The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford

Just finished watching it. I was honestly pretty choked up (okay, maybe I didn't actually cry, but close enough...), and it really just left me lost in thought for a while... Such a beautiful film. Honestly, a solid 10/10, and I have to say, Brad Pitt completely blew me away with his performance here. 😁

By the way, that soundtrack is absolutely brilliant! (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)

frozengull82 said:Just finished watching it. I was honestly pretty choked up (okay, maybe I didn't actually cry, but close enough...), and it really just left me lost in thought for a while... Such a beautiful film. Honestly, a solid 10/10, and I have to say, Brad Pitt completely blew me away with his performance here. 😁

By the way, that soundtrack is absolutely brilliant! (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)

I was on the verge of tears myself. I’ve seen the 1957 True Story of Jesse James and even the 1939 version of Jesse James, but this one? This hits way harder than all of them.

Casey Affleck 🙏🙏🙏

slyotter28 said:I was on the verge of tears myself. I’ve seen the 1957 True Story of Jesse James and even the 1939 version of Jesse James, but this one? This hits way harder than all of them.

Casey Affleck 🙏🙏🙏

I honestly feel like I have to say it, even if it ruffles some feathers, but Casey Affleck is hands down a much more powerful actor than his brother Ben.

goldenhound32 said:Even though I realize it wasn't exactly a massive marketing push, it still feels strange to me that so few people actually sat down to watch it. I suppose the reality is that being a slow-burn Western—one where you barely see a gun being drawn—with a three-hour runtime was enough to drive 🤷
away.
It is an excellent piece of filmmaking, featuring a bizarre and (if history is to be believed) genuinely surprising epilogue along with a rather haunting message.

Casey Affleck is incredibly powerful... though, this might sound a bit odd, but looking at him, I feel like he’s much better suited for playing slippery, morally grey characters. I watched Gone Baby Gone previously and he was decent there, but in this Western, he absolutely crushed it. We'll just have to see what kind of roles he gravitates toward next.

I mean, honestly, I’m actually kind of relieved. It’s just typical how these "mainstream" categories work anyway—they end up dragging mediocre movies up to eye level while simultaneously stripping away the actual value of the masterpieces. If this happens, it just lets this particular piece of cinema continue to shine with its own dignity at the high level it deserves, mostly because only a tiny minority of people actually have the taste to appreciate it properly. 🙂

Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised. I've gotta say, I'm stoked. This director already showed us in Chopper that he’s a total pro when it comes to nailing
face-to-face confrontations where characters just go head-to-head
and man, there’s something so satisfying about the way he builds up tension, usually leading to some kind of fatal blowout.
He’s pretty much in a league of his own here, though not the only one—I mean, you look at the Coen brothers or PTA, they’re masters of that too.

If I had to nitpick, maybe the Coen brothers handle the actual execution scenes slightly better—they're just untouchable there. That was the only part of this movie that felt a little off to me, but everything else? Spot on.

And the acting? Seriously, everyone killed it. Finally, Brad Pitt actually felt believable for once. And Casey Affleck? This is easily the role of his life. Their eyes/looks alone will absolutely wreck you. 🙏

The soundtrack is top-tier as well. And the cinematography... wow.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

You just seeing this masterpiece for the first time?
Give it a few more spins and you'll definitely bump that rating up to a 10.

Maybe. It actually gives me those Barry Lindon vibes, especially with how the narrator carries the weight, but there’s still this weirdly original way of pulling it off—that hazy, tight cinematography is such a cool touch. And man, those dialogues? Absolutely brutal.
Then you get these stretches where they don't even need dialogue, yet you can still feel the action and the whole flow of thought happening,
which is exactly what you're looking for,
so yeah, that's pretty much it. ☕

I mean, betrayal is just such a damn fertile ground for stories, isn't it?

Tonight on CNN at 12:20 AM
A lovely time slot, truly...🙂

Honestly, the movie was a total letdown. All I really walk away with is that gorgeous cinematography; everything else, I’d rather just scrub from my memory ASAP. I guess Casey actually knows how to act, unlike Ben, but even then, he’s nowhere near his best. He’s got an even more ridiculous face than his older brother, so maybe that’s why he gets by. Usually, I don't mind a long runtime, but this one was just a slog. To me, it feels like something made specifically for Americans looking to feel nostalgic about some legend from their past. Kind of like Abraham Lincoln, except without the incredible DDL performance. 3/10

This has been sitting on my hard drive for two weeks now. I still haven't gotten around to watching it. Hopefully it won't be a waste of time—I've sat through far too many disappointments lately. 😁

Carol Lewis said:Casey Affleck really went above and beyond what I was expecting... that unspoken, subtle communication happening between him and Pitt is just pure perfection...
The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic (I actually had no clue Cave was behind it until that moment in the saloon when the ballad kicks in—then everything just clicked for me).
Overall, it’s a solid film, though I’m still scratching my head at the very end, trying to figure out what the actual point was, other than maybe an attempt to feel like a sweeping historical epic... I’ll say it again, though, it's a really good movie... and that narrator fits the vibe so perfectly that listening to him was such a joy...

