Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4663 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

A gorgeous hypnotic odyssey
I felt in two minds about watching this film , half expecting it to be dolorous ,sombre, dull art-house exercise requiring resolute cinematic stamina . Not for the first time I was completely wrong .The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford is as gorgeous and hypnotic a film as I have ever seen .
The title does of course give way what is going to happen in this film but the real drama comes from the way the narrative explores the relationship between the two men and how circumstances dictate what fates befall both of them.
When we meet them both its September 1881 and they are both preparing to rob a train as part of the infamous James gang . Most of the gang we are informed by the films lyrical voice over ( Hugh Ross)are either dead or in prison but the two remaining James brothers Frank (Sam Shepard) and Jesse(Brad Pitt) are leading the heist. Also part of the gang are the Ford brothers Charley (Sam Rockwell) and Robert (Casey Affleck) Robert has a fan worship thing going on with Jesse and this marks the start of their bond , though not before the more worldly wise Frank says of Bob Ford "I don't know what it is about you, but the more you talk, the more you give me the willies."
It's a perspicacious comment as Bob is a bit creepy and is brilliantly portrayed by Affleck as such - ostensibly a sort of cowboy stalker. Jesse finds him amusing at first then comes to trust him before an all round paranoia and brooding malevolence takes over his character . These two borderline psycho's are well matched in many respects but the film adapted by director Andrew Dominick from the book by Robert Hansen takes its time in getting under the skin of these two characters so we understand implicitly how Ford comes to shooting Jesse James .This is complex and fully requires the lengthy running time in order to do it full justice.
Interestingly the film also explores Fords life post the shooting where he becomes a media celebrity in his own right yet is wracked by guilt and is thoroughly miserable.
The acting is top-notch throughout. Affleck as I alluded earlier is spookily good while Pitt is someone I often find irritating because he mumbles, but in this he's terrific- veering convincingly from wide eyed boyish enthusiasm to menacing glowers or explosive rage. Paul Schneider as gang member Dick Liddil a laconic poetry spouting lothario is especially good, though Mary Louise Parker as James wife Zee is given an underwritten role.
The real star of the film though is the cinematography of Roger Deakins, whose work with the Coen brothers has garnered plaudit's .He gives the film a sepia nostalgic glow but captures the landscape , vast fields of swaying corn or barren snow covered homesteads , magically. The landscapes become more frigid echoing the increasingly frosty relationship between the characters. The scene of a train robbery at night is one of transcendental and startling beauty. The soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is eerily spot on too.
Yes this film is slow but it's also thoroughly engrossing . It is truly insidiously compelling and though many will feel it's padded out , which is often my opinion of many films,I feel that not a frame is wasted in this movie. It truly is a masterpiece of the cinematic art -an all too rare commodity nowadays. Hugely commendable .

As Sparse and Cold As The Missouri Winter
"For a movie that has sat on a shelf for two years gathering bad buzz, this quiet wow of a Western sneaks up as one hell of a satisfying surprise. Artfully exciting and compulsively watchable even at a butt-numbing 152 minutes, the film makes good on the promise." Peter Travers

After viewing this film, I sat for minutes, mind numb, recalling what I had just seen. A remarkable film, too remarkable to call a western, its genre is one I can't quite find a name for. From the title of the film we understand the story and the score. But halfway in we are so admiring of Brad Pitt as Jesse James, aka Tom Howard, that we want to believe that the title is a misnomer. Brad Pitt plays this role as it was meant to be focused, ruthless, intelligent, psycopathic and brilliant. Casey Affleck as Robert Ford has won my admiration. He is a true thespian. No acting was evident here, it was the real man. Sam Shepard plays Jesse's brother, Frank as imaginatively as possible. Mary Louise Parker as Jesse's wife leaves us with a haunting feel for her man. And James Carville, in his 1800's white tie and tuxedo, as the Governor is quite remarkable. Each and every role should be praised.

In 1881, Jesse and Frank James career of crime comes to a parting of the ways. As the film progresses the entire gang falls apart one way or another. As the filmn unfolds we know what the ending will be, but I was not prepared at all for the scene as it came to be. The scenes following were so profound and deadly that as I said I sat stunned for a few minutes recalling what I had just seen. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful. The stark, white cold winter of Missouri blends in with the stark and sparseness of the film and the characters. I could not find one item that I disagreed with in this film- remarkable, just remarkable.

"Jesse James wasn't just a good shot -- he was a skilled strategist who merged greed and talent to become one of the most notorious gunmen in history. People looking for a traditional Western and exciting gunplay will be sorely disappointed, but those with patience and an eye for character study will be enthralled by the results. 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' is a remarkable film, one that I'll revisit again and again." Kenneth Brown

With the addition of Nick Cave's melancholy music that is at once profound and moving this is a film for everyone. Nick Cave shows up in the film singing 'The Ballad of Jesse James' and it is the right touch at the right time. Brilliant film, brilliant acting-

Highly Recommended. prisrob 03-02-08

Gone Baby Gone

A remarkable reworking of the myth.
I can assure JI Robertson that I really do think this is a superb film: because 40 people walked out of the cinema he was in is as irrelevant to proving its weakness as the number of bums on seats at, say the Phantom Menace 'proving' that that was a good film.
It is not an action film; it is slow; it is primarily a character piece and therefore works against expectations of Westerns, but that doesn't mean it's not a great one. It actually addresses a central theme of the genre, one that has been explored in various ways for years, that of the clash between celebrity reputation and reality. Pitt's Jesse is capricious, brutal, unstable, murderous, disturbed. Ford's disappointed idolatry and a desire for some celebrity status of his own through killing him after his 'hero' rebuffs and insults him, is doomed. Ford is vilified by those who prefer the mythology about the outlaw. And there is certainly no pretence that Ford kills James as an expression of justice.
The performances of Pitt and Affleck are superb, particularly the latter's depiction of craven idolisation curdling into resentment, envy and desire for esteem, if not his hero's, then the public's, which, they determinedly refuse to give. The soundtrack is wonderful and the cinematography, by Roger Deakins who also DP'd No Country For Old Men, is broodingly beautiful. This really lingers in the memory. It amazes me that we can see all sorts of mediocrity replicated in hundreds of cinemas, but it's so hard to find this gem. Saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and desperate to see it again, but where?