The murder of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford

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Movie
German title The murder of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford
Original title The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 160 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Andrew Dominik
script Andrew Dominik
production Jules Daly
Dede Gardner
Brad Pitt
Ridley Scott
David Valdes
music Nick Cave
Warren Ellis
camera Roger Deakins
cut Curtiss Clayton
Dylan Tichenor
occupation

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (short title: The Assassination of Jesse James ) is an American Western - drama from the year 2007 . The New Zealander Andrew Dominik directed the screenplay based on the novel of the same name by Ron Hansen . Casey Affleck was nominated for an Oscar , Brad Pitt received the Coppa Volpi at the 64th Venice Film Festival .

action

1881. Jesse James is the leader of a band of robbers in the Midwest . In the last twelve years, in which Jesse (now 34 years old), his older brother Frank and their gang raided numerous banks, railways and stagecoaches, they became known nationwide for their actions.

Under an assumed name, Jesse James lives undisturbed with his wife and two children in Kansas City , Missouri . With all the members of the old gang in jail or dead, he and his brother surround each other with a number of local bush thieves and good-for-nothing for another train robbery. Among them is the weird 19-year-old Robert Ford , nicknamed Bob. He worships and admires Jesse James, whom he knows from childhood novels. Bob Ford vies for Jesse's recognition, but Jesse has only scorn and ridicule for him. Gradually, Bob realizes that his idol is not as noble as he imagined. On the one hand, Jesse James is charismatic and a gifted leader, but on the other hand he is also overly cautious, dangerous and completely unpredictable.

Later there is an argument in the lonely house of Ford's sister Martha, which the gang uses as a hiding place after the robbery. In the argument, Bob shoots Jesse's cousin Wood Hite after he threatened to shoot Dick Liddil in the head. It is decided to hide Wood's body in the woods and not tell Jesse about this incident, as this would only get enraged.

Bob, who is now largely disappointed with the real Jesse James, nevertheless develops a kind of love-hate relationship with him. He reveals to the sheriff of Kansas City, in exchange for impunity and the promised reward, that some gang members are staying in his sister's hut, where they are arrested shortly afterwards. After Jesse James, increasingly plagued by depression and extremely suspicious, shot a gang member, the others began to fear that Jesse could deal with them in the same way. Driven by fear of Jesse and the prospect of high reward, Bob Ford continues to work with the governor to arrest Jesse James.

James and the two Ford brothers are planning further bank robberies, but they never happen. He quartered the two Ford brothers in his new home in St. Joseph , Missouri, where James' whims again showed up. He feels that he is being betrayed, but doesn't know by whom. He lets the two Ford brothers stay with him for observation.

Bob Ford has ten days to arrest James. The days are getting more uncomfortable and scary for the Ford brothers as James becomes more suspicious and unpredictable. James has a special eye on Bob Ford and his brother is also afraid that one day Jesse will know what the two are up to and kill them. Finally, Robert Ford shoots Jesse James, when the unarmed dusts off a picture and turns his back on him. James had previously put down his weapons demonstratively and watched without reaction as both brothers get ready to shoot.

After the death of Jesse James, the whole country takes an interest. A real Robin Hood hero worship, up to the transfiguration, arises. Robert Ford also enjoyed the public's interest in his person for some time and thus achieved prosperity. Over the years, however, the picture changes. Ford is increasingly referred to as a coward and murderer who shot an American hero from behind. At first he vehemently defends himself against these allegations, but becomes increasingly lethargic. Even his brother turns against him and eventually commits suicide . Bob Ford falls into depression and regrets the murder of Jesse James, which he would like to have around him again. He finds comfort in the arms of the dancer Dorothy Evans, to whom he tells that the only reason for his act was the fear of Jesse James. Twelve years after the crime, Ford has now become a melancholy and bitter man, he is shot in his own saloon by the unknown Ed O'Kelley who wants to avenge James' death.

Reviews

Emanuel Levy wrote that the film was innovative in its structure and "reflective" in tone; he shows the events from a refreshing, modern perspective. Alongside No Country for Old Men, it is the second masterpiece of the season. The film is primarily a study of the envy, obsession and vindictiveness of Robert Ford, who is the central character of the film far more than Jesse James. The plot is "extensively" commented on by a narrator.

