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Assassination is no mere killing. It takes such tawdry events and elevates them to something with real significance, be it ideological or political. Andrew Dominik’s melancholic epic takes this a stage further, playing with our understanding of its unwieldy title over some two hours plus of slow-moving, yet transfixing filmmaking.

At the centre of this is the strange relationship between Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and the much younger, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), who has become entranced by the mythology built up around this man by the dimestore novels and newspaper articles of the time. There is an immediate sense of unease as Ford seeks him out, wheedling his way into the celebrated outlaw’s gang, against the wishes of the more perceptive, elder James brother, Frank (Sam Shepard).

And yet Dominik concentrates on this attraction between these two men, sidelining those closest to him. Jesse’s wife Zee (Mary-Louise Parker) is almost invisible while Frank disappears soon after the train robbery, a shared look between the brothers telling all a perceptive audience needs to know. Times have changed for Jesse. The ties are cut with the better days of his past in Frank, and the potential of a better future in Zee. Jesse’s gang, a once proud, and loyal group of ex-guerrilla fighters are gone, replaced by the whoring, the dull-witted and the conspiratorial.

There’s a sense that this is really Ford’s fantasy. The early train robbery, seemingly a construct of a potent imagination, transformed into an encounter between black knight and dragon. Beginning as a slow, low throb, growing into a howling ember-spitting monster that cuts the night in two. It’s a riveting scene, even more so for what follows. For just as we are initially taken by the charisma of Jesse, his foul, unnecessarily violent treatment of the bank guard knocks us back a step. In fact, Jesse seems almost addicted to his felonies, rejuvenated by the excitement and violence, and deathly bored by the periods of fallow.

Instead of this being a simple tale of early media obsession in Western form, the film posits Ford and Jesse as mythologically entwined, almost biblically. Affleck, startling, as this sickly angelic bundle of dichotomies – bold, yet timid, enfeebled yet strong. Pitt’s Jesse is distanced as the figure of worship, shot through antiquated lenses as a foggy figure in history, almost a God, and a primal one at that, draped in furs and prone to explosive anger. It’s a commanding performance, and though charismatic like most leads, he is also able to articulate the mystic in Jesse, seemingly existing outside this reality, playing with the wonderful language of the script, his eyes fixed on the endless stars or the spaces beyond the ice on a frozen lake.

Certainly charges of artistic extravagance could be made against Dominik, with the supreme talents of cinematographer Roger Deakins articulated in the grey and sepia of the landscape and the seemingly countless shots of lonely rocking chairs and whispering corn during the film’s languid second act. But it is the same shorthand used by such luminaries as Malick and it serves to capture the elusiveness of Jesse, as if he were more spirit than substance; flitting from place to place, forever escaping incarceration lest it be one of his own making.

Dominik intoxicates us during this lulling, yet captivating middle section. Switching between the artistic naturalism of Malick and third-person docu-narration that give an authenticity as well as a new strangeness to events. The mood he creates hearkens back to the filmmaking of the Seventies; melancholic, yearning, always distancing us from fascinating characters and yet captivating because of it.

It is testimony to the power of this mood that when it changes, it catches us quite by surprise. Jesse’s paranoia grows at an almost animalistic rate until the Ford Brothers find themselves penned in with this slowly dying, psychotic presence. While Ford changes with him, steeling himself for what has to come, it is in these moments before his death that we see the real reasons for Jesse’s relationship with Ford and the sting in this film’s title.

Rather than fearing his death, he embraces it, playing with the affections of Ford, much like a lover, mocking him, taunting him, but always bringing him closer. In response to envy he placates and gifts him a gun, and thus creates his own killer. In that house, with its whitewashed purity and the sparse piano from Ellis and Cave’s elegiac soundtrack, Ford pulls the trigger on an epochal moment, destroying his own life, and transforming Jesse’s. It’s terrifically resonant, turning the all too short final coda into something of a Greek tragedy, as Ford finds his own infamy too much to bear, his own end coming as a dull, blunt punctuation before darkness.

The year is 1881 and Jesse James (Brad Pitt) is, arguably, the most famous man alive. His exploits of bank and train robberies alongside his brothers are lore for even the most outcast country bumpkins. His biggest fan in Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) and his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell) are given the opportunity to participate in the Glendale Train Robbery. He is initially regarded with skepticism from Jesse’s older brother Frank who tells Bob, “the more you speak the more you give me the willies.” From idolatry to bitter resentment the tale from that point on is almost told in its entirety from Robert Ford’s point of view.

