The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Encyclopedia
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (often shortened to The Assassination of Jesse James or simply as Jesse James) is a 2007 American Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

. The film is directed by Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik is a New Zealand-born Australian film director and screenwriter. He has directed two films so far: Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.-Early life and career:...

, with Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

 portraying Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

 and Casey Affleck
Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt , better known as Casey Affleck, is an American actor and film director. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting and Ocean's Eleven as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as...

 as his killer, Robert Ford
Robert Ford (outlaw)
Robert Newton "Bob" Ford was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader Jesse James in 1882. Ford was shot to death by Edward O'Kelley in his tent saloon with a shotgun blast to the front upper body...

.

Filming took place in rural Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

 and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. Initially intended for a 2006 release, it was postponed and re-edited for a September 21, 2007 release. An adaptation of Ron Hansen
Ron Hansen (novelist)
Ron Hansen is an American novelist, essayist, and professor.-Biography:Hansen was born in Omaha, Nebraska, attended a Jesuit high school, Creighton Preparatory School and earned a Bachelor's degree in English from Creighton University in Omaha in 1970. Following military service, he earned an M.F.A...

's 1983 novel of the same name
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (novel)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 1983 novel by Ron Hansen based on the killing of American Wild West bandit Jesse James at the hands of Robert Ford....

, the film dramatizes the relationship between James and Ford. This is Pitt's and Affleck's first collaboration outside of the Ocean's trilogy
Ocean's Trilogy
The Ocean's Trilogy is a series of three caper comedies directed by Steven Soderbergh and produced by Jerry Weintraub for Warner Bros., between 2001 and 2007. The first of the films, Ocean's Eleven was a remake of the 1960 film of the same name and was followed, due to an immense commercial...

.

Premise and title

The film was adapted from Ron Hansen
Ron Hansen (novelist)
Ron Hansen is an American novelist, essayist, and professor.-Biography:Hansen was born in Omaha, Nebraska, attended a Jesuit high school, Creighton Preparatory School and earned a Bachelor's degree in English from Creighton University in Omaha in 1970. Following military service, he earned an M.F.A...

's 1983 novel of the same name
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (novel)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 1983 novel by Ron Hansen based on the killing of American Wild West bandit Jesse James at the hands of Robert Ford....

.

Unlike Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

 movies of the past, Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik is a New Zealand-born Australian film director and screenwriter. He has directed two films so far: Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.-Early life and career:...

's film is presented as a psychoanalytical historical epic rather than a shoot-'em-up western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

. The movie details the outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...

's deteriorating psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...

 during his final months of life as he slowly succumbs to paranoia and develops a precarious friendship with his eventual assassin, Robert Ford
Robert Ford (outlaw)
Robert Newton "Bob" Ford was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader Jesse James in 1882. Ford was shot to death by Edward O'Kelley in his tent saloon with a shotgun blast to the front upper body...

. The strange relationship between the two men is examined over the course of the film.

Peter Bradshaw's review in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

makes note of James's contribution to his own demise as well as the apparent paradox
Paradox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...

 present in the title of both novel and film:
As his career draws to an end, Jesse James becomes aware of the impossibility of facing an increasingly vast army of sheriffs, federal agents and Pinkerton
Pinkerton National Detective Agency
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...

 men. He senses that, inevitably, one of his gang will in any case sell him out for a fat reward. Unwilling to give the lawmen that satisfaction, James embraces his own death and subtly cultivates the mercurial attentions of the most obviously cringing and cowardly of his associates: 20-year-old Robert Ford. With the taunts and whims of a lover, he encourages Ford's envious, murderous fascination, and grooms him as his own killer, so that his own legend will be pristine after his death. He engineers a character-assassination of Ford, and the title, knowingly, gets it precisely the wrong way around.


Ford, who grew up idolizing James and wishing to join the gang himself, sets off on a mission to Glendale
Glendale, Missouri
Glendale is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,925 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Glendale is located at ....

, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, where the James-Younger Gang
James-Younger gang
The James-Younger Gang was a notable 19th-century gang of American outlaws that included Jesse James.The gang was centered in the state of Missouri. Membership fluctuated from robbery to robbery, as the outlaws' raids were usually separated by many months...

 are staging the last train robbery
Train robbery
Train robbery is a type of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables being carried aboard trains.-History:Train robberies were more common in the past than today, and often occurred in the American Old West. Trains carrying payroll shipments were a major target...

 of their careers. It is this depiction of Ford's encounter with James in the fall of 1881 which sets off the film.

