Assassination of Jesse James

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

Full Title: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.  In post production.

My first thought is that the title is too short and people won't know what the movie's about.  But other than that... has anyone heard or read anything about this film starring Brad Pitt as Jesse () and Sam Sheppard (good idea) as Frank?  The story line is from a novel of that name by Ron Hansen.

The reason I'm asking about it here is because I'm wondering if there is a shred of authenticity in the film, or whether the public will be misinformed by Hollywood once agan.

JD

[Marshal Halloway]

Here is link to the book the film is based on and with reviews:

Assassination of Jesse James

[Dr. Bob]

Howdy JD,

No reason, so far, to bet that Hollywierd has changed their evil ways and decided to be historically accurate.   Or, am I just too cynical?

[Advertising]

[B. Butch Cavendish]

This is a subject I could talk about for a spell. The way the movies pretray Jesse James. Auddie Murphy had him as a hero. Rob Lowe, well was Rob Lowe. Robert Duvall made him an SOB. Tryone Power made him a handsome family guy. "A datime soap star hero," Then we had James Keech who well just did not fit the bill, and this last british guy who made him into a commic book hero. Shooting guns like a laser blaster on Star Wars. the best on sceen so far for me was chris Kristopherson in a t.v. movie about the death of Jesse James with Johnny Cash as frank.     I think with all this time on screen Jesse could be in there somewhere.  Brad Pitt I think has a good chance to pull it off. I would just like to see an honest portrail of the man.

[tarheel mac]

You know B. Butch,I would like to see an honest truthful historically western..period.  Hollywood in general avoids those like they'll catch cooties doing 'em..."lonesome Dove" was pretty good, and the movies Selleck does, well, he at least tries..but most of the others...Hollywood seems to currently controled by the PC crowd....

[thehairlessone]

I think it good that they are making another western. I wish there would be more.

I would like to see one more out of Clint Eastwood before he gets too old.

rick

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

I read several pages of the book on Amazon (Thanks, Marshall H.).  The first thing I have to get past is what I'm assuming is gonna be a psycho-babble portrait of Jesse.  We can look back and make some educated guesses about what Jesse did and how he felt after the Pinkertons bombed his mother's house.  But there is a tendency these days to try to get inside the heads/emotions of historical figures, which is a reflection of these 21st century times when people tend to, well, Emote, if you knowwhat I mean.  I'm sure that Victorians and mid-19th century folk, especially War vets, didn't share their innermost feelings with many.  Which makes most descriptions of the same to be sheer guesses.

Take Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven.  He didn't have to tell us what he was feeling.  He didn't have to describe how his emotions changed from the beginning of the story to the end.  It was all pretty d'd clear.

Anyway, the first chapter of the novel makes some bold assertions.  I'll probably buy the book just to see if the author can substantiate his claims.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Below is the entry in IMDB.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0443680/

Slim

[Pukin Dog]

Anyone know when its going to come out? 

Has to be alot better than that "Sheep herders" movie they are calling a western that has the whole PC crowd going nuts.  'Course I wouldn't know since I sincerely doubt I'll ever go see it.

[Major 2]

You know B. Butch,I would like to see an honest truthful historically western..period.  Hollywood in general avoids those like they'll catch cooties doing 'em..."lonesome Dove" was pretty good, and the movies Selleck does, well, he at least tries..but most of the others...Hollywood seems to currently controled by the PC crowd....

I think you will like "Open Range"

one trend I'm not liking though, is these productions are going on location Canada ( kinda puts it outreach, workwise for me)

[RowdyBill]

I hope we see some realism and not another glorification of the James gang.  They call Bob Ford a coward, but going into Jesse James' home ground to pop him had to take some nerve, even if it was a backshot.  And it's not like Jesse hadn't popped a few unarmed folk himself.  (Turnabout is fair play, isn't it?).

The only semi-compassionate folk in that gang were the Youngers, in my opinion.  It appears they tried real hard to avoid killing folk at Northfield and shortly thereafter.  Frank James didn't have any trouble killing, however.  He shot the teller and maybe that poor Swedish guy.  (Poor feller should have read Fodor's travel on the Old West before coming over here.)

[B. Butch Cavendish]

 You know rowdybill I don't think you and I are going to get on to good.

[Pukin Dog]

Too bad the folks in Northfield didn't kill em all.  Would have saved alot of trouble for the law dogs.  As it was, they pretty much ended the James-Younger gang as a functional unit. 

I don't go much into glorifying those murderous punks.  They weren't any better than the gang bangers of today.

[St. George]

What Northfield showed was the fact that then - as now - criminals aren't all that damned bright.

The robbery was planned on a town with a high percentage of returned veterans to whom weapons and the effective use of same were no stranger.

They'd had years of hard campaigning and were finally able to return home to re-start their lives once more - only wanting some well-deserved peace and maybe some prosperity and then - the James-Younger gang rode into town.

An amazing day for them, I'd imagine - given the fact that mere 'farmers' and townspeople reacted as swiftly and violently as they did...

But then - I'd guess they'd learned how to do 'that' in places like Gettysburg and Shiloh and Brandy Station - and other blood-stained fields - against highly-motivated, well-armed and well-led soldiers - while the Border Trash was out terrorizing the weak and poorly-armed.

This glorification of psychopathic killers such as Andersen, Quantrill, Hardin and Bonney is a mystery to me and the reading of their individual histories doesn't allow for much to emulate, it would seem.

