The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Movie Watch)

The film is an adaptation of Ron Hansen’s BOOK under the same lengthy title. Thanks to his painstaking research, the author is able to bring vivid detail into a true tale that has now taken on mythic and frequently unreliable proportions. The book is not the standard romanticized view of the events, but rather a fully realized exploration of the personalities involved. It helps paint a complete picture of the characters and their motives and separates the truths from the myths. Some have argued that it is perhaps too detailed and does not feature enough plot development as indeed the author purposefully avoided focusing excessively on James’ adventures and exploits. Hansen instead wanted to get into the head of Robert Ford to understand his reasoning and see the story from his point of view. The simplistic notion of James as hero and Ford as coward is explored and proven fairly naïve by the end. In its realistic depiction of violence, greed, ego, fame, and human psychology the book has been touted as Shakespearian in nature.

Grade: A +
Trailer HERE
Teaser HERE