Todd McCarthy wrote in Variety in 2007 that the "elegant" and "artful" film marked a step forward by the director compared to his Australian film Chopper from the year 2000. Casey Affleck made an "indelible impression" in the role of an insecure weakling. The critic questioned the commercial success and advised the production company to show the film in selected cinemas first - in the hope of supportive criticism and word of mouth.

Wolfgang Höbel wrote in Spiegel Online in 2007 that the film shows a “duel between a strong father figure who is incapable of showing love and a weak, soft young man”. It is a film in which “every word and every clearing of the throat” could have fatal consequences, according to Epd Film . Cristina Nord wrote in the taz : “The film is elegiac and feasts on parched grain fields and tired faces. It is a western that starts where others stop ”.

Peter Hartlaub stated: “Often impressive as a work of visual art; as a product of popular entertainment, on the other hand, it is cumbersome, repetitive and without a single sensible action scene. ”According to him, the“ polarizing ”film could at best reach die-hard Terrence Malick admirers or those of Jarmusch's Dead Man .

Susan Vahabzadeh found in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the recipe for the film didn't work out. He is "a bit very pathetic ". Duration and speed, according to Kenneth Turan, "on the verge of [spectator] torture". Roger Ebert stated: “There are qualities of men, horses and horizons that are simply extremely suitable for the wide screen. [...] It is indeed long at 160 minutes. "

Anke Westphal at the Berliner Zeitung saw a “two and a half hour meditation on light”. Fritz Göttler observed: “The murder as staged here has a suicidal undertone. [...] Roger Deakins' camera, which is luxuriantly indulging in the fields outside, seems to hold its breath [...] "Peter Körte wonders in the FAZ :" At some point you ask yourself what the film actually wants or should be. It looks like it has fallen out of time, it seems to be enough of itself. ”When editing , Martin Holtz noticed:“ Even in the historiography, the blurring dominates towards the edges. ”Harry Knowles:“ The real star of the film is, by the way ... Andrew Dominik . "

“[A] return to films of the [19] 70s and […] swan song for oneself […] The film has been reproached for a lot: it has no attitude towards the subject, as if Rembrandt's light and heroic fatigue, the exhaustion of masculinity and whose flight into depression, which the film shows, would not be an attitude. He would find no story that America had to tell itself - as if the story of the war children and the media mechanisms, the gap between truth and myth, were not a story. It does not offer psychology, as if the introspection of betrayal and of people who murder during the week and sit at the breakfast table with the family on Sunday and sing in church is not highly psychological. "

- Rüdiger Suchsland : Artechock

Georg Seeßlen wrote in the weekly newspaper Freitag : “The classic Western showed men with values ​​in a world that could be changed by these values; the late west showed men with values ​​in a world that only laughs at these values ​​and therefore only allows the heroic or at least self-sufficient man the path to his own death. [... The film] shows that these values did not exist. [...] This film asks the Western [...] about something more radical: about the image. […] Jesse James was not murdered. He let himself be killed because he could no longer bear himself. And Robert Ford wasn't a coward. "

For the magazine Epd Film he was “a mighty, often great artist, ambitious to the limits of the pretentious.” The Film Service understood the film as a “drama of deceleration and disillusionment that opposes the media society with resistance; as a lyrical contemplation of star fame and glamor, the film also demythizes the historical figure Jesse James and unfolds mythical potential itself . "

Awards

Casey Affleck was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award in 2008 for Best Supporting Actor.

Brad Pitt was awarded the Coppa Volpi , the actor's award at the 64th Venice Film Festival , for the title role of Jesse James in 2007 . Casey Affleck received a Best Supporting Actor award at the Satellite Awards 2007 , and production design, cinematography, and music were nominated for the same award. Casey Affleck won the same year Actor Award of the National Board of Review and the 2008 National Society of Film Critics Award , and he was in 2008 for the Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Casey Affleck, the film music and the camera work were also nominated for the Online Film Critics Society Award in 2008 . Casey Affleck and the film for film of the year were nominated for the 2008 London Critics Circle Film Award . In 2008 there were also nominations for Best Film at the Empire Awards and for the Golden Reel Award of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (category: sound editing).

