I Shot Jesse James

This is Samuel Fuller's first effort;it is a western and it's got something bizarre,something unusual which we find in every work of this director,whatever he films :films noirs ("underworld USA" ),melodramas ("the naked kiss" ) ,thrillers verging on horror ("shock corridor" ) or westerns ("run of the arrow" and "forty guns").

They say that Fuller approved of Robert Ford's attitude.But his movie is not so simple.It seems that Jesse really WANTS to be killed ;we might take the lines "what are you waiting for?here's my back " literally.

Once Robert Ford has taken the plunge ,his fate is sealed;there's no coming back,no hope for the life he dreams of with his gorgeous girl.Anyway,Cynthy's love has turned to despise at worst ,pity at best.

The scene on the stage is some kind of mirror ,where Ford fully realizes what he has done -a scene which contains an unusual inventive use of the flashback-,as is the folk singer who performs his "ballad of Robert Ford": when he sings his last verse ,he may be frightened,but it's Cain's eye all over again.

I do not have to kill you,Jesse's brother says ,you're already dead.