10 Best Films of the Decade 2000s #8 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007): USA/Canada

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.

Coming in at #8, continuing my top ten films of the decade list, is another film that’s very different from those that precede it. Director Andrew Dominik’s epic western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the kind of film that divides viewers. Some will think it long, boring, and self indulgent, while others bask in the film’s romantic visual beauty, hypnotically deliberate pace, and allegory for today’s quest for fame. I, of course, belong to the latter group and believe this film to be, not only one of the best of its decade, but one of the best of its genre.

Taking up near the end of the James Gang, when Jesse’s (Brad Pitt) legend is already set in the dime novels that have fed Robert Ford’s (Casey Affleck) hero worship of the outlaw, the Gang, which consists of original members Jesse and brother Frank (Sam Shepherd), recruits five new members, who include Charlie Ford (Sam Rockwell) and younger brother Robert, to rob their last train. Robert gets invited to stay with Jesse for a couple weeks after the robbery, studying his every move until this behavior appears to get a little creepy for Jesse, at one point asking him Robert “do you want to be like me or do you want to be me?”

Robert gets dismissed and the film follows the lives of both characters as they intertwine at different times until Jesse invites Robert and Charlie to stay with him, with plans, that never materialize, to pull off a few more robberies. Robert’s desire for fame leads him to make a deal with authorities to kill or capture Jesse for the reward, but Jesse is wary of the brothers and they continually fear that he will kill them.

The western is a dying genre, but not a dead one as every decade since the beginning of the end seems to produce at least one or two great westerns. In the 90’s it was Unforgiven and Dances With Wolves, and in the 2000’s it is The Assassination of Jesse James. So different is this film some may not even think of it as a western at all. That is because there has never been a western quite like it. With its lullaby music, dreamy cinematography, and poetic narration the film has all the hallmarks of a fable much closer to Terrence Malick’s Badlands than the typical western.

Director Dominik takes a very artsy approach to his film which is the main cause for division among the audience. It is certainly not a western in the traditional sense. It also sets itself on the very cusp of the passing of ‘the west’, with Jesse himself being a symbol for the passing as his life is immortalized in one age in dime novels and his death immortalized in another through one of the most famous early photographs of the time.

The film’s cast is near perfect. Among them are Jeremy Renner as Jesse’s cousin Wood Hite, Paul Schneider as smooth talking Dick Liddel, Garret Dillahunt as the childlike Ed Miller, and Sam Shepherd as the ornery Frank James.

In the film’s major roles Sam Rockwell is excellent as the slower witted, but easy going Charlie Ford. Casey Affleck brings some understanding and sympathy to Robert Ford with his broken voiced portrayal of the sycophantic fame seeker, while Brad Pitt brilliantly uses his star persona to embody the larger than life Jesse James in a role that is more difficult than Pitt makes it appear.

In a film full great writing, directing, acting, and music (by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis), it is Roger Deakins contribution to the film that stands above all of the others. His creative cinematography is a visual splendor to behold. At times he captures the beauty of the landscape while other times he creates his own beauty blurring the edges of the frame or shooting through fluted glass. His work here is flawless and it’s the best of his illustrious career.

The film may not play as well to typical fans of the genre, but to a fan of film it’s a one that is easy to appreciate and get lost in. For a dying genre, this film breathed a lot of life into it.