Plot

A narrator introduces many facts and legends about the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...

 outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...

 Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

 (Pitt) and tells the story of Bob Ford
Robert Ford (outlaw)
Robert Newton "Bob" Ford was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader Jesse James in 1882. Ford was shot to death by Edward O'Kelley in his tent saloon with a shotgun blast to the front upper body...

 (Affleck), an insecure, unpopular young man who has grown up idolizing Jesse.

Bob seeks out Jesse when the James gang
James-Younger gang
The James-Younger Gang was a notable 19th-century gang of American outlaws that included Jesse James.The gang was centered in the state of Missouri. Membership fluctuated from robbery to robbery, as the outlaws' raids were usually separated by many months...

 is planning a train robbery
Train robbery
Train robbery is a type of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables being carried aboard trains.-History:Train robberies were more common in the past than today, and often occurred in the American Old West. Trains carrying payroll shipments were a major target...

, and makes petty attempts to join the gang with his brother Charley's (Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...

) help, who had been recently recruited. In spite of the unfavorable opinion of Jesse's brother Frank James
Frank James
Alexander Franklin "Frank" James was a famous American outlaw. He was the older brother of outlaw Jesse James.-Childhood:...

 (Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...

), Jesse allows Bob to take part in the train robbery to prove himself. Bob's admiration towards Jesse starts turning into obsession while resenting his constant bullying.

Bored with Bob's fawning, Jesse sends him away. Months later, the gang members have gone their separate ways. Bob tries to familiarize himself with the other recruits, who often stay at the farmhouse of Martha Bolton (Alison Elliott
Alison Elliott
Alison A. Elliott is an American actress.Elliott was born in San Francisco, CA, the daughter of Barbara, a teacher of nursing, and Bob Elliott, a computer executive. She moved with her family to Tokyo, Japan when she was 4 years old, and then moved back to San Francisco when she was 8, where she...

), the elder sister of the Ford siblings. Jesse's cousin Wood Hite
Wood Hite
Robert Woodson "Wood" Hite was an outlaw and cousin of Frank and Jesse James. He was born around 1850 in Logan, Kentucky to Major George Burns and Nancy Gardner Hite . His mother was the sister of Robert Sallee James, the father of Frank and Jesse James of the James-Younger Gang, making Wood a...

 (Jeremy Renner
Jeremy Renner
Jeremy Lee Renner is a two-time Academy-Award-nominated American actor and musician. Renner appeared in films throughout the 2000s, mostly in supporting roles. He came to prominence in films such as Dahmer , S.W.A.T. , Neo Ned , 28 Weeks Later and The Hurt Locker...

) also stays there; he is attracted to Martha, but Dick Liddil
Dick Liddil
James Andrew "Dick" Liddil was an American outlaw who was one of the last surviving members of the James-Younger Gang...

 (Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...

), a charming womanizer, frequently gets in his way.

Wood challenges Dick to a gunfight upon finding out that Dick has once slept with Wood's stepmother, Sarah Hite (Kailin See), but it ends in a stalemate.

In exchange for a partnership, Dick reveals to Bob that he is in cahoots
Collusion
Collusion is an agreement between two or more persons, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage...

 with Jim Cummins, an elusive gang member conspiring
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...

 to capture Jesse for a bounty
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...

. Meanwhile, Jesse visits Ed Miller
Edward T. Miller (outlaw)
Edward T. Miller was a Missouri born outlaw and a younger brother of outlaw Clell Miller.Little is known about Miller, except that he took part in several robberies with Jesse James, especially after the downfall of Jesse's James-Younger gang...

 another former gang member, who unwittingly gives away information on Cummins' plot. Jesse kills him and goes on a hunt for Jim, bringing Dick along.

At the farm, Dick and Jesse are greeted by Albert Ford, Bill's young son. Although Albert does not know where Jim is, Jesse beats him. Later Jesse weeps and rides away. Dick decides to apologize to the Fords by traveling back to Martha's farm.

Wood returns from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 to the Bolton farmhouse during Dick's visit and rushes up the staircase to the closed bedroom door, and Bob and Dick prepare themselves for the imminent gunfight. After a short gun battle, Bob shoots Wood in the back of his head. Fords dumps his body in the woods and hatch a plan to conceal this event from Jesse.

