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The Assassination of
Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Casey Affleck
Genre:
Western
Run Time: 160
min.
Release Date:
September 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
THE ASSASSINATION OF
JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD is a perplexing film in scope,
subject, and style.
The first thing that hits most people is the title. I mean, how long
does a film’s title have to be? Although I understand why
they settled on it, I still feel that alternatives must’ve been out
there.
The next is the length of the movie itself. At over 2 hours and 40
minutes, it’s a behemoth in terms of size. I understand, too, that the
original uncut version was a bit over 4 hours. Four hours! Thank
goodness they cut it down. But I feel more cuts were needed and a better
direction taken with the movie as a whole.
The biggest issue I have is that the entire production seemed to have
difficulties deciding on who the main character was. Was it Robert Ford
(Casey Affleck,
GONE BABY GONE)? Or was it Jesse James (Brad Pitt,
BABEL)? You can, on occasion, have multiple main characters, but with
this film the muddling of who was doing what to who and why got
seriously confusing. I attributed this to the fact that half the time we
were focused on Jesse and the other half on Robert. The problems this
caused was a lack of consistent story flow and a lengthy film that
could’ve easily held more interest if it would’ve focused on either one
character or the other. Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen the
film start near Jesse James’ assassination and then lead us off on the
life of Robert Ford afterward. But that portion of Ford’s life is
quickly skimmed over and we never get the true feeling for what he went
through after being labeled “the coward who shot Jesse James in the
back.”
I also have to comment on the repetitive use of time-lapse photography
during scenes meant to show the passage of time. The constant showing of
clouds skidding rapidly across the sky got a bit tiring; time after time
after time after time.
Regardless of title and movie length, and the lack of a consistent
character, the acting was pretty much perfect. Brad Pitt played the
confused, dangerous, paranoid, and nearly psychotic Jesse James
exceptionally well. And Casey Affleck as the disenchanted Jesse James
fan-boy came across as creepy and not-just-a-bit pathetic.
Although this film received plenty of praise (including two Oscar
nominations), I found it to be slow and the first hour confusing with
regards to understanding which character was doing what and why.
But the acting saved it for me. Although I wouldn’t necessarily
recommend this flick for those who are ready to head off to bed (as this
might put them to sleep before bedtime), I would suggest it as a good
character study of the times surrounding the life of Jesse James and the
poor sap who shot him.
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Image from The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
DVD cost: $16.76
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
When Jesse goes looking
for Jim Cummings he introduces himself as "Dick Turpin". Dick Turpin was
a legendary English rogue and famous historical highwayman romanticized
in English ballads and popular theatre of the 18th and 19th century.
Movie Quote: "Do
you wanna be like me? Or do you wanna be me?"
Other Actors/Actresses
from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
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