It is not easy for Brad Pitt to disappear into a role, in fact that has probably been his biggest criticism to date. But in The Assassination of Jesse James it happens, where you expect to see Pitt’s baby blues, only the sleep deprived haggard eyes of Jesse James appear. This is Brad’s best portrayal on film and the fact that this film was so completely ignored is a mystery to me.

It certainly couldn’t have been easy for Affleck to have played Ford. The easiest thing would have been to launch him into the type of stale caricature that has been done over and over, but Affleck gives Ford some humanity and really revels in the mistake that he has made in the latter part of the film

The score contributed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis lull you into a false tranquility that Robert and Charlie feel as they are taken in by a man who is becoming and paranoid mess. With each cornfield, falling leaf and snowflake Roger Deakins proves his mastery of cinematography. This may just be the most beautiful film I have ever seen.

James has always been regarded as a sort of Robin Hood, but Andrew Dominik’s feature tears down the myth and reveals something much more worthwhile. What starts out as a sort of second biographical film of Jesse James turns into a meditation on fame and the dehumanizing effects it as on people. James paranoia eats away at his soul and turns him into one of the most terrifyingly charming villains on screen.

Affleck’s interpretation of Ford during the betrayal of James reads much like I would imagine the biography of Mark David Chapman. This film speaks largely to the obsession of fame and what it does to celebrity and fan alike. The death of James in particular was really disgusting in the repeated photo purchases of his body on ice.It’s a circus display that offers a glimpse of what we crave as a society: celebrities that we can all own a piece of, at any cost.

This is a film that has a visual poetry that is emotional and affects you because the scenes even when nothing is happening feels so full with emotion.

The film reminds me of Terrence Malick’s style with the use of voiceover narration in certain scenes, the attention to nature and how it helps tell the story and set the mood. How it relates to the characters. The beautiful attention paid to detail of the time period
This is one of Brad Pitt’s best roles as he is a actor who does best when it comes to conveying emotion physically more then with words. The cast is impeccable each role is suited to the actor playing it perfectly in attitude and look. Casey Afleck seems to be a industry best kept secret as he hasn’t had many lead roles but when he does and you wonder will he be able to handle it he hits it out of the ball park here and in GONE BABY GONE.Which is funny that it was between him and Shia Lebouf for the role but Since he looked too young for the role. Casey Ended up getting the role. The supporting cast of the always welcome Sam Rockwell and Jeremy Renner help the film become co-hesive as the cast plays well off each other with love and hate constantly through-out the film sometimes in the same scenes

The film haunts you with a cloud of doom hanging over it. Now the film isn’t fast it takes it’s time and is a bit long but it is worth it.

I like to see the situation in the film sort of like these Celebrity Stalkers. They idolize the people they read about and then by chance get to work with them or meet them then when they meet them they still worship or try to seem their equal but then the person doesn’t live up to there expectations or in some way insults them. Then soon they soon to harbor a disdain but not complete hate for the person and reason. If they are like this I am better then them so why not become the celebrity they are by killing them. Then I will be celebrated and sometimes it works but it doesn’t work out the way they planned it. Now that the person can see it from the celebrity side they see it’s not all that cracked up to be and now haunted by there acts. At least that partly what I got from it.

Director Andrew Dominik is a director to watch. He has creativity and knows how to tell a story with Technology but without calling attention to itself like some directors. I look forward to future films with him at the helm.

The films first cut was 4 hours long that actually won Brad Pitt a Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival. People who have seen that cut have called it majestic. Which is the same feeling you get watching this 2 hour anf 40 minute long version.

This is a film worth watching and discovering. You won’t be disappointed.
In Fact try it with a double feature of The Proposition

Less the title doesn’t make it clear, the voice over narration explicitly states the direction this movie is turning from frame one, so here is a movie nigh impossible to discuss in terms of spoilers. Nevertheless, the awareness of the direction the movie is going is, sincerely, the movie’s greatest gift. Using Roger Deakon’s amazing cinematography, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ gorgeous music, and the acting talents of Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, director Dominick makes his mark with a singularly meditative film that pulls the audience along like gravity at ground zero—possibly not noticed, maybe even taken for granted, but a sure and constant force.

For me, the thing I liked about it the most was Jesse James’ death AS the process of the whole movie; Brad Pitt blankly, almost fatalistically, gets on the chair like a man at the hanging, and this surreal sense of acknowledgement is foreshadowed in the the structure of the movie as the narrator starts it out with an obituary and Robert Ford blesses Jesse for his birthday: within five minutes the movie itself sets the length of Jesse’s life. He knows when his time is up as assuredly as the audience, and we all participate.

