Jesse James is one of the most famous Western outlaws in American history. Starting off with his brother Frank, Jesse made a name for himself before eventually dying, shot in the back by a former member of his gang while in his own home. Mythologized quite a bit, the real Jesse James is perhaps not such a well-known figure, but that doesn’t mean various books and films haven’t attempted to create a distinctive fictional version of the Old West killer.
The film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford takes a look at James’s life and death and how it tied into that of his eventual killer. It also has a really long title that I will not be retyping in its entirety.
Casey Affleck stars as Bob Ford, the younger and ambitious brother to criminal type Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell). Both brothers are among a group brought in for Frank (Sam Shepherd) and Jesse James’s (Brad Pitt) last train robbery. Bob, and to a lesser extent Charley, is already enamored by the already fictionalized accounts of Jesse’s exploits. Jesse, for his part, is something of a charming rogue on the surface. When Jesse sends most of the gang away, Bob gets to stay with his hero mostly to help Jesse move his family to another house. Eventually, Jesse sends the hero-worshipping Bob away, forever changing Bob’s view of the man he admired most.
Much of what follows deals with how Jesse gets increasingly paranoid and scary to former members of his gang while Bob grows more disillusioned. Bob had this idea that he could be a great Western outlaw himself, and he made a habit of reading pulp novels and stories about Jesse that Jesse says are all made up. The real Jesse can be charming and friendly, but there’s always an undercurrent of violence there. Part of that is due to Jesse’s life mythologizing even while he was still breathing. Part of it is that he can be very violent.
That said, the title goes the way it does when Bob (and Charley) do eventually kill Jesse as he is straightening a picture in his house, not long after taking off the gun belt he made a point of always wearing. That may sound cowardly, but the thing is, everyone who dies of a gunshot in this movie is either unarmed, gets it in the back of the head, or both. There’s also the family element. Bob shoots Jesse’s cousin Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner) to defend another man while Jesse gives a viscous beating to a young cousin of Bob and Charley’s that Jesse erroneously believes is hiding something. Violence is not some thing of excitement or beauty in this film. It’s done by violent sociopaths or people afraid of said sociopaths. As much as Bob and Charley tried to claim a reward for killing Jesse, it was clear the two were also terrified of the man who had more than a few deaths on his record.
That’s more or less what the movie does well. Pitt’s Jesse James is by turns scary and charismatic. It’s easy to see why people wanted to hang out with him and not his grouchy, taciturn brother Frank (who disappears early in the movie anyway). Likewise, Bob’s hero worship gradually dims as life and knowing the real Jesse gradually wears him down. This is a contemplative movie, full of empty spaces, many of which are filled with winter snow and not much else. Likewise, for all of Jesse’s charm, he’s clearly being driven by paranoia, looking to make sure none of his former associates give him away, and that drive is what keeps said associates terrified of him. “Jesse just knows” is what they think, but when things end and Bob has to live with the fact he shot a legend in the back, we see the price of fame isn’t always worth it.
Grade: A-
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