Jesse re-emerges one night to pay a visit to the Fords. During dinner, Jesse notices Bob's anxiety and forces Bob to tell a story. Bob then reluctantly recites a long list of similarities he has with Jesse. Jesse is somewhat disturbed by this, and in return tells a story about once killing a man who held a grudge against him, explaining how Bob slightly reminds him of that man. Bob, now humiliated, throws a fit and miserably leaves the room, while Jesse and Charley plan a trip to St. Joseph, Missouri. At his home in St. Joseph, Jesse learns of Wood's disappearance.

Bob loses respect for Jesse as he realizes the nickel books
Dime novel
Dime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...

 he had read little resemble the man. Bob talks with Kansas City police commissioner Henry Craig (Michael Parks
Michael Parks
Michael Parks is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in almost fifty films and has made frequent TV appearances, but is probably best known for his work in recent years with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith as well as the 1969 television series Then Came...

), saying that he has information regarding Jesse James's whereabouts. To prove his allegiance with the James gang, Bob urges Craig to arrest Dick Liddil, who has been staying at the Bolton farm.

Days after Dick's arrest, Bob attends a party held by the Governor of Missouri, Thomas T. Crittenden
Thomas Theodore Crittenden
Thomas Theodore Crittenden was a United States colonel during the American Civil War, and served as the 24th Governor of Missouri from 1881 to 1885.-Early life and education:...

 (James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...

), celebrating Henry Craig's efforts to finally rid Jackson County of the James Gang. To Bob's surprise, Dick Liddil has been released from jail and is now meeting with the governor. It is revealed that authorities aren't particularly interested in prosecuting Liddil; they're really after Jesse James. To save himself, Liddil has disclosed information about the James gang's robberies in his confession
Confession (legal)
In the law of criminal evidence, a confession is a statement by a suspect in crime which is adverse to that person. Some authorities, such as Black's Law Dictionary, define a confession in more narrow terms, e.g...

.

Bob is brought into a meeting with the governor, and subsequently strikes up a deal with him. Bob is given 10 days to capture or assassinate
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 Jesse James for a bounty
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...

 of $10,000, and is given further instructions by Craig's partner, Sheriff James Timberlake (Ted Levine
Ted Levine
Frank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:...

). Meanwhile, on the way back from St. Joseph, Jesse talks to Charley about suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

. Charley then convinces Jesse to take Bob under his wing.

The brothers move in with Jesse to his home in St. Joseph, where they stay with Jesse's wife Zee
Zerelda Mimms
Zerelda Amanda Mimms James was the first cousin and wife of Jesse James.-Personal life:Zerelda Amanda Mimms was the daughter of Mary James and Pastor John Wilson Mimms. Her mother was a paternal aunt of Jesse James', the sister of his father, Robert S...

 (Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress, known for her current lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds portraying Nancy Botwin, for which she has received several nominations and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2006...

) and their two children. One night in the living room, Jesse invites the Fords to take part in the robbery of the Platte City bank. He enacts the way he'll cut the cashier's throat, and demonstrates this by holding a knife to Bob's neck. Convinced that Jesse will eventually kill them, Bob decides to kill him first. As a way to apologize for his actions, Jesse gives Bob a brand new pistol on April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...

, and tells him that he fears for his own sanity.

On a day soon thereafter, Jesse goes out to retrieve the latest newspaper. As it contains a story about Liddil's arrest and confession, a terrified Bob had slipped the front section of the newspaper under a shawl, then strapped on his gun holster before sitting down in the kitchen for breakfast.

Jesse walks back to the sitting-room and discovers the hidden section of the newspaper, learning of Dick's confession. Jesse glares at Bob, and asks why this matter hadn't been reported to him. Panicked, Bob excuses himself and retreats to the sitting-room rocking chair, and Charley soon follows him to put on his holster. Jesse walks in to see if the two are ready for the trip to Platte City. After some silent contemplation, Jesse takes off his gun belt and lays it on the couch. Jesse sets up a chair under a dusty portrait and climbs on top of it with a feather duster in one hand. The Fords draw their guns, and Bob shoots Jesse in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

When Zee tearfully questions Bob, he denies doing or knowing anything before Charley pulls him out of the house, declaring it an "accident". The Fords run to the telegraph office to wire the governor with the news. A brief montage then follows, describing what is to happen to the body of Jesse James.

