Two biographies for the price of one. Jesse James and Robert Ford. (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (DVD))

Member Name: lm09

Product:	The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (DVD)
Date:	26/01/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really good ending and really interesting to learn about America's Robin Hood

Disadvantages: Does feel like a long watch

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) is a film about the last 11 years of the life of Jesse James. Jesse James, born in 1847, was an outlaw from the state of Missouri. Shot in the chest he is wounded in the American Civil War. Here James met his wife to be Zerelda. It was at this point that James turned to crime as a ways to make ends meet, conducting bank robberies and holding up mail trains across the mid west of America.

Well the above paragraph is not totally accurate. The film is equally about the life of Robert Ford - one of James' trusted friends.

The film starts with the James brothers gang holding up and successfully robbing a mail train killing any resistance that they meet. The gang, led by Jesse James (Brad Pitt) are ruthlessly efficient in their work. Almost in awe of James is Robert "Bob" Ford (Casey Affleck) who begs James to let him join his gang.

Bob an almost timid character next to the presence of the James brothers and he grows closer to and almost obsessive about James. As he gets deeper into the gang he develops an almost love hate relationship for James.

After the train robbery a large price is placed on James's head and soon people start looking for James. One of Jesse's gang (Dick) reveals to Robert that he has plans to hand Jesse over to law man Jim Cummins.

As the film progresses Bob's obsession of James wains and when the penny finally drops for him that James is flesh and blood and not some amazing un-destructable being Bob starts to peel away his repsect for James.

The film reflects history and ends with Bob shooting James in the back as James, in a domestic situation and without his guns, tries to adjust a picture frame. The interesting thing from the movie for me (and I am not up on the real history of the man) is that he seems to know its coming. It is played out almost like a suicide. He carefully takes off his gun belt and lays them on the kitchen table making sure that the Ford brothers see this happen and then almost as if preparing for the hangmans noose turns his back and waits.

After the death of Jesse James, who was basically a murdering thief, Jesse became an American icon, a sort of Robin Hood figure. Bob Ford on the other hand, the man who killed the criminal, was hated and shunned.

Both Pitt and Affleck give really good performances in thier respective roles. Affleck especially playing a character who is meek, humble and almost feeble at the start of the film transforms into someone full of bile and anger and with a high level of cunning by the end.

The film is a good watch but to be honest does drag a bit in the middle section. It does feel like a long watch but is worth in for the ending. A different role again for Pitt - in contrast to say Seven, Snatch and Bur After Reading - goes to show how versatile Pitt is as an actor.

Summary: Another good performance from Brad Pitt in a watchable Western style film