Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #275 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-31
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 155 minutes

Amazon.co.uk
Of all the movies made about or glancingly involving the 19th-century outlaw Jesse Woodson James, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the most reflective, most ambitious, most intricately fascinating, and indisputably most beautiful. Based on the novel of the same name by Ron Hansen, it picks up James late in his career, a few hours before his final train robbery, then covers the slow catastrophe of the gang's breakup over the next seven months even as the boss himself settles into an approximation of genteel retirement. But in another sense all of the movie is later than that. The very title assumes the audience's familiarity with James as a figure out of history and legend, and our awareness that he was--will be--murdered in his parlor one quiet afternoon by a back-shooting crony.
The film--only the second to be made by New Zealand–born writer-director Andrew Dominik--reminds us that Dominik's debut film, Chopper, was the cunningly off-kilter portrait of another real-life criminal psychopath who became a kind of rock star to his society. The Jesse James of this telling is no Robin Hood robbing the rich to give to the poor, and that train robbery we witness is punctuated by acts of gratuitous brutality, not gallantry. Nineteen-year-old Bob Ford (Casey Affleck) seeks to join the James gang out of hero worship stoked by the dime novels he secretes under his bed, but his glam hero (Brad Pitt) is a monster who takes private glee in infecting his accomplices with his own paranoia, then murdering them for it. In the careful orchestration of James's final moments, there's even a hint that he takes satisfaction in his own demise. Affleck and Pitt (who co-produced with Ridley Scott, among others) are mesmerising in the title roles, but the movie is enriched by an exceptional supporting cast: Sam Shepard as Jesse's older, more stable brother Frank; Sam Rockwell as Bob Ford's own brother Charlie, whose post-assassination descent into madness is astonishing to behold; Paul Schneider, Garret Dillahunt, and Jeremy Renner as three variously doomed gang members; and Mary-Louise Parker, who as Jesse's wife Zee has few lines yet manages with looks and body language to invoke a well nigh-novelistic back-story for herself. There are also electrifying cameos by James Carville, doing solid actorly work as the governor of Missouri; Ted Levine, as a lawman of antic spirit; and Nick Cave, composer of the film's score (with Warren Ellis) and screenwriter of the Aussie western The Proposition, suddenly towering over a late scene to perform the folk song that set the terms for the book and movie's title.
Still, the real co-star is Roger Deakins, probably the finest cinematographer at work today. The landscapes of the movie (mostly in Alberta and Manitoba) will linger in the memory as long as the distinctive faces, and we seem to feel the sting of its snows on our cheeks. Interior scenes are equally persuasive. Few westerns have conveyed so tangibly the bleakness and austerity of the spaces people of the frontier called home, and sought in vain to warm with human spirit. --Richard T. Jameson

DVD Description
Having idolised Jesse James all through his young life, Robert Ford desperately tries to join the outlaw's gang, only to soon find himself getting resentful towards his hero...

Synopsis
Based on the 1983 novel by Ron Hansen, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford depicts the final few months of the legendary Jesse James's life. He was 34, and his days of ruthless robbing had dwindled, yet his fearsome reputation continued to swell. With an abundance of nickel-books retelling his brutal gun-slinging adventures, James (portrayed by Brad Pitt) had become a symbolic hero for many Americans, and a dazzling tabloid icon for the 19th-century media. A particular young man seduced by the wonderment of James, the shifty Robert Ford (a breakthrough performance by Casey Affleck), wormed his way in as a James groupie, in the hopes of snagging a coveted spot alongside his brother Charley (played by Sam Rockwell) as one of the bandit's cronies. Ford, fiercely insecure and painfully aware that he would never be taken seriously by James (who, ever-plagued by paranoia and scepticism, found Ford's earnest obsession a bit unsettling), grew increasingly angry with his idol, leading to a destructive path that ultimately ended in the anticlimactic death of Jesse James--and brought the treacherous Robert Ford the notoriety he had always wanted.

Customer Reviews

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
I guess looking at other reviews of this film this is one you either love or hate. Personally, despite the drawn our story and lack of action, I found it to be quite enjoyable. Pitt was on fine form and Casey Afflek played his part superbly (slightly nervous and edgy). The reflective direction, with inter-cut slow motion vistas, was especially good and the flat light used added to the feel of time and period this was set in. Knowing very little about the story I'm unable to say how close this kept to a) the book or b)reality, but it made for an interesting story in its own right and one that kept me watching most of the way through. Don't come to this film expecting a full on western, it focuses more on the relationships in the James brothers gang and how they broke up over time. A good film that is worth checking out and although it's not all thrills and spills, it's plot is good enough to keep you intrigued and interested for the duration. A strong 3 star film.

amazingly dull
Hey look at me. I'm Brad Pitt and I'm acting. Watch me act. I'm acting really hard. I'm acting so hard it hurts. It hurts me to do this and boy does it hurt you to watch it. Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.

A video of someone sititng in total silence and reading through the documentation on the RS-232 RTS/CTS handshaking protocol would be 37.5% more interesting than watching this film.

Brilliant
What a fantastic film. The plot's brilliance is matched by superb performances and a great score by Cave and Ellis. There is tension in most scenes in which Jesse James appears. The edgy portrayal of the outlaw shows scenes where he descends into madness; this aspect of Pitt's performance was inspired. I am shocked to find people on Amazon have given this film 1 star claiming it to be boring. They apparently wanted more action. I think the beauty of the film is that tension is built without a constant blitz of action. This truly is a fantastic character driven film. A must watch.