Comments on: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

By: Dana Ruffin

Dana Ruffin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:32:32 +0000

I love this movie. I think that the direction of the film was brilliant and beautiful. Casey Afleck was so intreguing I spent the whole movie watching him and trying to figure him out. The entire cast was great. Movies move so fast now it was nice to see a film that didn’t race you from one scene to another. You can tell that the production of this movie was devoted to this story and getting every scene and detail right .. and they absoluty did! I was so drawn into this movie that I don’t think I moved from my seat the entire time I first saw it and when it was over I was so struck by the story and the perfection of the acting and overall production that I immediatly watched it again. I completely get the direction they were going here .. Perfect! A true piece of art through and through

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:13:55 +0000

They did touch on the fact that Jesse was a southern loyalist. They also had other refferences throughout the movie that would leave one to believe that Jesse and his gang were racist, but I think they left it out because that was not what the film was about. In my opinion, it was more about the confussion of a young man in Robert Ford. A man who wanted to be great. A man who wanted to be seen as tough, dangerous, smart, strong, powerfull, brave, and renowned but, lacked all of these qualities. He wanted to be everything that he percieved Jesse James to be, but he could not. SO what better than to be the man who killed such a man. I loved this movie. Casey Affleck is almost creepy how he idolizes Jesse. Almost as if he has some sort of “crush” on him. THe whole film is well done and I love the sound track.

By: JOHN F EARLY

JOHN F EARLY — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:29:07 +0000

GROWING UP IN HELENA MONTANA BACK IN THE LATE 1940s/EARLY 1950s, I BECAME VERY INTERESTED IN BAD GUYS EVEN MORE THAN GOOD GUYS. IT WASN’T UNTIL 1955 THAT BOTH DAVY CROCKETT AND WYATT EARP CAME TO TELEVISION, AND I GO INTERESTED IN SOME OF THE GOOD GUYS TOO. JESSE JAMES WAS ONE OF MY EARLIEST STUDIES. IN THE EARLY 1960s, I GOT INTERESTED TO SUCH A POINT THAT I CORRESPONDED BRIEFLY WITH ONE OF JESSE’S BIOGRAPHER’S, CARL BREIHAN. (NOW WHERE DID I PUT THAT LETTER?!) BY THE END OF THE SIXTIES I WAS PRETTY DISILLUSIONED WITH HIS HOMICIDAL WAYS. LAST WEEK I SAW THE BRAD PITT VERSION FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND WHILE I THINK PITT IS TOO PRETTY TO PLAY JESSE AND THEY OUGHT TO HAVE INCLUDED JESSE’S RACISM, I LIKED THE ATTEMPT AT AUTHENTICITY. DEFINITELY A MOVIE WHICH OWES SOME CREDIT TO MY LONG-AGO CORRESPONDENT AND JESSE’S BIOGRAPHER, CARL BREIHAN.