Which is why the idea of Ford as “The Coward Robert Ford” is so interesting. This movie could almost be called “Sympathy for Robert Ford”, except that as Frank James says so early on in the movie, there’s something not quite right about him. Contrasting Jesse James and Robert Ford as described in this movie, both of them are nearly sociopathic—except James because he lacks shame and remorse, and Ford because he suffers from an abundance of it. Whereas the world is populated by so many Western genre types, Robert and Jesse as portrayed by Affleck and Pitt stand out for a singular awareness of what their characters mean—but this is not a bad performance choice, it is an uncanny clairvoyance within the characters that makes this movie tug the suspense along when the ending is already known and the scenes slowly unfold at a contemplative pace.

The only thing I didn’t like about it was it suffered malignantly from Too Many Endings Syndrome, a particular affliction of many a contemporary director. The movie should have faded out on the famous still of James and the rest of the information given in an intertitle, if at all. I do not honestly believe Ford’s confession, two song and dance routines, and another assassination really did anything the movie had not fully explored and expressed by the time the aforementioned still was shown on-screen. I also think that in almost sympathizing with Ford, the ending removes some of the ambiguity that truly makes the character more heroic and interesting, which is what the narrator tries to do.

I did not know about the four hour cut until after I saw the movie, and by all means I would be very interested in seeing it, though I really hope (and am probably not far off) that most of that material is before, not after, the assassination proper.

—PolarisDiB

I feel like this movie is near perfect aside from the terrible and unnecessary narration that makes it feel like a history channel special. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck are perfect together and really give equally perfect performances. The storyline works so well and is surprisingly suspenseful all the way through. The cinematography is completely flawless and brings such a great atmospheric and personality to a character driven story.

The dictionary definition of exquisite tells to be “of special beauty or charm, or rare and appealing excellence.” A further submission imparts the tokens of “intense; acute, or keen, as pleasure or pain.”

Such a film as “Jesse James,” with a narrative enriched by simultaneous reflection and tension, is a rarity, coming as a bolt out of the sky amidst the sorely paced and untextured films which make up so much of modern cinema. What is on prime display here — and what is so often found lacking in many films — is the use of cinematic time. The space and breadth of cinematic dialogue, glances, and actions extended or compressed as suitable to the scene and its inhabitants. Oppose this concept to the mimicry of stark or jovial realism. What this film aspires to is the same element of time as regarded by the likes of Sergio Leone, specifically in his western Once Upon A Time In the West. There is no realism, only mythos imparted to a participating viewer at its own pace on its own terms. An otherworldly West, a concept, a vehicle through which a story of conflicting wills may be told and guilty and guiltless parties alike may receive their fate. What is on display here is the pulse of civilization, and the distinct paleness of being when civilization is removed from the scenario. Leone’s earlier Italian film title translates more literally to “There once was a west,” and “Jesse James” makes its stand along those same dusty crossroads, removing its gun belt at a moment of truth, as it were, and allowing the viewer a substantial amount of … Time to consider just how such an action befits the play unfolding on stage.

In today’s more homogonized visual culture of painless entertainment, a yarn telling of the exploits of Jesse James and his tag-alongs could so easily be reduced to glib chatter and a string of messy gunfights. How mesmerizing it is, then, to find such a tale told via an enduring series of outright motion paintings. And if “painterly” is too strong a word for the occasion, perhaps the cinematographic concept of “everything in its place” will suffice. And if not paintings for an analogy, than certainly cover-ready photographic merit, in a documentarian style as dictated by sublime composition and the borderline ethereal expanse of the American topography — or at least the luminous expression of what that topography used to be. The film’s straight-tongued dialogue interludes mesh with the period’s technology, the lens distortion affecting more than what the eye can see. The narration is of a descriptive nature, reciting for us what we soon see, and has the effect of increasing the importance of what is going on rather than any supposed redundancy. The gray and sepia of the day is consistently punctuated by quieting scenes of midnight, the flicker of fire casting the kind of shadows Plato might write about. The pacing is unabashed. There is no cutting in the interests of time or audience bathroom breaks and the film is a finer creation for it. The music is entrancing, being both restful and restless, providing a humming undercurrent for the visual journey passing before the frame. And finally, the story dares to continue to its ignoble, pitiable end, a “realer than real” quality ironically lacking in more “realistic” films.

