Die Ermordung des Jesse James durch den Feigling Robert Ford

This is a sprawling and glamorous Western but overlong. Packs colorful scenarios, slow-moving pace and slick edition. Wonderful cinematography by Roger Deakins and atmospheric musical score by Nick Cave. The motion picture is well realized by Andrew Dominik who displays enough off-beat touches to keep things interesting.

Adding more details over the largely described on the movie, deeds happened of the following way : Later events led disaster on 6 September 1876 in which Jesse(Brad Pitt) and Frank James(Sam Shepard) with three younger Younger brothers attempted a bank robbery at Northfield , Minnesota, only Jesse and Frank got clean away to live quietly for several years under assumed names , Jesse as J.D. Howard and Frank as B.J. Woodson. In 1879 they robbed a train and another one in 1881, in the latter crime a conductor and a passenger were killed. Governor of Missouri raised rewards of 10.000 dollars each for the James boys, dead or alive. On 3 April 1882 Bob Ford, a new member , treacherously shot Jessse dead in the back of the head in his home at St Joseph, Missouri where Jesse was living along with his wife(Mary Louise Parker) and sons. Frank surrendered six months later , he stood trial and was acquitted. He gave up his criminal ways and lived a respectable life until he died aged seventy-two in 1915. Robert Ford(1861-92) made his mark on the history as the man who killed Jesse James. It was his claim to fame. Bob(Ben Affleck) and his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell) were new recruits to Jesse's gang in 1881 and when a reward was offered for Jesse and Frank, dead or alive, the brothers Ford made a secret agreement with Governor to assassinate the outlaw. For the rest of his life Ford was reviled for the manner in which he had killed Jesse , whose gravestone bore the words: ¨Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy to appear here¨. Forced by public opinion to leave Missouri , Bob wandered through the old West , taunted by the words of the popular song : ¨The dirty little coward, who was shot Mr Howard, has laid poor Jesse in his grave¨ .

Others films about this legendary outlaw are : The classic version (1939) titled ¨Jesse James(1939)¨ with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda, ¨The return of Frank james(1950) by Fritz Lang with Henry Fonda ; ¨I shot Jesse James¨by Samuel Fuller with John Ireland as Bob Ford ; ¨Jesse James vs the Dalton(1954)¨ by William Castle with John Ireland, ¨The true story of Jesse James¨ by Nicholas Ray with Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter.

Jesse James (Brad Pitt) is a mystery to his own kids living a secret life under a different name in Kansas City. He's 34 and it's 1881. The remaining members of his gang include Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), Frank James (Sam Shepard), Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner), Ed Miller (Garret Dillahunt) and Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider). Frank and Jesse are the last two remaining original members.

Andrew Dominik films a beautiful looking movie but his script runs on and on. Roger Deakins's cinematography is a thing of beauty. The first train robbery at night is haunting. The dialog is a long rambling affair. As always, I don't particularly like narrations. One would expect a Jesse James movie to be exciting and a great thrill ride. In this movie, even the action scenes are moody and stylish. What starts out as a fascinating beautiful hypnotic watch turns into more of an endurance test at over two and a half hour. Brad Pitt plays Jesse James as a mercurial calm commanding presence. Affleck has an unstable edginess. The cast is filled with wonderful actors. Nevertheless, the movie could use a little trimming.

Wow, does this film have style or what? The Assassination of Jesse Jamed by the Coward Robert Ford, is one of the longest titles I've ever seen for a film and the movie's run-time follows the same pattern. I have no problem with this. I would sit through a ten hour "Jesse James" because of the excellent tone given out by director Andrew Dominik. The frozen Missouri/ Kansas landscapes are a treat for the eyes. The musical score does its job: to blend into the film so subtly that I cant imagine the images on the screen without it. The narration neither detracts or adds to the tone, although there is one bit of bad editing that confused my friend as to whether the narrator was speaking or a man's voice had been dubbed poorly.

"Jesse James" delves deep into the inner conflicts and emotions of every character. We live with them, eat with them, and often feel their pain or their confusion. This confusion is often associated with the bi-polar nature of the film's central character, Jesse James, played by none other than Brad Pitt. Casey Affleck delivers a subtle performance here that actually becomes the most effective as the film progresses over its 160 minute running time. I hated Robert Ford for a good portion of the film, thought he was so annoying and clingy that it was a wonder Jesse James didn't kill him within the first day of their complex relationship. But then, as I sat through the so called "gruelling" running time of the film, I learned to feel for him and understand his motives and attraction for Jesse. But ultimately, his childhood, comic book worship of the famous outlaw changes.

The "style" of the film is evident in the first frame of passing clouds. Roger Deacon's cinematography is the best I've seen since Conrad Hall's work in Road to Perdition, perhaps better. He is definitely winning the Oscar this year, between this and No Country For Old Men. There is a scene involving a train robbery where the visuals and utter style blew me away. The lighting and camera direction becomes more subtle and less noticeable after the train scene, but, does not lessen in quality and pure artistry. There is a topic on the IMDb message boards approaching the topic of whether certain films should be labeled "art films." Well all films are works of art, some are horrendous, some are extraordinary. Well, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is an extraordinary work of art.

Though Jesse James through the newspaper accounts of his exploits and through the dime novels of the day was already a legend, his immortality was sealed on April 3, 1882 by the manner of his death. The lengthy title of the film tells all or at least the official version of the story.

But was that accepted version the real story? For the first time the Ford brothers, Robert and Charley, get their due. As played by Casey Affleck, Robert Ford was a most complex character indeed. Ford is shown for what he was, a moonstruck kid who was brought up on those dime novels and idolized the legendary bandit. The fact that Charley was already riding with the James gang got him into the group.

After the last job the James gang pulled and the only Ford was ever in on, the Fords kind of attached themselves to Jesse James. Of course the idol is no hero. Brad Pitt plays a most unheroic Jesse.

Hints of Pitt's interpretation of Jesse's character are found in the classic portrayal of Jesse James by Tyrone Power. Remember when the laconic Henry Fonda as Frank James dresses Jesse down, tells him he's getting mean, meaner every day even with some of his own gang members? Power was showing signs of it, but we see Pitt as Jesse do some really brutal and cruel things. At the same time he's a loving husband to Mary Louise Parker and doting father to his two children.

As good as Pitt is I think the acting honors go to Casey Affleck. His gradual disillusion with his idol is really something to see on the screen. He becomes really scared of Pitt for reasons I won't reveal, but were definitely sufficient to want him to get Pitt.

We also get to see the Fords sorry aftermath. Things did not go so well for them. Bob Ford did not quite get the acclaim he would have liked as Jesse James became bigger after death than in life.

Frank James as played briefly in the beginning is an odd peripheral character in this film. The James brothers did separate some months before Jesse's death. Frank is played by Sam Shepard who has an encounter with young Bob Ford at the beginning of the film and announces to one and all, the kid creeps him out. But Jesse likes having the kid follow him around like a puppy dog to his ultimate regret.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a very good western and we sure don't see too many of them in these times. It's shot in an unusual color, almost like one of those sepia-tone films that were in vogue for a brief spell. The location shooting was done in western Canada and looks a whole lot more like Missouri then than Missouri does now.

Masterful character study and motivationally driven lives which clashed at the wrong time in history. Performances were delivered by first class actors and direction. An underrated tense thriller of one of the most complex people in history versus one of the most average.