Never meet your heroes…especially if they’re on the wrong side of the
law.
That’s one of the messages of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a cult classic western directed by Andrew Dominik. Of all the western outlaws, Jesse James is the most famous. Whereas most famed western robbers only lasted a few years, Jesse James’ career of armed robbery ran from 1866 to 1882, and he was never properly defeated by the law itself, as the title of this movie indicates. Jesse James originated as a Confederate guerilla during the Civil War, gaining some notoriety alongside his older brother Frank. They disapproved of the post-war changes after the Union victory and practically continued the war by robbing Union-friendly targets. They joined up with other outlaws to form the James-Younger gang, and were known for their daring train, bank, and stagecoach robberies. One factor in their success was that they operated in Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and other territory with ex-Confederates. The press and many citizens began to lionize them as continued resistance against Northern tyranny. Outside of politics, there were also claims that they shared their money with the poor. This was not true.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (based on a novel by Ron Hansen) is actually something of a historiographical study. The actual main protagonist Robert Ford, grew up worshipping Jesse James and sees him as the romantic Robin-Hood like outlaw of cheap novels and sensationalized newspaper articles. This view of Jesse James led to a whole slew of movies I could have chosen from, most of them horribly inaccurate (as a kid I saw a Roy Rogers one where he helped fight the stock western villain of the railroad tycoon. Though set in Missouri, it looks like they’re way further west thanks to the filming in California hills). Andrew Dominik’s movie is much closer to history, and shows what happens when the legend falls far from the myth.
The movie begins with the preparations for the Blue Cut Train Robbery,
which occurred on September 7, 1881. This was the last actual heist pulled off
by the James Brothers, meaning this isn’t an action western. It’s one of those
long, slow movies that’s great if you’re in the right mood. Actually, like the
novel, the killing of Jesse James was to be the halfway point, but studio
executives didn’t want a four hour movie (it still runs over two and a half
hours). Back to the plot, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) tries to join with the
help of his older brother Charley (Sam Rockwell), but his fanboyish behavior
annoys Frank James (a perhaps too old Sam Shepard) and he’s rebuffed.
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| The actors take a gang photo. On the top form left to right are Ed Miller (Garret Dillahunt), Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider), Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner) Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), and Robert Ford (Casey Affleck). Seated are Jesse and Frank James (Brad Pitt and Sam Shepard) |
He does start to work his way into the gang, but it turns out to be a very bad time to start a career with Jesse James (Brad Pitt). Most of the long-running members are already dead or arrested, and after the Blue Cut Train Robbery fails to produce as much money as hoped, Frank James decides to call it quits. The remainder of the gang splits up and starts to fall apart, partly from a conspiracy to turn on Jesse James and collect the bounty on him and also because ladies’ man Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider) goes after Wood Hite’s (Jeremy Renner) young stepmother. Soon a paranoid Jesse James finds himself hanging around with the Ford Brothers.
The romanticism of Jesse James himself is stripped away, but he’s still
elicits some sympathy. He’s shown to be a dangerous, violent man who’s not slow
to kill somebody if he thinks they’re going to backstab him. At the same time
it becomes increasingly evident that he’s growing weary of being hunted, and
even starts to feel rotten about a couple of his misdeeds. For his part Robert
Ford is a broken character, too. He believes he’s about to ride to glory with
Jesse James. Instead he ends up either annoying his would-be compatriots or
finding himself the laughingstock. It gets to the point where, feeling greatly
mistreated by Jesse James, he conspires with Charley and the authorities to
bring in or kill Jesse James.
Jesse James was actually able to start a family despite his outlaw career. Mary Louise-
Parker plays his wife Zeralda, who supposedly was originally to have more of a role.
The killing of Jesse James itself is very accurate, though with one
major speculative detail. At the end of his life Jesse and his family posed as
the Howards in St. Joseph, Missouri, with the Ford Brothers hanging around. When
he learned of a murder within his gang (Robert Ford killing Hite while the
latter tries to kill Liddil. The paper gave Liddil credit) thanks to a
newspaper, he grew suspicious of the Ford Brothers as they would have witnessed
the incident (they were all staying at the house of the Fords’ sister). Instead
of dealing with them right away, the normally competent outlaw set his guns
down on a couch and stood on a chair to clean a dusty picture. It was then that Robert Ford shot him in the back of the head. The movie heavily implies that
Jesse James chose to allow his killing, as he had finally decided to get
everything over with.
The movie goes on for another half hour. Since Governor Crittenden
(played by real life politician James Carville) ended up cheating them out of
most of the reward money (in real life the brothers had to spend most of it on
lawyers since they had practically committed murder), they shamelessly choose
to capitalize on their fortune by performing stage renditions of the killing.
However, since the public believes that Jesse James was a hero, the Fords were
heavily vilified and both would suffer tragic deaths. Oddly, Zooey Deschanel
literally shows up in the last ten minutes as a showgirl who sympathizes with
Robert and comforts him in his last days. This is because originally the movie
was to have gone on longer, so she would have played a larger role. In fact she
was considered for the narration voiceover, but the voice of Hugh Ross was kept
instead. One criticism is that he describes what’s clearly happening, but for
some reason it really works, perhaps because it has the folksy appeal of
someone recounting a western legend.
Robert Ford becomes the butt of the joke when Jesse James comes to his sister's house for dinner.
The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a slow movie, but is watchable thanks to its
stellar cast, great cinematography by Roger Deakins, and a wonderful,
reflective musical score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. It really dives into
how a historical figure can be mythologized by political and cultural factors,
and how the myth can turn very sour when one meets reality. In this case Robert
Ford meets the hero of the press and a former Confederate people, and when his
hero falls short his worship starts to turn to hatred and fear.
Rating: 8/10
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