How such a film was concocted, created, and eventually released in its current form under our current entertainment system, with bankable star power and a free hand given to the editor, has me baffled. That a film like this can exist inside the realm of Hollywood production circa 2007 is a heartening thought indeed. Warner Bros. stock goes up yet again, as I think just how daring they’ve been in the past and, here and there, continue to do so for the benefit of the bigger American picture — a culture which extends far behind and far forward of the year 2010. It’s a fact this film is mindful of and is something all of us could stand to re-remember from time to time.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford menceritakan mengenai terbunuhnya Jesse James, seorang perampok legendaris yang dianggap sebagai Robin Hood-nya Amerika, oleh Robert Ford, yang sebenarnya adalah anggota tim perampok James. Diadaptasi dari novel Robert Hansen yang terbit tahun 1983 berjudul sama, film ini disutradarai oleh Andrew Dominik.

Film ini sebenarnya mempunyai potensi besar untuk “menidurkan” para penontonnya. Dengan jalan cerita yang lambat dan minim aksi (walau tidak dapat dikatakan tidak ada sama sekali), akan susah bagi penonton awam untuk mencerna dan mengikuti film berdurasi 160 menit ini. Namun untungnya, sutradara Andrew Dominik berhasil menciptakan suatu penggambaran yang mengalir selama menceritakan kisah hidup Jesse James, orang-orang di sekitarnya serta kematiannya, sehingga penonton dapat mengikuti dengan mudah jalan cerita film ini.

Faktor keunggulan lain adalah sinematografi arahan Roger Deakins yang mampu menangkap alam liar Amerika di abad 19 dan iringan score garapan Nick Cave dan Warren Ellis yang menyentuh. Ditambah lagi akting para cast yang sangat menjiwai perannya. Special credit goes to Mr. Baby Affleck aka Casey Affleck untuk penggambarannya yang sangat dramatis atas seorang Robert Ford, seorang yang mempunyai jiwa pengecut namun selalu menunjukkan kepercayaan diri pada orang-orang sekitarnya, sekaligus menaruh dendam karena selalu dianggap remeh. Saksikan di scene menit-menit menjelang terbunuhnya Jesse James, bagaimana Affleck dapat menggambarkan bagaimana ketakutannya Robert Ford ketika James telah mengetahui kalau Dick Liddle sebenarnya telah ditahan tiga minggu sebelumnya. An absolutely terrific scene!

Hal yang mungkin membuat film ini kekurangan peminat adalah scene atau cerita yang menghubungkan antara penonton dan film. Lihat Titanic, film yang sebenarnya berdurasi lebih panjang, namun dicintai semua orang karena faktor rasa kedekatan antara penonton dan sebuah film atau cerita. Tapi bagaimanapun, 160 menit The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford adalah menit-menit dramatis, yang dapat menghapus segala ekspekstasi kalau film ini adalah film yang sangat membosankan. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the Titanic of all modern western movies.

Rate: 4.5 / 5

(Friday / March 6, 2010 / 12:00am)

The harmony that became rivalry in this magnificent story of obsession, lies, and self-importance, as Brad Pitt performed as Jesse James, the nation’s most notorious culprit in the 1880s. Jesse James actions are unlawful, but not in his point of view, some people perceive him as a person with such compassion, tenderness, and kindhearted. This is one of another Roger Deakin’s extraordinarily fine visual presentations in a mildly superb scenes like paintings frame by frame. “The Assassination Of Jesse James” is an important film that presents lack of courage, excessively desirous of life, and truth in reality.

A smoldering, intense and quite sensual meditation on friendship, betrayal and guilt that made my heart skip a beat. It’s not only the most achingly beautiful piece of cinematic Americana since Terence Malick’s Badlands but also the most obviously homoerotic western I think I have ever seen. A tale of one man’s obsession with glory and fame – ultimately at the expense of those who love and trust him, that’s seared with such ardent longing and male-amour, that it’s sexual undertone simmers quite earnestly barely below the surface. Also, the acute recreation of a rugged, earthy and even naive masculinity is rendered with as much love and careful attention to detail as the romantic and elegiac long takes of the vistas and landscapes that, along with a lush and doleful score, help bring to life the world of America’s old west and the outlaws who lived and died in it.

