2007 Directed by Andrew Dominik
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.
Brad Pitt Casey Affleck Sam Rockwell Sam Shepard Mary-Louise Parker Paul Schneider Jeremy Renner Garret Dillahunt Zooey Deschanel Ted Levine Michael Parks Alison Elliott James Carville Tom Aldredge Hugh Ross Brooklynn Proulx Dustin Bollinger Joel McNichol James Defelice J.C. Roberts Darrell Orydzuk Jonathan Erich Drachenberg Torben S. Hansen Lauren Calvert Kailin See Jesse Frechette Pat Healy Joel Duncan Stephanie Wahlstrom Show All…
David Valdes Brad Pitt Ridley Scott Tony Scott Brad Grey Ben Waisbren Lisa Ellzey Dede Gardner Jules Daly
Janice Blackie-Goodine Patricia Norris Grant Van Der Slagt Terry Gunvordahl Laura Cuthill Michael Madden Gordon White Brad Milburn Jack Lowen Amber Humphries Marlis Wilson Stacey Gooch Marilyn Humphries Jay Benoliel
Ron Bartlett Leslie Shatz Richard King Hamilton Sterling Doug Hemphill Michael W. Mitchell Christopher S. Aud Michael Babcock
Plan B Entertainment Virtual Studios Scott Free Productions Alberta Film Entertainment Jesse Films Inc. Warner Bros. Pictures
The Assassination of Jesse James, El asesinato de Jesse James por el cobarde Robert Ford, El asesinato de Jesse James, L'assassinio di Jesse James per mano del codardo Robert Ford, Убийство Джесси Джеймса, قتل جسی جیمز توسط رابرت فورد بزدل, Як боязкий Роберт Форд убив Джесі Джеймса, Вбивство Джессі Джеймса, 비겁한 로버트 포드의 제시 제임스 암살, Zabitie Jesseho Jamesa zbabelcom Robertom Fordom
Dominik's best film.
Pitt's best performance.
Deakins' best work.
Affleck's perfect performance. That is not an exaggeration. Perfection is the only word for what he achieves here.
Made me forget, again, that I really don't like the western genre.
Legend was he could stop a train by staring it down.
The villain dies a villain's death, the coward, however, goes out alone. These golden wheat fields that never fail to make me somewhat religious reminds me of Malick's Days of Heaven, upped to a whole new level with the addition of Roger Deakins, being a ~ godsend ~ as always, stops at nothing to craft heart-stopping sequences like the opening train robbery. (Train emerging from darkness, light illuminating masked figures in the woods, Deakin's spell casted on every frame.) Brad Pitt is as menacing as Daniel Plainview, his presence is a continuous jump scare, adjusts his mask like a true fashion model, every close up of him is an ad for Prada or some other capitalist bullshit, I swear, even the wind dares not blow his direction. Just brilliant filmmaking, acting, storytelling.
Kill your heroes. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a film of legacy and history. It is about a man who made history and died as a nobody. Legacy isn't earned, it is forced upon you by myth-makers and charlatans. What makes The Assassination of Jesse James exceptional is that it barely relies on fantasy, stereotypes, or mythmaking. It is about a real man, who just so happened to be a legend. This is a thoughtful movie, made without excitement, and instead built upon the heaviness of the human heart. It is the ultimate revisionist western, one which strips back myth to focus on the pain of those fragile masculine egos that got caught up…
2nd best film of the 21st century.
++
Paranoia on a cosmic scale. A myth destabilized. Dominik gives us a Jesse James who is both just a guy and also a god. Not a Christian God, but one of the unpredictable, selfish, ornery, small "g" gods. One with an uncanny way of interpreting signs, of interpreting nature. All those shots of clouds and trees are no Malick-style posturing. We're seeing the world how James sees it. How he reads it. And when we meet him in the movie it's at the very point when he stops being able to reliably read those signs. It unnerves him. The movie is exceptional because it allows you to hold these two ideas of…
Red Dead 2 stole this movies entire aesthetic.
Centering around the relations between a man and his assassin, it’s got the same driving tension as Hamilton. In both works, you know what’s coming from the beginning, and it adds a new layer to every scene in which the characters interact. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
What masterful work by Roger Deakins! I see why this is often lauded as his best work. The world breathes unlike any Western I’ve seen other than McCabe and Mrs Miller.
Bullets feel like they land for real too. It doesn’t feel like one shot one kill, or like a bloody Tarantino movie. Some shots land, and some don’t. I really liked this…
first distinguished hollywood cinema in vibrant images, classy score, skillful acting. a well-mastered biopic-western, expert psychogram, epic history drama in elegiacal and plaintive tableaus.
on a second look this is a study of broken images, brittleness and fragility, fragmentariness and incomplete non-perfection, the underbelly of the Übermensch. thus: about the defectiveness of the human being, about creation and destruction of myths.
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD is wonderful. Beautifully shot, terrific acting all around, great tale. That said, it is far too long.
