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In 1881, Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and his brother Frank (Sam Shepard) are
known around the country for being outlaws – many books and articles have
been written about them. They’ve robbed banks, trains, stagecoaches, and
Jesse has personally committed 17 murders, but he never gets caught. When
he’s away from this gang of thieves, he leads a normal life in Kansas City
under the alias Thomas Howard, with his wife (Mary-Louise Parker) and 2
kids.
Before the James gang’s final train robbery, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) approaches Frank and Jesse to ask if he can ride out with them – his brother Charley (Sam Rockwell) having already won their respect. Frank thinks Bob is a bit of an idiot and isn’t impressed with his talk of being destined for great things, but Jesse isn’t particular about who he brings along on a job.
After the robbery, Jesse, Frank, Charlie, Bob, Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner),
Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider) and Ed Wood (Garret Dillahunt) go their separate
ways. Bob turns into one of the original stalkers – learning everything
there is to know about Jesse, imitating his every move, following him around,
and collecting newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. In spite of this,
Bob gets invited to spend some time with Jesse, but then word gets out
that some of the boys have their eyes on the reward money that’s on Jesse’s
head, which doesn't sit well. Jesse takes that thing kind of personal and lets his cruel side show.
When he takes you for “a ride”, you better watch your back. And Bob, he
just wants to get the glory for being the guy who guns down the great Jesse
James.
The movie is full of little tidbits of history about the James brothers and the men who were involved with them at the end – from their friends to their sworn enemies and the men determined to bring them to justice.
At times, the acting seems a little wooden, but it also fits the mood of the film – invoking an image of the characters in those dime novels that Bob collects. The flowery narrative doesn’t work as well – it’s more of a distraction that adding anything – it feels like someone interrupting, trying to read to you while you just want to watch the movie.
The film covers a lot of territory, and just when you think it’s over,
there’s more story to tell – more backstabbing, suicide by gunslinger,
and self-promoting hype like you wouldn’t believe. That’s not necessarily
a bad thing, but movies this long require careful selection of the perfect
theatre to see them. Even with great seats, you can’t help thinking that
there should be a new Oscar category – the MAISN Award (My a** is so numb).
The running time on this is 160 minutes (nearly 3 hours if you sit through
previews as well).
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