Garret Dillahunt 🙏 ... honestly, I haven't seen a character quite as messed up as this one since I watched The Machinist...

7/10

It's all just greed, betrayal, and people jumping on the bandwagon. 🤷

Someone should probably give me a medal just for sitting through this whole thing in the middle of the night 😬
Brad Pitt playing Jesse James—hmm, I guess he was okay, though I can't shake the feeling that at least ten other actors could have portrayed him better.
Casey Affleck really got on my nerves in the first half playing that obsessed fan, only to turn into a total badass in the second half once he stopped believing in Jesse.
Visually, the movie is stunning; in a way, it feels like a case study, occasionally analyzing American society itself.
Is it just me, or does the film feel pretty anti-American?
In the movie, everyone celebrates Jesse as some kind of hero and legend, even though the guy killed twenty people and robbed several trains and banks. A man who kills such evil eventually becomes hated, and everyone loathes him for it. To make the irony even thicker, the guy who kills Jesse James' killer is quickly released from prison and hailed as a legend. Does that mean Americans just celebrate killers and thieves?
I don't even need to mention that the plot is ultra slow, but honestly, I don't see much point in having a movie pumped up with non-stop action given this context, so I don't hold it against them.
That murder scene was brutally good—it’s a little messed up because of the title (which obviously tells you exactly what's coming), but even without that title, you’d definitely know the exact moment when Ford feels his moment to kill him. Genius.
I'm not disappointed with the film; it was definitely worth watching, even with this inhuman timing.

Even though it’s technically a Western, I didn't experience this as some grand studio production or a heavy-handed allegory for American society. Instead, the film focuses on these deeply archetypal figures of the American West—characters who seem entirely degenerate on one hand, yet possess enough psychological depth to offer everything: fear, dilemma, guilt, and remorse, which serve as the true measures of their individual dignity and humanity. Jesse James is portrayed as a psychotic, brutal killer constantly battling paranoia and bouts of depression, yet he's also a caring father and husband, a man struggling to maintain control over a fractured personality. To the common folk, he is both an elusive rebel and a guerrilla fighter loyal to a fallen Confederacy, just as he presents himself at the start. He embodies resistance while simultaneously striking terror into people, which is why the weak-willed find him so impressive they feel compelled to turn him into a legend.
Robert Ford is a young man whose obsession with his hero grew so intense while listening to tales of Jesse James that every single move he makes in this relationship feels calculated and deeply personal. He doesn't betray his hero for a payday; rather, he does it out of a conviction that such cruelty must be stopped, viewing it as his duty without ever questioning that impulse. However, he doesn't perceive James's brutality through the lens of mere murders and crimes; he feels it most profoundly in the way his idol relentlessly mocks him, driving him toward the ultimate realization of his own nature as a repulsive human blight who reenacts betrayal on stage over 800 times just to kill a single myth.
From beginning to end, Jesse James and Robert Ford are mirrors of one another, and all their conflicts stem from a perfect sense of closeness and recognition. It is clear to Jesse James, and honestly to us as well, that no one else was truly capable of taking down a killer at the exact moment he consciously turned his back on the task, except for the coward Robert Ford, who is the only one to find the necessary strength within himself.

You gotta be kidding me, right? That guy Ford turned out to be nothing more than a total coward, which is exactly why he ended up that way—you reap what you sow when you play dirty...
If he’d actually had an ounce of maturity or if he’d realized he wasn't some kind of righteous hero, he wouldn't have turned the whole thing into a cheap circus afterward.

He's just a sick egomaniac, you know? ☕

I know. They both are. Tell me, did I actually claim that Ford was mature and just?

Honestly, that whole bit is kinda tripping me up

Jamie Davis9 said:Even though it’s technically a Western, I didn't experience this as some grand studio production or a heavy-handed allegory for American society. Instead, the film focuses on these deeply archetypal figures of the American West—characters who seem entirely degenerate on one hand, yet possess enough psychological depth to offer everything: fear, dilemma, guilt, and remorse, which serve as the true measures of their individual dignity and humanity. Jesse James is portrayed as a psychotic, brutal killer constantly battling paranoia and bouts of depression, yet he's also a caring father and husband, a man struggling to maintain control over a fractured personality. To the common folk, he is both an elusive rebel and a guerrilla fighter loyal to a fallen Confederacy, just as he presents himself at the start. He embodies resistance while simultaneously striking terror into people, which is why the weak-willed find him so impressive they feel compelled to turn him into a legend.
Robert Ford is a young man whose obsession with his hero grew so intense while listening to tales of Jesse James that every single move he makes in this relationship feels calculated and deeply personal. He doesn't betray his hero for a payday; rather, he does it out of a conviction that such cruelty must be stopped, viewing it as his duty without ever questioning that impulse. However, he doesn't perceive James's brutality through the lens of mere murders and crimes; he feels it most profoundly in the way his idol relentlessly mocks him, driving him toward the ultimate realization of his own nature as a repulsive human blight who reenacts betrayal on stage over 800 times just to kill a single myth.
From beginning to end, Jesse James and Robert Ford are mirrors of one another, and all their conflicts stem from a perfect sense of closeness and recognition. It is clear to Jesse James, and honestly to us as well, that no one else was truly capable of taking down a killer at the exact moment he consciously turned his back on the task, except for the coward Robert Ford, who is the only one to find the necessary strength within himself.