After the assassination, the Fords become celebrities with a theater show in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, re-enacting the assassination with Bob playing himself, and Charley as Jesse James. Guilt-stricken, Charley writes letters to Zee James asking for her forgiveness, but never actually sends them. Overwhelmed with despair and terminally ill
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...

 from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, Charley commits suicide in May 1884.

After Charley's death, Bob's life takes a turn for the worse. He is shunned by the public and branded a cowardly traitor; threats from strangers are almost a daily occurrence. In times of angry frustration, Bob daydreams of visiting the families of Jesse James's victims to convince himself he killed Jesse for the benefit of humanity. Bob becomes an alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

, trapped in a constant struggle to liberate himself from his ever-growing guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...

.

Ten years pass since Jesse's assassination. Bob has prospered working as a saloonkeeper in the small mining town of Creede, Colorado
Creede, Colorado
The historic town of Creede is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of, and the only incorporated municipality in, Mineral County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 377 at the U.S. Census 2000.-History:...

. He becomes romantically involved with a dancer named Dorothy Evans (Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...

), who has long conversations with Bob to comfort him.

Bob is sought out and murdered by a man named Edward O'Kelley
Edward Capehart O'Kelley
Edward Capehart O'Kelley was notable as the man who murdered Robert Ford, who had killed Jesse James to receive a bounty. He was the subject of a book, Ed O'Kelley: The Man Who Killed Jesse James' Murderer, by Judith Ries, O'Kelley's great-great-niece...

. The narrator ends with an epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...

, recounting that O'Kelley would later be pardoned, and that in contrast to Jesse James, Robert Ford would achieve no fame after death.

Cast

Gang
  • Brad Pitt
    Brad Pitt
    William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

     as Jesse James
    Jesse James
    Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

    , the notorious outlaw of Missouri. Although violent in nature, ferocious and cunning when he is off with his gang, Jesse is always calm and protective when around his family, refusing to let his children know about his criminal life. Jesse is weathered by life and is exhausted from being chased by the law, which has been pursuing him for well over a decade. His sheer paranoia has driven him to the brink of insanity, and it has become increasingly difficult for him to trust those who are closest to him, in fear that they might turn against him. For this reason he secretly desires to live a quieter life and even contemplates suicide every so often, but his reputation hangs in the balance, and there is no easy way out.
  • Casey Affleck
    Casey Affleck
    Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt , better known as Casey Affleck, is an American actor and film director. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting and Ocean's Eleven as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as...

     as Robert "Bob" Ford
    Robert Ford (outlaw)
    Robert Newton "Bob" Ford was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader Jesse James in 1882. Ford was shot to death by Edward O'Kelley in his tent saloon with a shotgun blast to the front upper body...

    , a young man, not long out of his teens, who is eager to make a name for himself. Born to a large family, Bob is the youngest of seven children, and is picked on because of his socially awkward nature. Bob would always turn to Jesse James as an ambiguous source of pride or inspiration. Wanting to meet his hero in person, he, along with his elder brother Charley, joined the James gang. He attempts to earn Jesse's approval, but Jesse's paranoia and inconsistent behaviour, as well as his tendency to exploit Bob's awkwardness sees Bob grow disillusioned with him. With the chance to make a name for himself and receive a full pardon, Bob decides to kill Jesse without thinking about the repercussions such an act can cause.
  • Sam Rockwell
    Sam Rockwell
    Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...

     as Charley Ford
    Charles Ford (outlaw)
    Charles Wilson "Charley" Ford was an outlaw, and member of the James Gang. He was the lesser known brother of Robert Ford, the killer of Jesse James...

    , the cheerful older brother of Bob Ford, who attempts to get his younger brother the acceptance he desperately yearns for. After much pleading, Charley finally convinces Jesse to take Bob in under his wing, only to learn that Bob has other motives in mind. Struck with deep regret, Charley accompanies Bob during the assassination, ultimately leading both brothers to certain doom.
  • Paul Schneider
    Paul Schneider (actor)
    Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...

     as Dick Liddil
    Dick Liddil
    James Andrew "Dick" Liddil was an American outlaw who was one of the last surviving members of the James-Younger Gang...

    , the most promiscuous member in the gang. Dick is bursting with arrogance, and always eloquent in his speech and delivery, making him one of the more charming characters in the film. Liddil has an ability to lie his way out of most problems, and Wood Hite deeply envies his ability to live a carefree life as a lothario
    Lothario
    Lothario is a male first name which came to connote an unscrupulous seducer of women.In The Impertinent Curiosity, a story-within-the-story in Don Quixote , by Miguel de Cervantes, a man named Anselmo coerces Lothario, his faithful friend, to test the virtue of Anselmo's wife, Camila...

