On The Assassination of Jesse James

Our friend bamz found this review at DeadPool. Be warned, there are movie spoilers in here! The book is available linked through the picture to the left at Amazon.com.

“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”

Screenplay by: Andrew Dominik (2004 version)

Based on the book by Ron Hansen

Reviewed by Frederick J. Chiaventone

Now this is rather an odd development. If you watch PBS at all, you may have seen me interviewed on the American Experience program in their biography of Jesse James (directed by Mark Zwonitzer who also did “The Irish in America”). Further, I had also just finished doing an on screen interview for the History Channel program (still in production) which asked both myself and Ron Hansen to comment on the real-life relationship between Bob Ford and Jesse James. James, you see, lived a few miles east of my home and the famous photo of him as a young Civil War guerrilla was taken not 6 miles from here. Thus, for any half decent historian in the area there’s some familiarity with the exploits of the James boys and I was delighted to have a copy of Dominik’s script show up. Now, before we go into the story there is one salient fact you ought to know – Jesse James is played by Brad Pitt. Just keep that in mind and we’ll touch on the significance of that fact later.

The story opens in a depressingly ordinary little house on Woodland Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri where an older Jesse James lives in quiet anonymity with his wife Zee and their two small children. The infamous outlaw of legend seems, if anything, trapped in a life of quiet desperation. He dresses well and associates with established businessmen but he is truly a hollow man, without a purpose and living on the financial edge. His wife Zee seems harried and timid, and the children, whom he obviously dotes on, do not even know their father’s real name. This is not the sort of life for which Jesse had bargained. A legend throughout the country, the real man behind the lurid newspaper stories is at the end of his rope. Moody, alone, unhappy, and increasingly paranoid Jesse James is looking to change his life and prospects but it is clear that the glory days are behind him. With the aid of narration it is quickly made clear that the vaunted Robin Hood of American legend is less than his publicity would have you believe. Imperfectly educated, he is a passionate reader of the Bible but woefully inadequate on other subjects, he is bothered by his eyes and by old injuries – both real and imagined – and has an exaggerated opinion of himself.

With the scene set, the action quickly moves to the infamous Blue Cut train robbery where we meet the other members of a reconstituted James Gang. Brother Frank is back and the brothers are joined by their confederates Wood Hite (a cousin), Ed Miller, Dick Liddill, and, of course, the newest additions to the gang the Ford brothers Bob and Charlie. Their old associates – the Younger brothers and other hardened former rebels – are either in prison or dead following the disastrous raid on Northfield and Frank and Jesse have to make do with less experienced, less reliable human material. It is soon apparent that Frank is less than sanguine about their new organization. The incident goes down as one might expect with much bravado on the part of the robbers and trepidation on the part of the hapless victims. There is nothing romantic or daring about the caper. It is, to be generous, clumsy and unsatisfying. While the young thugs enjoy terrorizing and causing havoc among the passengers and crew, only Jesse seems absolutely to revel in the experience. He is in his element, an adrenaline junkie and truly enjoying himself.

Frank, older and more professional, seems unsatisfied with the Blue Cut affair. It’s a job he does to humor his younger brother but takes little pleasure in it. Frank is fed up and has already decided that he will give up the outlaw life for good, whatever the future may hold even if it is only “…to sell shoes.” It quickly becomes clear that he and Jesse are only barely on speaking terms. Shortly thereafter Frank and his family are gone and Jesse is left to manage the remnants of the gang. Most of the crew are sent packing but Jesse keeps Bob with him — mostly to use him as a workhorse – moving the family’s belongings to a new residence and doing heavy chores around the house. Bob, who has grown up with a bad case of hero worship, is initially thrilled to be integrated into the James household but soon sees another, darker side of his hero – almost entirely humorless and given to what can only be described as manic-depressive mood swings. Jesse, it seems, is almost entirely without a conscience. Were he among us today we would likely describe him very adequately as a sociopath. It isn’t long before Bob begins to fear for his own life. When Jesse unexpectedly announces that Bob’s services are no longer required the youngster leaves with an uneasy feeling – half disappointment, half relief.