Man, come on, that second part is totally pulling you in

Jamie Davis9 said:Even though it’s technically a Western, I didn't experience this as some grand studio production or a heavy-handed allegory for American society. Instead, the film focuses on these deeply archetypal figures of the American West—characters who seem entirely degenerate on one hand, yet possess enough psychological depth to offer everything: fear, dilemma, guilt, and remorse, which serve as the true measures of their individual dignity and humanity. Jesse James is portrayed as a psychotic, brutal killer constantly battling paranoia and bouts of depression, yet he's also a caring father and husband, a man struggling to maintain control over a fractured personality. To the common folk, he is both an elusive rebel and a guerrilla fighter loyal to a fallen Confederacy, just as he presents himself at the start. He embodies resistance while simultaneously striking terror into people, which is why the weak-willed find him so impressive they feel compelled to turn him into a legend.
Robert Ford is a young man whose obsession with his hero grew so intense while listening to tales of Jesse James that every single move he makes in this relationship feels calculated and deeply personal. He doesn't betray his hero for a payday; rather, he does it out of a conviction that such cruelty must be stopped, viewing it as his duty without ever questioning that impulse. However, he doesn't perceive James's brutality through the lens of mere murders and crimes; he feels it most profoundly in the way his idol relentlessly mocks him, driving him toward the ultimate realization of his own nature as a repulsive human blight who reenacts betrayal on stage over 800 times just to kill a single myth.
From beginning to end, Jesse James and Robert Ford are mirrors of one another, and all their conflicts stem from a perfect sense of closeness and recognition. It is clear to Jesse James, and honestly to us as well, that no one else was truly capable of taking down a killer at the exact moment he consciously turned his back on the task, except for the coward Robert Ford, who is the only one to find the necessary strength within himself.

I get why you're feeling for Ford, I really do

😛

But to me? He's just gross.

He’s just fundamentally repulsive, and honestly, can’t he see that? The sheer scale of his nastiness is constantly laid bare whenever he interacts with his idol, much like how the cruelty of Jesse James is mirrored in Ford's betrayal. That is precisely why Ford has to kill him—it’s why he kills him over 800 times—because that is the only way to truly destroy them both.

I honestly think he pulled the trigger mostly out of pure terror. He even told someone once that Jesse James would've definitely taken them both out if he hadn't struck first.
That guy Ford is just a self-centered, unstable wreck who used Jesse's trust in the most pathetic, bootlicking way possible.
Let's not overthink this or turn it into some grand myth.

Patrick Martin said:I honestly think he pulled the trigger mostly out of pure terror. He even told someone once that Jesse James would've definitely taken them both out if he hadn't struck first.
That guy Ford is just a self-centered, unstable wreck who used Jesse's trust in the most pathetic, bootlicking way possible.
Let's not overthink this or turn it into some grand myth.

🤣🤣

Hold on a second—what is Jesse James if not a mystified American hero? Honestly, all those figures from the Wild West are massive myths about heroism, whether you're talking about Wild Bill Hickok or, in this case, Jesse. These guys were killers, and it bothers you that he took advantage of that trust in such a slimy way? 🙏

Americans are incredibly good at turning murderers into heroes. A huge chunk of them were just outlaws and killers, but damn, they're still cool.

Patrick Martin said:I honestly think he pulled the trigger mostly out of pure terror. He even told someone once that Jesse James would've definitely taken them both out if he hadn't struck first.
That guy Ford is just a self-centered, unstable wreck who used Jesse's trust in the most pathetic, bootlicking way possible.
Let's not overthink this or turn it into some grand myth.

What kind of "trust" are you talking about, for God's sake?! Are we even watching the same movie? Help me out here—why on earth would Jesse James strip off his gun belt, something he absolutely never did, and then stand there with his back turned to a man he supposedly knew better than anyone else? Was he just trying to dust off a picture of a horse or something?

Look, those guys are straight-up legends, regardless of how they did things or the fact they were technically on the wrong side of history.
Back then, it was the Wild West—total lawlessness where everyone walked around with a gun strapped to their hip. Just absolute madness.

It’s kind of like how people still obsess over old-school outlaw types here in the States, like Billy the Kid or something. People still harbor this weird sympathy for characters like that even today.