The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2007
****
Director: Andrew Dominik
Cast: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider
The pompous sounding title of this epic western spells out the accepted view of how Jesse James died. However, the events depicted on screen tell a different story. Robert Ford is portrayed as an obsessive fan/stalker and the assassination itself plays out as an elaborate assisted suicide. Dominik's film is very long and slowly paced but it's stunningly shot and acted, and incredibly atmospheric. Based on Ron Hansen's novel.
