Did Any Of You Like The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford?
Who said the western was dead? Actually, it was Ridley Scott, the co-producer of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, about three hours before the world premiere of this movie at the Venice Film Festival. I hope he chokes on our stars. Andrew Dominik’s sensational film debags a cherished idol. Tyrone Power, Robert Wagner and Roy Rogers famously played Jesse James like Robin Hood. Brad Pitt plays him like a poisonous Mr Hyde. The moment Pitt swaggers through a wheatfield armed with a warm pistol and a three-piece black suit, we know we are in the presence of a superior bastard. “When Jesse walks by even the rain falls slower,” croons the narrator, before whisking us through the hospital bills and wanted posters: granulated eyelids (shingles), two bullet holes, a missing middle finger on his left hand, 17 murders, chronic insomnia, countless armed robberies and an undying hatred of the Union after the Civil War. Jesse and his leather-faced brother Frank (Sam Shepar