In 2016, Dominik's directorial work was ranked 92nd in a BBC survey of the 100 most important films of the 21st century .

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

backgrounds

The film was shot in the Canadian towns of Calgary , Canmore , and Edmonton (all in the province of Alberta ) and in Winnipeg ( Manitoba ). Its production amounted to an estimated 30 million US dollars .

The musician Nick Cave , who also has a guest appearance in the film, only recently gained experience in the western genre with The Proposition (D: John Hillcoat , AUS / GB 2005), there also as a screenwriter.

The film had its world premiere on September 2, 2007 at the 2007 Venice Film Festival , which opened on August 29 . On September 8, 2007, it was screened at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival . On September 21, 2007, the film began to be released in select cinemas in the United States, where the film grossed approximately $ 3.9 million by January 27, 2008. The German theatrical release took place on October 25, 2007.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2007 (PDF; test number: 111 680 K).
  2. ↑ Age designation for The murder of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ James Christopher: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. In: The Times . November 29, 2007, accessed on February 21, 2009 : "one of the most unholy creeps I've seen on screen"
  4. ↑ a b c Hans Schifferle: The murder of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. In: epd film 11/2007. 2007, accessed January 2, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b Artechock, see web links.
  6. ↑ Emanuel Levy: Film Review ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 3, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.emanuellevy.com
  7. ↑ Todd McCarth :, film review ( memento of the original from October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 17, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.variety.com
  8. ^ Wolfgang Höbel: Film review accessed October 17, 2007
  9. ↑ Cristina Nord: The wild western is everywhere. In: the daily newspaper . September 3, 2007, accessed February 21, 2009 .
  10. ↑ Peter Hartlaub: Admirers of Jesse James, well, you've been robbed. In: San Francisco Chronicle . October 5, 2007, accessed on February 21, 2009 (English): “As a piece of visual art, the movie is frequently impressive. But as a piece of popular entertainment, it's ponderous, repetitive and lacking a single rousing action sequence "
  11. ↑ Susan Vahabzadeh: Review accessed October 17, 2007
  12. ↑ Kenneth Turan: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. (No longer available online.) In: Los Angeles Times . September 21, 2007, archived from the original on October 14, 2008 ; Retrieved on February 21, 2009 (English): "Spending hour after hour watching this [...] is close to torture" Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.calendarlive.com
  13. ^ Roger Ebert : The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (R). In: rogerebert.suntimes.com. October 5, 2007, accessed on February 21, 2009 (English): “There are things about men, horses and horizons that are uniquely suited to the wide screen. [...] Yes, it is long, at 160 minutes "
  14. ↑ Anke Westphal: Death while dusting . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 24, 2007
  15. ↑ Fritz Göttler: Tired Murderers. (No longer available online.) In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 24, 2007, archived from the original on September 24, 2008 ; accessed on February 21, 2009 (from Filmzentrale). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.filmzentrale.com
  16. ↑ Peter Körte: Out of Time: "The Assassination of Jesse James". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . October 21, 2007, accessed February 21, 2009 .
  17. ^ Martin Holtz: Reprint the Legend. In: cut . Retrieved February 21, 2009 (for the title, see The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (D: John Ford , USA 1962).).
  18. ↑ a b Harry Knowles: Harry witnesses The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford! In: Ain't it Cool News. September 4, 2007, accessed on February 21, 2009 (English): "However - this is all distracting the real star of the film ... Andrew Dominik."
  19. ↑ Georg Seeßlen: Film review accessed December 6, 2012 in accessed on February 21, 2009
  20. ↑ The murder of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. In: Lexicon of international films . Film Service , accessed February 21, 2009 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  21. ^ Filming locations for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford , accessed September 3, 2007.
  22. ↑ a b Box office / business for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Internet Movie Database , accessed on May 22, 2015 (English).
  23. ^ Opening dates for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .