The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is not only one of my favorite movie titles of all time. It is also one of my favorite movies of all time. 12th favorite to be exact. It's moved by an amazingly adapted script that nails the characterization of Jesse James just as much as the book does. While also keeping the dialogue that compels you to ponder, and contemplate. The beautiful music has a rhythm to it that parallels the rhythm of the story. The pacing of the movie is slow, but never drags. Giving you room to closely inspect the movie without missing a thing. A triple threat of cloud shots suggest time passing, and also gives room to breathe while giving you something pretty to look at. The cinematography has a cold dampness do it which emotes the same feeling as the music does, and seamlessly blending these aspects of the film into something unforgettable. A sort of breezy gloominess that sets a perfect tone. Also perfect is the plethora of characters and the cast that are elevated by the dynamic camera shots and movements that act as another character all together. Brad Pitt plays the infamous outlaw Jesse James. Watching him on screen ponder about his own morals and sanity is perplexingly magnetic. The lore around Jesse James himself makes you consider the possibility that Jesse was an omniscient being. A mysterious omniscient being who is slowly losing knowledge about himself. Hinting at the possibility that may he have gone and lost his mind. Casey Affleck portrays Robert Ford. An awkward and naive young man who idolized Jesse James to such an extent that when he met the real Jesse he eventually grew resentful of him. Ford's character arc highlights themes of expectations vs. reality. Sam Rockwell as Charley Ford, Paul Schneider as Dick Liddil, and Sam Shepard as Frank James are standouts amongst standout performances. Which this movie has a high number of. Each character is as memorable and unique as the last. Each character hypnotizes themselves into your mind causing you to think about them for a long period of time. Overall, this film is a masterfully crafted tale of media, myths, legends, and expectations that effortlessly paces through it's long but necessary runtime, and presents you with quintessential shots that tell a unique story within themselves, before giving you a conclusion that stains your mind with melancholy. So I give it a 9.5

The Plot. Taking place in the American Northwest in the early 1880s, the film dramatizes the last seven months in the life of famed outlaw Jesse James, beginning with the Blue Cut train robbery of 1881 and culminating in his assassination at the hands of Robert Ford the following April. In the time between these two fateful events, the young and jealous Ford befriends the increasingly mistrustful outlaw, even as he plots his demise. This pretentious title will tell you what you are in for. It's a nearly three hour slow moving borefest that takes forever to go anywhere.Could have been a truly great western but instead it plods along and puts you to sleep at frame one.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a very excellent movie to some people, while to others it is viewed as boring and monotonous. The way you see this film is completely dependent on how you view film. Whether you view film as an art form that needs to be examined and analyzed, or you view film as a simple way to have fun.If you enjoy film as an art form, then you will most probably like this movie. The movie goes over topics like what is good and what is bad, what is accepted in society and what is not, how does fame affect our viewpoint on people, and etc. It's cinematography is beautiful, the acting is superb, and the script is well done. The score in this film is enough to give this film a six, at least in my opinion. The score is so enchanting and prolific to the figures represented in this film. Overall, if you enjoy dissecting and analyzing a meaningful art film, I would recommend this film to you.However, as excellent as the movie is, it still has it's drawbacks. For one, if you like films for the action, I wouldn't recommend this to you. The pacing is extremely slow, to the point where some parts can be incredibly boring. And I know there are people who expect this film to be exciting, considering it is a western, but the movie does not focus on the action. The movie focuses on understanding the minds of the characters in the story. So if you are interesting in seeing this movie, don't expect a traditional western. I want all of you to understand that this movie is not all about Jesse James. This movie is somewhat like a satire, a film that idolizes Jesse James to make you realize how much he really was idolized. It goes behind the mind of Robert Ford and some of the people closest to Jesse. The film doesn't want you to grow feelings of disgust towards Jesse James, but rather a feeling of understanding. In conclusion, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a spectacle, but only to the right people.

Wow! This is by far the most incredibly boring film I think I have ever seen. Brad Pitt should really be ashamed of TRYING to portray Jessie James. My God, Pitt shows almost NO emotion of any kind through out 2 hours and 40 minutes of the worst kind of torture......bad acting, stupid voice over, terrible plot lines and equally pathetic supporting actors. What a total wast of time. Stay away at all costs. Probably the very worst aspect of the overly long Hollywood mistake was the horrible voice over of Robert Ford. I did not fully understand what he was trying to do with the film. What ever he was trying to do didn't work at all. It seemed the only reason for them extreme length of the bizarre western was to get all of the voice over into the film. I say that Pitt playing Jesse should have been killed off in the first 10 minutes of this "Titanic"of a film. I can only give this film a 1 out of 10.