The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Pitt and Affleck step into the shoes of legends of the Old West.
Also In The News
|
Fernando Torres scored twice and Steven Gerrard added a penalty as  |
Thursday, 29, Nov 2007 12:36
Directed by Andrew Dominik, out November 30th, starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, running time 160 minutes.
In a nutshell...
Drawn-out assassination of an icon
What's it all about?
For the uninitiated the title gives a rather hefty clue to the focus of this draining story of an American legend of the notorious gunslinging variety. Jesse James (Pitt), feared and idolised in equal measure in post-Civil War southern America, is coming to the end of his days as the outlaw to end all outlaws. The final nail in the coffin - or bullet in the back of the head as it turns out - comes from the gun of Bob Ford (Affleck), a 19-year-old latter-day member of the James gang with an increasingly unnerving infatuation with his mentor.
But to say Australian director Dominik's film was just about the death of an all-American fugitive would be merely scratching the surface of this multi-layered yet always-bleak picture. The event we all know is coming takes a good two hours to materialise and only happens after we've been put through a tortuous examination of the inner workings of the mind of a paranoid and callous James. With ice-cold conviction he combines the role of churchgoing father and loving husband with that of a revered and reviled killer not averse to brutalising children if they get in his way.
Who's in it?
Ron Hansen, the author of the book on which this film is based, maintains that recruiting Brad Pitt for the lead role was one of the easiest tasks the production staff had. "When I saw him on the set I didn't think 'There's Brad Pitt'; I automatically thought 'There's Jesse James'," the novelist states. And this is certainly a return to form for an actor who clearly put much of himself into the role. James could fill a room just by entering it, it is said, and Pitt brings that sense to the screen to powerful effect. Both bred in Missouri - at the heart of the old union - and both the cover star of the pamphlets of their day, there is much that intertwines actor and character together. Pitt himself alludes to this when he describes relating to James being "unable to deal with his own legend".
Despite the presence of Pitt it is Affleck who plays the key role - that of the coward Bob Ford himself. The progression from teenage idolisation, through awestruck participation in one of his hero's train robberies to potentially homoerotic and ultimately fatal fascination is a beguiling one. Affleck evidently feels his character has been unfairly blotted in the history books - "I don't think he was a coward at all" - and nowhere is the better portrayed than in the closing moments of the film when a jaded Ford, already without his elder brother Charley after he committed suicide, is forced to endure listening to the bar-room song about his cowardice. Performed by Nick Cave and a haunting reminder of the power of hearsay and word-of-mouth, that moment best sums up the depths to which the killer of a renowned anti-hero had sunk.
The elder brothers of both men - Frank James (Sam Shepard) and Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell) - in many ways represent the antithesis of their respective siblings, while James Carville's governor of Missouri shatters any illusions of the authorities being the good to the James' evil.
As an example...
Jesse to Bob after catching him gazing upon him while in the bathtub: "I can't work out whether you want to be like me, or be me".
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Pitt won the best actor prize when this was featured at the Venice Film Festival and on past experience long-winded, slow moving American westerns with meaning fare well with the Academy.
What the others say
"The film, though, takes an age to fetch a conclusion. A little judicious cutting would not go amiss. Even so, this is a beautiful parable about fame and murder." James Christopher, The Times
"As pretentious and lengthy as its title, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a gorgeous snooze, somewhere between imitation Terrence Malick and a feature version of star Brad Pitt's notorious Vanity Fair layout with Angelina Jolie and their faux kids." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post.
So is it any good?
The problem with this film is that it takes itself far too seriously. Too long to get to the point and too artsy by half, this is another example of a director seeking to fill more time than is necessary. When a film's title refers to an event which does not take place until after the credits of an average-length picture would have rolled long ago, you know you are asking for trouble. There is precious little in the way of action - no great gun battles, nor simmering love scenes - and the film plods along at the speed of one of Jesse's weather-beaten horses through the freezing plains of Kentucky.
Pitt's portrayal is convincing but too one-dimensional to detract from the meandering pace of the piece and we are left with too many unanswered questions about the motives behind Ford's final betrayal.
Author Hansen says that in researching his novel he realised that "no-one had ever told the story of how Ford killed Jesse James in all its authentic detail" and perhaps therein lies the problem. By the end of the film we have become so bogged down by the detail that the bullet which puts Bob Ford in the same place as his former mentor comes as nothing less than a blessed relief.
6/10
Martin Ashplant
"The family of Jesse James have posted their own 5 pages review of this film on their family web site (http://www.ericjames.org/Reviews/AssassinationofJesseJames/index.html.). They offer insight into why some, like reviewer Martin Ashplant, might not grasp the significant importance of this film." - Eric James