The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Release date: September 21, 2007
Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker

Some books are unfilmable. If this adaptation is any indication, Ron Hansen's novel of the same name is one of those books.

The temptation to try to film the story is understandable. Jesse James is a fascinating figure in U.S. history and Hansen's fictional account of the man's relationship with Robert Ford and the events surrounding James' assassination is an intriguing take on the man and his myth.

Hansen's story also provides an allegory for modern day fame and hero worship. Having grown up on dimestore novels of The James Gang and their exploits, Ford possesses both a fanatic zeal for and a desire to be James that makes him almost a wild west Eve Harrington. The fame and infamy he gains after James' murder seem eerily familiar in today's tabloid culture. The potential behind these ideas is never fully realized in director Andrew Dominik's film, though.
You Look Killer In This Light!

Things start out with the rather ominous appearance of Ford (Affleck) weaseling his way into what's left of The James Gang before their last train heist. James' brother Frank finds the boy unsettling and wants nothing to do with him, but James (Pitt), perhaps flattered by the attention, allows him to stay. These relatively simple scenes are made powerful by their inevitable historical conclusion, and the sense of danger and excitement propels the audience directly into a beautifully shot and thrilling train robbery.

Things fall apart, both for the gang and the viewer, soon after the robbery ends. Frank decides that he's done with the criminal lifestyle, leaving James to plot his own schemes and leaving the gang dispersed and awaiting word from their leader. While the group deteriorates through a series of squabbles, rivalries and schemes, James becomes increasingly mercurial and paranoid. Together, these volatile situations lead to the titular event.

It's hard to say what exactly is wrong with this part of the film. The writing is good and the acting is well done. Brad Pitt is perfectly acceptable as the brooding, troubled James and Casey Affleck does an impressive job as Ford. Both sycophantic and sympathetic, Affleck's portrayal of the assassin is far more than a sniveling villain.

At 160 minutes, the film is clearly too long, but there's nothing extraneous from the plot that could have been cut out without damaging the story. The fault seems to be with Dominik's translation from novel to film. The train and the assassination scenes are exciting and lend themselves well to the screen, but the rest of the story, filled with personal conflict and troubled minds, is not properly expressed. The psychological conflicts that James is facing in this tale, both with himself and with Ford, lend themselves far better to prose than to any other form of artistic expression and much seems to be lost in Dominik's translation. This leaves The Assassination Of Jesse James as a great story stuck in a surprisingly boring film