I’m not entirely sure why I missed this at the cinema and feel a little sad that I saw it first on DVD instead of on the big screen. It surely loses a tiny bit of it’s greatness dwarfed onto the small screen. But I’m glad I have seen it anyway because I really love this one. And to all those, with a Play Station-addled sensibility, that think this film is too long: I say IT’S NOT. It’s about an hour too short!

The man, the myth, the legend, and the movie title. In what could be my favorite film name of all-time, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is much more than its superfluous moniker. From its bloated runtime to its slow, methodical pace, Andrew Dominik’s epic tale contains an inner beauty that allows for all the pretensions one seems to associate with it. Dominik is unrelenting on his quest to tell the story the way he wants it told, never compromising by cutting scenes or shortening the name so it will fit on theatre marquees. The film even seems to have been languishing in the doldrums for over a year before finally seeing the light of day. Maybe the time was spent because no one would distribute it without changes, and if that is so, I’m glad to have waited for its introduction. Had anything been compromised, I don’t think I would have enjoyed my time nearly as much. Do not expect the wild west or gun fights at every corner. This is not a tale of excess or young guns, but instead one of paranoia, suspicion, friendship, and betrayal from all sides.

I knew little about who Jesse James was before viewing the film. Coming in, I thought I would be seeing him during his heydays of robbery and murder, eventually meeting his demise at the hands of one of his crew. Instead, we are introduced to the legend just before his final night ride with brother Frank. It is the last train robbery he undertook, before attempting to retire home with his wife and kids, that he meets the Ford brothers and their ragtag degenerate friends. James is no longer as God-like as he might once have been. A shell of his former self, he is constantly uprooting his family, children who don’t even know his real name, in fear of capture by the Pinkertons. Always paranoid and untrusting of those around him, after all his brother has retired and his normal crew all gone, jailed, or dead, James begins to fear for his safety. By riding to cleanse himself of those that may be conspiring against him, he begins a journey that will take him back into the friendship of Robert and Charlie Ford. Whether from depression caused by the memories of all he has done or an escalation of the malice and crazed disposition that allowed him to do it, this reunion for a series of planned bank robberies finally leads to his end.

Dominik’s film is filled to the brim with nuance and subtlety. At every turn we are even quiet moments of the landscape and metered prose of speech, slowly contemplated and released into conversation. Everything is orchestrated with great care and each frame a thing of beauty. The film must have been storyboarded like crazy because the compositions of each scene is balanced and gorgeous to behold. From the extreme close-ups, the smoke-laden atmosphere, and the visions from behind period-aged impure glass, Dominik has taken painstaking care in making sure each second is perfect. Even the narrated moments telling of James’ past are vignetted and blurred to give a sense of age and dream-state. The time on display was one of little technology and a lack of quick paced elements. A gunshot to the head still leaves a man breathing while the bullet lodges itself, a gunfight at close range takes ten shots before a direct hit occurs, and one can see the approach of both friend and foe from a large distance away while they ride up on horseback. Everything is deliberately timed, both enhancing the period being portrayed and adding to the mood and almost nonexistent changes in mental disposition as the wheels turn inside each character’s head.

All the acting onscreen is top-notch. Brad Pitt really shows how good he is as the man behind the stories. This is a time of instability for him as his state of mind causes uncontrollable outbursts of violence followed by fits of laughter at the lapse in control. He realizes that he is not himself anymore and it is this knowledge of his own fallibility that makes him even more cautious of what is happening all around him. Did he deserve the best actor award at Venice this year? I don’t know. He is very good, possibly close to his best, however, he was overshadowed, to me, by costar Casey Affleck’s Robert Ford. Sure the supporting roles were all fantastic, Sam Rockwell was his usual self, although at times very subtle in the machinations going on behind his infectious smile, Garret Dillahunt was great finally getting a role other than a David Milch production, and Jeremy Renner and Paul Schneider both portray members of the dysfunctional group. Affleck, though, truly shines as the young kid able to ride alongside his idol only to be shot down as strange and queer. His joy, expressed very openly to his hero, comes at a very bad time. Just as James starts to look at everyone more carefully, in comes this kid with a dangerous obsession. As Pitt says before sending Ford away, “I can’t tell if you want to be like me, or be me.”

Affleck’s performance is one of the years best. The times when he must try and hide the rage bottled up inside while his dreams of being the James Brother’s sidekick shatter are tough to watch. From this showing, Ford was no coward, but a man tired of being kicked while he was down. Perhaps the act of murder itself was cowardly, but only because of the circumstances surrounding it. Ford was working for the sheriff in order to capture the criminal, but when the opportunity presented itself, when James finally realized what was to happen, you can’t help feel sorry for the 20-year old has he wrestles with what is about to transpire.

