The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

 That’s quite a title. This is a movie that has really snuck up on me, I was aware that Pitt had made a western which was generally going down well with critics and at small festivals but was evidently distracted by some other releases that caught my eye. When I released that the director was the guy who made ‘Chopper’ my interest was piqued, and the final decision to catch it at the cinema was cemented by a hagiographic review in Sight & Sound which effectively named it as possibly the best western since the 1970’s. Assassination focuses in on the final days of ultimate betrayal and murder of Jesse James, one of the West’s more enduring mythical figures. In a winter bound and frosty Iowa of 1882 we are taken into the dying days of the James gang, the majority if whom have been killed or imprisoned. Increasingly isolated and paranoid Jesse James plans one final score with some of his remaining allies, including a Robert Ford who has idolised the myth if not the man of James since his youth.

Let’s make this clear shall we – this is not only possibly the best new film of the year but also one of the best westerns I have ever seen, and I’ve seen all the key pictures by the masters of the genre – Ford, Anthony Mann, Leone, Howard Hawks, Peckinpah and of course Eastwood. The performances are first rate – I’ve always been ambivalent about Pitt, with the exception of Fight Club I haven’t seen him deliver a more that average performance but he is outstanding in this, quietly conveying the almost transcendental acceptance of his betrayal and death. Casey Affleck also shines with his hesitant, paradoxical and mysterious portrayal of the ‘coward’ ford. Sam Rockwell and an early scene with the great Sam Shepherd also provide able support in this sure-fire best picture Oscar nominee. The film also boasts a wonderful score by Nick Cave (who does a cameo, appropriately enough as a musician toward the end of the film) and Warren Ellis which effortlessly assimilates into the wonderful photography by Coen’s regular DP Roger Deakins – a Oscar nomination for sure and if there’s any justice he’ll be talking that statuette home come February. It has elements of Altman’s McCabe & Mrs Miller and has the majesty of Malick’s Days of Heaven – no mean feat. Many of the critics have praised it’s similarities to Mali work, the stunning photography, the voiceover, the distanced and measured pace and I have to add my voice to the chorus.

So then, Westerns. Far from my favourite genre to be honest, (no, not even the ‘Classic Westerns’ which I have to say, it’s a private Peterborough joke...) and the fact that once every ten years a good, solid film comes along that happens to be a Western inevitably results in ‘is the western genre been re-kindled?’ opinion pieces. Well, I have to agree with Paterson and sadly advise you that no it hasn’t. One, even two moderately successful films does not make a revival, especially when you consider the hundreds of Westerns that the major and minor studios were churning out on a yearly basis from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. It’s also not strictly speaking for me a revisionist western – they always strike me as films that concentrate on setting the historical record straight, usually in relation to the treatment of the native Americans in films like Dances With Wolves, with a combination of contemporary comment as in Soldier Blue with the obvious parallels with My Lai and other massacres of native American women and children. Home of the Brave indeed.

Assassination is in a different sphere, it’s much more of mediation on life and death than a mere inquiry into current trends and concerns, although the examination of the nature of celebrity and the cult of fame obviously has extant overtones. The evocation of the period is stylised rather than assimilating the brutal, dirty realism of say Deadwood – again this deviates it from the revisionist agenda and places the picture out into an area all its own. I think it was Eastwood who said that the Western and Jazz are really the only wo art-forms which can be considered as uniquely American. This is a first class example of the genre and comes highly recommended.