DVD Review: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 6, 2008, 12:21 GMT

The re-telling of the end of the famous outlaw Jesse James doesn’t “folk hero” it up as Henry King did in his version with Tyrone Power.

This film is slowly paced but features some great acting and has more of a realistic feel than previous versions.

Jesse (Brad Pitt) and Frank (Sam Shepherd) James are winding down their robbery career by robbing the train at Blue Cut, Missouri in 1881. The gang only really consists of Frank and Jesse anymore and this is to be their last robbery together before Frank gives up the life of crime. They’ve formed a makeshift gang with some of the locals and two of the new additions are Bob (Casey Affleck) and Charlie (Sam Rockwell) Ford. Bob has been feeding himself a steady diet of dime novels about the famous outlaw and dreams of riding with the gang. Bob tells Frank that he wants to be a permanent member of the gang and prove his worth as a “sidekick,” but Frank is just annoyed with this awkward youth. Jesse eventually goes on without Frank, but he keeps crossing paths with both of the Fords. It would be an association that both Jesse and Bob would come to regret. The tale of Bob Ford is really one of regret. He gets to meet his childhood hero, an outlaw, and it turns out be a souring experience. He hoped to gain some sort of fame for being the man to bring James to justice, but in the end it only brought him misery and a sticky end. Casey Affleck plays him as a bit of a slow youth who imagines himself more than he really is and has high hopes in ganging up with the romanticized figure that he reads about in the dime novels. However, he finds a man whose sanity is definitely in question. Brad Pitt plays James as a psychotic who is prone to violent mood swings and paranoia. This is not the Jesse James that Tyrone Powers played in the 1939 version who was more of a folk hero and was seemingly beatified by the film. This James is more one that is worthy of killing than Powers. I can remember being distressed when Tyrone was shot, but not Pitt’s James.

This newest version gets Bob Ford a bit more right in age as he was played by a middle aged John Carradine in the ’39 version. This Ford seems to be stalking James and even James’ wife Zee (Mary-Louise Parker) looks at Ford like he’s competition. The film is leisurely paced and this will cause some folks to hate it. The movie clocks in at nearly three hours long (as long as its title). However, this really isn’t a shoot-‘em-up type western (such as the recent 3:10 to Yuma). Audiences shouldn’t go into the film expecting the typical western, but a story that is more of a psychological look at the outlaw. I thought the performances were excellent and might’ve felt more like a film closer to reality than the Hollywood-ized tale that has come before. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Now here’s where it does get cowardly. Sadly, there are no special features just some previews of other Warner Brothers titles that play before the features. The High-Def versions get a making of documentary, but the standard disc has been left out in the cold. I don’t know if a more elaborate version is planned down the line or if this is a signal of things to come in the way that DVDs are released (cutting costs by only putting SE stuff on the high-def releases). The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is an interesting and new look at the famous outlaw and his assassin. It may run a little long, but I thought the journey was worth it and featured some great performances. The lack of special features is the only downer in that either a historical look at James or a “making of” feature (like what is on the high-def versions) would’ve been most welcome.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a March 31st release. Visit the DVD database for more information.

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DVD Review: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

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