I applaud Dominik for having the courage to create something that is by no means a bankable commodity. For every person that goes to see Brad Pitt’s new movie, there will be at least three that scoff at the almost three-hour duration and slow unfolding of plot. Either way, this film is a masterpiece to behold, a work of art encapsulating a moment of history. Even the epilogue, of what happens to Ford after the assassination, helps shape the motivations for all that transpired during the course of the film. It never feels boring and it never shies from the weight it carries on its shoulders. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is simply something that needs to be seen to understand the effect it has, and that experience should be at the theatre so its composition and visual splendor can be viewed in all its glory.

An epic story that explores the assassination of Jesse James. Robert Ford desperately tries to get on James’ good side, but to no prevalence. Only after he kills Jesse’s cousin (Jesse not knowing, of course) does he finally, truly get Jesse’s good blessings. And the he kills him.

There are so many reasons why this movie is amazing. First of, the cinematography by Roger Deakins is absolutely fantastic, and that trick he does where only the center of the screen is in focus while the outsides are blurred gets me every time. Dominik got to edit his own cut of the film, but since he didn’t sign on for final cut it was unfortunately trimmed down to the version we see today. It’s a shame, because I would have loved to have seen the four-hour long edit he had.

The movie also explores the darker side of idolization. Robert Ford looks up to Jesse, to the point where in one scene he walks around his house and even lays in his bed. It’s only when Robert gets to know him that he begins to be disappointed. There is a fine line between history and legend that is crossed by the nickel-books that were being peddled to people in those days.

The ending (SPOILERS!), or rather the actual assassination may have left people wondering why Jesse ditched his guns in the kitchen and decided to fix his picture frame. Some may think that he was thinking of his family, but as my friend pointed out, there are a few instances scattered throughout the film where we can see Jesse as almost suicidal (when he was crouching on the ice and started to fire at it, the conversation about death he has). This adds another dimension to this scene.

And then there’s Robert Ford, the coward (as the title points out). I had mixed feelings about him throughout the film. At first I pitied him, as he was just a young boy of nineteen who just wanted to be like his hero, but soon those feelings turned to distaste. And then surprise (when he shot Jesse’s cousin). And then distaste (when he actually shot Jesse). One can feel this as he tries to capitalize on this success, by going as far as even staging a play. However, at the very end, he himself is assassinated. Sure we saw this coming, but it’s the narration that really gives this scene its power, as we hear him saying things along the lines of, “No one will name their child after him. There will be no eulogy in the paper for him. No one will go to his funeral.” I couldn’t help but feel really sad for the poor kid. To each his own, I guess.

One of the most important films of the decade, beautifully photographed and edited with a great, haunting score. Casey Affleck’s performance was such that even after watching the film many times over it never loses its exceptionally raw power and eclipses the rest of the cast, including Pitt himself, who although maintains his complex idiosyncrasies quite naturally and without any disappointment would have nonetheless meant far less without Affleck. The film is not really a western at all, but a psychological story set in that period. The theme of ‘celebrity’ vs reality is also very interesting and not often explored, (especially in today’s world of celebrity worship and reality tv) and how Ford becomes disillusioned by Jesse only to discover that by killing him he becomes the very thing he despised in Jesse—even more so and without any ‘effort’—ultimately suffering the very same fate ironically. Boy does that sound familiar…an allegory of Gen Y if I ever seen one.

I would have liked to see the full four-hour cut to find more exposition that was missing in some parts, not to mention more brilliant lighting by Roger Deakins but it was lucky, oddly enough, that Pitt starred in it or else the whole thing may have been shelved completely instead of the year or so that it was. I normally hate narration, and this had far too much in many parts to appease the studio but somehow works very well in the scenes following the assassination with Affleck and Rockwell. The attention to detail and realism is what separates the film from westerns—which are usually mythological and conservative—and our naive distortions of fame and bravery are enhanced by this realism. When we grow up and let go of SFX and testosterone, we can start to learn about life and ourselves.

An exercise in excellent filmmaking with exceptional performances (especially the wonderfully nuanced Casey Affleck) and cinematography to die for. A classic reshaping of the Western mythology to portray early American celebrity and hero-worship in the dying days of the Wild West. Old style storytelling with a heartwrenching denouement and an incredibly powerful climax. One of the best American films of the decade, and, from a personal point of view, the greatest Western ever made.