    .
  • Jeremy Renner
    Jeremy Renner
    Jeremy Lee Renner is a two-time Academy-Award-nominated American actor and musician. Renner appeared in films throughout the 2000s, mostly in supporting roles. He came to prominence in films such as Dahmer , S.W.A.T. , Neo Ned , 28 Weeks Later and The Hurt Locker...

     as Wood Hite
    Wood Hite
    Robert Woodson "Wood" Hite was an outlaw and cousin of Frank and Jesse James. He was born around 1850 in Logan, Kentucky to Major George Burns and Nancy Gardner Hite . His mother was the sister of Robert Sallee James, the father of Frank and Jesse James of the James-Younger Gang, making Wood a...

    , the younger cousin of Frank and Jesse James. Hite uses his kinship with the James family as a method to intimidate others, especially Bob. Wood later on develops a feud with Dick Liddil, which eventually causes a disastrous chain reaction.
  • Sam Shepard
    Sam Shepard
    Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...

     as Frank James
    Frank James
    Alexander Franklin "Frank" James was a famous American outlaw. He was the older brother of outlaw Jesse James.-Childhood:...

    , the older brother of Jesse James, who is described as a stern and very constrained man. Although only aged 38, his life as bandit has influenced his appearance to that of a 50-year-old. The brothers hardly ever communicate with each other, if so only with melancholic gazes or a few abrupt words. Frank leaves Jesse early to escape the monotony of the crime life.
  • Garret Dillahunt as Ed Miller
    Edward T. Miller (outlaw)
    Edward T. Miller was a Missouri born outlaw and a younger brother of outlaw Clell Miller.Little is known about Miller, except that he took part in several robberies with Jesse James, especially after the downfall of Jesse's James-Younger gang...

    , a lonesome, dimwitted outlaw who is left with close to nothing after the James Gang disbanded. Jesse pays him an unexpected visit in the winter of 1881, and Ed reveals too much about a conspiracy involving Jesse's capture, driving Jesse to a reckless hunt for those involved.


Women
  • Mary-Louise Parker
    Mary-Louise Parker
    Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress, known for her current lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds portraying Nancy Botwin, for which she has received several nominations and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2006...

     as Zerelda "Zee" James
    Zerelda Mimms
    Zerelda Amanda Mimms James was the first cousin and wife of Jesse James.-Personal life:Zerelda Amanda Mimms was the daughter of Mary James and Pastor John Wilson Mimms. Her mother was a paternal aunt of Jesse James', the sister of his father, Robert S...

    , the wife of Jesse James. Zee is in constant concern for her husband's well-being, and is equally protective and caring about their children.
  • Zooey Deschanel
    Zooey Deschanel
    Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...

     as Dorothy Evans, a young woman that Robert Ford confides in during the last months of his life in Creede, Colorado
    Creede, Colorado
    The historic town of Creede is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of, and the only incorporated municipality in, Mineral County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 377 at the U.S. Census 2000.-History:...

    . Knowing that she can sing and attract customers, Bob hires her for his nightclub, and even sparks up a romantic relationship with her. Until his death, Dorothy remains the only person that Bob has spoken revealingly to about his motives for killing Jesse. The character of Dorothy Evans is largely fictionalized.
  • Alison Elliott
    Alison Elliott
    Alison A. Elliott is an American actress.Elliott was born in San Francisco, CA, the daughter of Barbara, a teacher of nursing, and Bob Elliott, a computer executive. She moved with her family to Tokyo, Japan when she was 4 years old, and then moved back to San Francisco when she was 8, where she...

     as Martha Bolton, the widowed elder sister of Robert and Charles Ford. Her farmhouse serves as a place where members of the James Gang would frequent when in need of shelter, or a place to hide out. Dick Liddil and Wood Hite attempt to win her affections.
  • Kailin See as Sarah Hite, the stepmother of Wood Hite. Her affair with Dick Liddil causes the two men's friendship to sever, resulting in deadly consequences.


Authorities
  • James Carville
    James Carville
    Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...

     as Thomas T. Crittenden
    Thomas Theodore Crittenden
    Thomas Theodore Crittenden was a United States colonel during the American Civil War, and served as the 24th Governor of Missouri from 1881 to 1885.-Early life and education:...

