets involved with a train robbery with the gang. Jesse James takes a liking to Ford, but Frank James (Sam Shepard) doesn't trust the kid. Bob Ford quickly becomes a member of Jesse James' gang, rising up the ranks and just happy to be with his idol. The gang act like as an extended family to James, even living with his wife and family. Sometimes Jesse James goes off on his own, and leave the gang with his family. But within the gang there are problems, Bob Ford doesn't get on with other members and some of the member even planned to capture James and give him over to the authorities for money. The gang take the mick out of Bob for his hero worship and this leads to him threaten them. The gang splits up and James derides Bob, forcing him to leave. Bob leaves the gang and plans his revenge. He sees that James wasn't a hero and ends up going to the authorities and works with them. With his brother Charley (Sam Rockwell), plan to kill Jesse James.
This is a wonderfully acted, beautifully shot film. Brad Pitt is a great actor most of the time and this film offers one of his strongest performances. This is a rare performance as a villain and shows Jesse James as a psychotic thug. Casey Affleck is also excellent as the creepy Bob Ford. The film also has excellent performances from by Rockwell, Paul Schneider, Jeremy Renner and Mary-Louise Parker (an actress I really like). It also has a surprising performance by the Raging Cagan James Carville who is famous for being Bill Clinton's election adviser.
The director of the film was Andrew Dominik, an New Zealand born Australian. This is his first film since the excellent Chopper. With his cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the film with a slightly wash-out look that gives the film a beautiful, but bleak view of the Old-West. A scene which shots Jesse James hand going along with grain blowing in the wind reminded me a little of Gladiator, which isn't surprising seeing Ridley Scott was a producer.
The Assassination of Jesse James takes a psychological approach, and looks at the relationship within the group and between the character. It was an extended family. There is no glamour in their criminal lives and Jesse James slowly melt's down as a character. It also looks at the theme of hero worship and how meeting your heroes may not be that rewarding. It takes to take a realistic approach to the Old West. If you want an action-packed film then you are going to be disappointed.
Unforuanately the film does have some problems. It is slow at times which makes the film drag. It also reminded me too much of Unforgiven, which was a classic. It was also easy to get lost with the amount of characters and the deals that were made.
It's a fine 4 out of 5.