21st September, 2007, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford released...
A Tale of Two Villains: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’s title seems to say it all. Heroes are “assassinated”, but the more times I watch the film the more I’m convinced that there are no heroes in it and I only feel sorry for the “coward” Robert Ford.
Andrew Dominick’s film can easily be seen as a hero portrait of the infamous outlaw, Jesse James, on a first watch, but repeat viewings reveal how insane and villainous our supposed hero is. Brad Pitt doesn’t get enough credit for his performance here, as it really is some of his best work. Pitt portrays so much instability and unpredictability behind his eyes that you can never really pin down what his character is going to do next. But here’s the rub, his calculated intimidation and sizing up of everyone around him aren’t the actions of a hero. Pitt’s James is selfish, hot-headed, autocratic and should never be trusted. He kills a supposed friend on a hunch, a feeling, and he spends most of the film ready to wipe out anyone in his path.
The emotional neglect Bob went through makes perfect sense of the way he acts. Does that validate killing a man? No, but the man that Ford seems to become in his later years, after he has matured and gained life experiences, seems to be a more rational and stable man than James could ever dream of being.
That’s where the sympathy for Ford’s comes in. The extended epilogue makes sure that you feel some sympathy for Bob, and as the film faded to black on this most recent viewing, I was filled with sadness. Bob is able to move on with his life and start again, escaping the public guilt that drove his brother to suicide and eventually manifests into Bob being killed. An eye for an eye you may say. But, the fact that somebody cut Bob’s life short seeking revenge for a man’s death that they didn’t know the true nature of, hurts the soul. Bob stands up to Jesse James, a bully and a villain, and later feels remorseful for his actions. He then endures the weight of a nation bearing down on him, re-establishing the ridicule of his youth, as they comment on a situation they couldn’t possibly understand. After all of that, Robert Ford somehow makes it out on the other side, finds love and starts anew. Only to have it all dashed by an idiot who believed in a myth.
It doesn’t get much sadder than that.
By Zac Oldenburg
(Dominik’s fascination with James’ mental illness is an interesting wrinkle to view the film through.) James is ready to kill anyone to survive and both Robert Ford and his brother Charley are savvy enough to be aware of this.
James is the biggest threat and the true villain of the film, whereas the title celebrates his heroic stature. This isn’t an attempt to let Robert “Bob” Ford off the hook, the man is full of villainous traits himself, but he ends up being the one that I empathise with, not the titular “victim”. Ford’s biggest crime in the film, it could be argued, is just being a quirky, jealous guy. Yes, I am trying to argue that a guy who shoots two people in the back of the head’s biggest crime is being a weird dude (in my defence, James was going to kill him and Wood Hite was about to murder his friend). Ford is a young, naive, starstruck, jealous boy before he kills James, and it is a sad revelation near the end of the film that he wishes he hadn’t killed the man who surely wouldn’t have thought twice about taking him down. In fact, Ford would have never been against James in the first place if he hadn’t been bullied by his boyhood hero once he finally got to meet him in the flesh.
However, as I said, we can’t cut Ford too much slack, as he can easily be seen as a traitor, and is certainly someone that would be deemed untrustworthy to anyone but his family. Ford is the kind of villain that you don’t really see coming and whom no one respects. The way that Dominik lets you see that the women in the film are the only ones who seem to be leery of Bob is a fine touch, and only adds to the list of reasons why Bob acts the way he does; the man seems to have no companionship. You can understand where Ford’s issues come from better than you can James’. Ford’s the butt of every joke, always overlooked and never thought much of by anyone but Charley his brother.
Dominick shoots Pitt as if he’s the villain of a horror film throughout the picture and I feel a little foolish for not picking up on this sooner. The dread that overlays the final act of Jesse James’ life is unsettling, but it is watching James’ borderline bipolar behavior that makes one really unsettled.