    , the Governor of Missouri. Crittenden is growing increasingly tired of the James Gang's antics, and thus hires Bob Ford to capture or assassinate Jesse James for the $10,000 bounty.
  • Michael Parks
    Michael Parks
    Michael Parks is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in almost fifty films and has made frequent TV appearances, but is probably best known for his work in recent years with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith as well as the 1969 television series Then Came...

     as Henry Craig, a local police commissioner who has sworn to eradicate the James Gang from the state of Missouri.
  • Ted Levine
    Ted Levine
    Frank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:...

     as Sheriff James Timberlake, a local sheriff who warns Bob to use caution during his assignment.


Other
  • Michael Copeman as Ed O'Kelley
    Edward Capehart O'Kelley
    Edward Capehart O'Kelley was notable as the man who murdered Robert Ford, who had killed Jesse James to receive a bounty. He was the subject of a book, Ed O'Kelley: The Man Who Killed Jesse James' Murderer, by Judith Ries, O'Kelley's great-great-niece...

    , the man who kills Robert Ford.

Production

In March 2004, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 and Plan B Entertainment
Plan B Entertainment
Plan B Entertainment is a film production company founded by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, and Jennifer Aniston. In 2006, Pitt became the sole owner; the company currently holds a release deal with Paramount Pictures, along with Warner Bros...

 acquired feature film rights to Hansen's 1983 novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Andrew Dominik was hired to direct and write the film adaptation, with Pitt being eyed to portray Jesse James. The role of Ford eventually was between Affleck and Shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and made his film debut in Holes . In 2007, he starred as the leads in Disturbia and Transformers...

; Affleck was cast because it was felt that LaBeouf was too young. Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

's presidential campaign strategist James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...

 was selected to play the Governor of Missouri. By January 2005, Pitt was cast in the role, and filming began on August 29, 2005 in Calgary. Filming also took place in other parts of Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, including McKinnon Flats, Heritage Park
Heritage Park Historical Village
Heritage Park Historical Village is a historical park located in Calgary, Alberta. The park is located on of parkland on the banks of the Glenmore Reservoir, along the city's southwestern edge. As Canada's largest living history museum by number of exhibits, it is one of the city's most visited...

, the Fairmont Palliser Hotel
Fairmont Palliser Hotel
The Fairmont Palliser, is a hotel of the Canada-based Fairmont Hotels and Resorts chain. The historic hotel is located in downtown Calgary, Alberta on 9th Avenue South adjacent to the Calgary Tower and Palliser Square...

, the Kananaskis area, several private ranches and the historical Fort Edmonton Park
Fort Edmonton Park
Fort Edmonton Park is an attraction in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Named for the first enduring European post in the area of modern-day Edmonton, the park is the largest living history museum in Canada by area...

. The historical town of Creede, Colorado
Creede, Colorado
The historic town of Creede is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of, and the only incorporated municipality in, Mineral County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 377 at the U.S. Census 2000.-History:...

 was recreated at a cost of $1 million near Goat Creek in Alberta. Filming also took place in Winnipeg in the city's historic Exchange District
Exchange District
The Exchange District is a National Historic Site of Canada in the downtown area of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Just one block north of Canada's most famous intersection, Portage and Main, the Exchange District comprises approximately twenty city blocks and nearly 150 buildings.- History :The...

; the Burton Cummings Theatre (formerly known as The Walker Theatre) and the Pantages Playhouse Theatre, and concluded in December 2005.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was initially edited by director Dominik to be "a dark, contemplative examination of fame and infamy," similar to the style of director Terrence Malick
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....

. The studio opposed Dominik's approach, preferring less contemplation and more action. One version of the film had a running time of more than three hours. Pitt and Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

, producers of the film, and editors Dylan Tichenor
Dylan Tichenor
Dylan Tichenor is a film editor.As a child, he grew up watching movies with his father. He graduated from Philadelphia's Central High School in 1986....

 (who left the production early to cut There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...

, and was replaced with editor Curtiss Clayton, who ultimately finished the production) and Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn (film editor)
Michael Kahn is an American film editor. His credits range from TV's Hogan's Heroes to feature films directed by George C. Scott and Steven Spielberg, with whom he has had an extended, notable collaboration over more than thirty years.Kahn is a member of the American Cinema Editors...

 (who was brought in for several weeks as the studio's "go to" editor), collaborated to assemble and test different versions, which did not receive strong scores from test audiences. Despite the negative response, the audiences considered the performances by Pitt and Affleck to be some of their careers' best. Brad Pitt had it written into his contract that the studio could not change the name of the film.

