The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(Warner Home Video; $27.98)
By: Henry Cabot Beck 03/02/2008
The rumor that there may be a features-loaded, extended director’s cut DVD of this film is wishful thinking. It’s what a lot of folks hope for when a movie with this much critical acclaim and honest quality is kicked to the curb by its parent company. Even the dumbest teen comedy gets better DVD servicing than this film, by which I mean there is nothing but movie here—no commentary, no trailers, no features.
For reasons we may never understand, this picture was given the corporate heave-ho long before it ever opened theatrically, so I have no reason to imagine that Warner’s attitude will change in the foreseeable future, in spite of the awards and accolades the film has received.
Rent it, buy it, wait for it on cable, send scathing letters of condemnation to Warners if you like, for all the good it might do, but no real lover of Western films should go without seeing this movie. If the movie seems overlong at 160 minutes, or artistically self indulgent, as some suggest, the fact remains that this is, at the very least, an extremely well-acted, literate, beautifully directed examination of the final days of the remarkable Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and his dull-eyed killer Robert Ford (Casey Affleck).
I suggest also watching Ang Lee’s Ride With the Devil (1999), so you can see an equally ambitious look at the conditions that created the James boys during the Civil War. The two will make for a hell of a before-and-after double feature.
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