I Shot Jesse James

Monday, April 14, 2008

We have something of a theme pick here, as I watched this one as a follow up to Sam Fuller's Pickup On South Street (he directed this one) and Walter Hill's The Long Riders (also about Jesse James).

Actually, this one isn't about Jesse James; he's dead before the 30 minute mark. It's more about the life of Robert Ford after he murders Jesse. Which, if this followed the facts at all, turns out to be pretty odd. Especially when he joins a stage show where he re-enacts the shooting of Jesse.

So, this is a completely different handling of the material compared to The Long Riders, as that was a violent, highly fictionalized, maybe somewhat romanticized, western action picture where Bob Ford was barely a footnote. Hell, Charles Ford even has a bigger role than Bob. I Shot Jesse James is more of a drama about Ford's life, how he's consumed with guilt and falls apart. There's a little action here and there, but mostly it's a character study.

I'm hoping to check out The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford soon, which I think would make for a nice trilogy of blog entries.


This is the fourth Sam Fuller film I've seen, and the only one I didn't like. It has it's moments, like when Ford buys a wandering minstrel a drink in exchange for a song, and the guy picks one he says everyone likes, which turns out to be about the murder of Jesse James. Needless to say, Ford doesn't take it too well. He storms outside, where someone starts taking shots at him from the dark... and it turns out to be a little kid, who wants to become famous by killing Robert Ford.

But too much of the movie is corny and flatly staged (although there are some nice visual touches), quite probably because this was Fuller's first film.

Like, early on there are a couple of scenes where Jesse keeps turning his back on Ford, and then really melodramatic music cues up to let you know that Ford might shoot him. It's a little much. (I did like that one of these scenes takes place while Jesse is in his bathtub, adding what I would like to think is an intentional homosexual undertone.)

Compared to something like Pickup On South Street, this movie just isn't very entertaining, or energetic, or involving, not to mention the complete lack of badass-ness. I mean, there's a part in Pickup where a minor character gets executed by a bad guy, and it just rips your heart out. Here, you don't much give a shit when anyone dies, including Jesse James and Robert Ford.

Oh well. I'll still be checking out more Fuller down the line.