Shortly after Bob leaves Jesse’s home he finds himself at his sister Martha’s farm with his brother Charlie, Dick Liddill, who has become his sister’s erstwhile boyfriend, and Jesse’s cousin Wood Hite. Wood imagines himself a bit of a ladies man and makes a nuisance of himself with Martha. Later Dick Liddill returns the compliment by amusing himself with Sarah Hite – the overly young wife of Wood’s aged father. The bad blood between Hite and Liddill turns violent as the two wind up exchanging gunfire over the incident. In the meantime, an increasingly paranoid Jesse James seeks out his old colleague Ed Miller and leaves him dead in the woods. Jesse fears betrayal and has decided to tie up a couple of loose ends. It is after this that in a chance meeting at Martha’s farm the feud between Wood Hite and Dick Liddill comes to a head and shots are again exchanged. Bob Ford happens to be there and, when it appears that Hite is about to kill Liddill, Bob panics and shoots Hite through the head. Terrified that they’ve all helped to kill Jesse’s cousin, Bob, Charlie, Dick, and Martha hurriedly dump the body in a ravine.

With this incident the scene is set for the denouement of the entire story. Terrified that Jesse will tumble to their complicity in his cousin’s disappearance Dick Liddill turns himself in to the authorities and Bob and Charlie Ford make an approach to the authorities thinking that they can bargain their knowledge of Jesse James’ whereabouts for their own immunity and at the same time avoid Jesse’s vengeance should he tumble to their involvement in Wood Hite’s demise. I think that to further detail the action at this point would be to needlessly give away the plot (as if you couldn’t figure it out on your own). There are, however a few thoughts which ought to be aired on this work.

The fact that in this version Jesse James is played by Brad Pitt will, I suspect, tax the credibility of many moviegoers (although probably not that of Jennifer Anniston or Michael Douglas). However, I have to say that if anything this role is a daring move for Pitt as the real Jesse James was likely as unsympathetic as he is here portrayed. For this both Dominik and Pitt are to admired and applauded. The potential downside of this approach is the casting of Pitt in what is a decidedly anti-heroic role. Jesse James is not a nice person and Dominik does nothing to sugar coat the character (bravo to Dominik). The great danger of this approach is something which I saw manifested a few years ago when I worked with director Ang Lee on his Civil War film Ride With The Devil. Working from Jim Schamus’s adaptation of Dan Woodrell’s book “Woe to Love On” the film was really an excellent piece of work featuring strong performances by Toby Maguire, Jim Caviezel, Skeet Ulrich, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (all relative unknowns back then) and with an exceptional turn done by Jeffery Wright (since awarded a Tony for his work on Broadway). However historically accurate and strongly written, performed and filmed the work was, the folks in charge of advertising and distribution apparently got cold feet when they realized that Wright was playing (quite accurately) a former slave now riding with Confederate rebel Bushwhackers. Thanks to a misplaced and neurotic sense of political correctness the film wound up playing on, I believe, only 40 screens nationwide before going quickly to video. So much for the Hollywood types who claim to be “edgy” (and God, how I hate that term and the morons who use it).

When a year or two ago I heard that Plan B Pictures had acquired the rights to Ron’s novel – which I very much enjoyed by the way – I was happy to set up some visits between Dominik and the officials at the Jesse James Home Farm and Museum and at the Liberty Bank (site of the first daylight bank robbery). While local residents had some hopes that the picture would be filmed locally I can fully appreciate the decision to move the production to Canada where costs are lower and the environment is less “developed.” My biggest concern , as alluded to above in the Ride With The Devil incident, was that Hollywood would take a very grim and dark tale and do the old La-La Land magic on same. Not that they would necessarily populate the screen with talking horses or cartoon character lawmen but that the resulting interpretation would be far too saccharine or romanticized. For once I suspect the “historical accuracy” crowd may not be too disappointed. We can only hope that the drones at Warner Brothers don’t have fears of Brad Pitt’s image, already somewhat tarnished by the Jennifer Anniston / Angelina Jolie issue, being further damaged by playing a thoroughly unpleasant character. Look for the finished film to appear in theaters sometime in November of 2006. If both Dominik and Pitt hold true to their vision of Jesse James we are in for a film which will be well worth the time and effort.

—————
Frederick J. Chiaventone a retired Army officer and now an award-winning novelist and screenwriter taught counter-insurgency, National Security Strategy, counter-terrorism, and psychological operations at the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College. His novels have won the Ambassador William Colby Award for Literature, The Western Heritage Award, and The William Rockhill Nelson Award for Literature. He has written for American Heritage, The New York Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and Parameters, and was a contributing editor for the Oxford Companion to American Military History and The Historical Dictionary of the U. S. Army.