Scouts Out!



 

[Mogorilla]

While I would place Anderson and Bonney in the nutso killer league, I don't know that I would Captain Quantrill.  While I never have received, nor probably ever will, a good explanation for Quantrill's joining the Southern Cause in Missouri.  If you are going to toss them into the pyschopathic killer arena, you'd better include the Terrorist Extrodinaire, John Brown and his family of murderers.  The MO-Kan border was definitely a rough place to live and definitely created a lot of problems.  Things that were done to civilians on both sides were terrible.  I have always honestly gelt that the James-Younger gang honestly started out as a continuation of the War.  The Youngers definitely had a beef with Yankees, and rightfully so.   I do think, somewhere though the robbing became more about money and thrill than payback.  I did the math somewhere and had Jesse and Frank stashed the money, they should never have had to do Northfield, they should have been able to retire somewhere and buy nice ranches.   Obviously, they were acting like thieves and spending money recklessly, leading to more robberies.  (unless you believe the Robin Hood of Missouri Part).   Northfield was reckless and shows the gangs stupidity to a high degree.  They were out of their element, no friendly sympathetic people to help and a lot of ticked off German immigrants. 

[Pukin Dog]

If you are going to toss them into the pyschopathic killer arena, you'd better include the Terrorist Extrodinaire, John Brown and his family of murderers. 

I definitely would put John Brown and his sons in that category!  From all I can read, he was a rabid abolishinist and would do anything to foment slave revolution.  Its sad that there were many in the North who sympathized with him.  Just made things even worse and pretty much ruled out the moderates being able to defuse the situation in 1861.

[B. Butch Cavendish]

You know I have nothin aginst you pards, and it just goes to show how different folks are. But to this day, and I can't help it I feel anger building up in me when the Quantrill. Anderson, Tood, and james/Younger gang get dissed. I can't explain it, I have a different take on the bleeding of Kansas, article 11 and the boarder wars. In my garadge I fly the first confederate flag, the stars and bars, the msm flag and the black flag of Quantrill. My ansastor was George Barnett a minor figure with Quantrill. But he did ride with quantrill into Lawarnce and centrila. And took part in the James younger hold up of the Bank in Hunnington WVA in 1868 before marring up with great grandma. I guess somethings never change.

[RowdyBill]

You know I have nothin aginst you pards, and it just goes to show how different folks are. But to this day, and I can't help it I feel anger building up in me when the Quantrill. Anderson, Tood, and james/Younger gang get dissed. I can't explain it, I have a different take on the bleeding of Kansas, article 11 and the boarder wars. In my garadge I fly the first confederate flag, the stars and bars, the msm flag and the black flag of Quantrill. My ansastor was George Barnett a minor figure with Quantrill. But he did ride with quantrill into Lawarnce and centrila. And took part in the James younger hold up of the Bank in Hunnington WVA in 1868 before marring up with great grandma. I guess somethings never change.

We're all different for certain, but that's what makes a good town.

I used to idolize those James/Youngers guys too, but we all had ancestors who lived back then.  One of mine was a farmer who used to drive his cart into Abilene while Hickock was a lawman, and my ancestor, despite town ordnance, carried a concealed handgun for self defense (mostly for the trip out of town after he collected his cash).  The folks of back then worked hard to survive, so it is difficult for me to sympathize with men who robbed them and called themselves heroes.

The James Younger gang rode for loot, not for the South, or they would have done all of their robberies outside of the South.  Heck, probably the same can be said for Quantrill and his group.  When you get down to it, a lot of these groups' motivations was likely some blend between greed and vengeance.  It's just like today's gangs who say they repsesent a statement against the greed of or being forgotten by society or something, but in reality these gangs are just about making a fast buck and enjoying cheap thrills.

Now some decent men to idolize from the Old West might be men like Ben Thompson, Hickock, Luke Short, the Mastersons, etc.  But not the frickin James gang. 

Now fly that Confederate flag all you want, but remember the South was wrong.  I live in the South, love the South, but the South was wrong.  We cannot talk about rights of secession while supporting slavery at the same time.  Now, without the slavery issue, maybe the South would have been right.  I am still amazed to this day how lenient the North was after their victory. 

[Mogorilla]

I'm not saying the South was right, but I wouldn't exactly say the North was lenient.  The aftermath of the war caused issues that are still being felt to this day.   As a nation, we treated Germany and Japan better than we treated the former Confederate States.   

[Pukin Dog]

You know I have nothin aginst you pards, and it just goes to show how different folks are. But to this day, and I can't help it I feel anger building up in me when the Quantrill. Anderson, Tood, and james/Younger gang get dissed. I can't explain it, I have a different take on the bleeding of Kansas, article 11 and the boarder wars. In my garadge I fly the first confederate flag, the stars and bars, the msm flag and the black flag of Quantrill. My ansastor was George Barnett a minor figure with Quantrill. But he did ride with quantrill into Lawarnce and centrila. And took part in the James younger hold up of the Bank in Hunnington WVA in 1868 before marring up with great grandma. I guess somethings never change

I got nothing against you revering those types or the Confederacy.  To each his own.  But don't expect alot of company either.  130+ years later its pretty clear that the South was not on the right side of history.  The US is now united and strong instead of broken up and weak.  The "Cause" was never right and there isn't much sorrow for its demise.  Unless you think slavery is a good thing??