Cinematography

One of the most well-known sequences of the film is the scene of a train robbery at night time. Cinematographer Roger Deakins
Roger Deakins
Roger Antony Deakins, ASC, BSC is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers. Deakins is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers...

 used various cinematographic techniques to give the train more of a presence when it was in pitch darkness. The idea was to generate a heavy sense of atmosphere using only the lanterns held up by the outlaws and the 5K Par light mounted on the front of the train.

In order to enhance the blacks, Deakins did a slight bleach bypass
Bleach bypass
Bleach bypass, also known as skip bleach or silver retention, is an optical effect which entails either the partial or complete skipping of the bleaching function during the processing of a color film. By doing this, the silver is retained in the emulsion along with the color dyes. The result is a...

 on the negative, which was especially important in terms of rendering detail.

Some scenes in the film have a blurred effect around the borders of the frame, which were achieved by taking old wide-angle lenses and mounting them onto the front several cameras (Arri Macros in this case). Deakins claimed to have pioneered this technique, naming these combinations of lenses "Deakinizers", which created the effect of vignetting
Vignetting
In photography and optics, vignetting  is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation at the periphery compared to the image center. The word vignette, from the same root as vine, originally referred to a decorative border in a book. Later, the word came to be used for a photographic...

 and a slight color aberration
Chromatic aberration
In optics, chromatic aberration is a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. It occurs because lenses have a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light...

 around the edges. Deakins recalls:
Several time-lapse
Time-lapse
Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...

 sequences appear throughout the film, which were shot by Steadicam
Steadicam
A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface...

 operator Damon Moreau. According to Moreau, he would be sent out to do these shots when the crew wasn't ready to shoot a scene yet. Often accompanied by the film's melancholic score, these time-lapse sequences remind the audience of the passing time, developing an uneasiness that eventually builds up to the inevitable yet unsettling climax.

Music

The music for the film was composed by Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n musicians Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

 and Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis (musician)
Warren Ellis is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known for his work with Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman and his soundtrack scores with Nick Cave. He plays violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin, and tenor guitar...

. Both men also collaborated to create the award winning score for the Australian film The Proposition
The Proposition
The Proposition is a 2005 western film directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The film's production completed in 2004 and was followed by a wide 2005 release in...

in 2005.

Nick Cave has a minor part in the latter stages of the film, playing a strolling balladeer in a crowded bar, where, unrecognized by the other patrons, Bob Ford must endure the humiliating lyrics of "The Ballad of Jesse James
Jesse James in music
Jesse James became a hero in folklore and dime novels before he was killed in 1882. A manifestation of this was the emergence of a wide body of music that celebrates or alludes to Jesse James...

" as performed by Cave.

Cave and Ellis released a double disc album titled White Lunar in September 2009, which contains several tracks from the Jesse James score, as well as tracks they composed for other films up to 2009.

Release

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was originally slated for a September 15, 2006 release. The release date was postponed to February 2007 at first, but ultimately set for a September 21, 2007 release, almost two years after filming was completed.

The film opened in limited release on September 21, 2007, in 5 theaters and grossed $147,812 in its opening weekend, an average of $29,256 per theater. The film has a total gross of less than $4 million.

Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...

 released the film on DVD on February 5, 2008 in the US, and on March 31 in the UK. So far, about 566,537 DVD units have been sold, bringing $9,853,258 in revenue.

Critical reception

As of December 7, 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, the film received a 75% fresh rating from 142 reviews and 58 percent from 31 the Cream of the Crop . On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, the film had an average score of 68 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.

Brian Tallerico of UGO
UGO
UGO Entertainment, Inc. is a website providing coverage of online media in entertainment targeting males age 18–34. The company is currently based in New York, New York, United States. On July 24, 2007 it was announced that Hearst Corporation would acquire UGO Entertainment...

 gave the film an "A" and said that it is "the best western since Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...

." Tallerico also said, "Stunning visuals, award-worthy performances, and a script that takes incredibly rewarding risks, Jesse James is a masterpiece and one of the best films of the year." Kurt Loder of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 said, "If I were inclined to wheel out clichés like 'Oscar-worthy', I'd certainly wheel them out in support of this movie, on several counts."
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...

 on the television show Ebert & Roeper said, "If you love classic and stylish mood Westerns such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...

and The Long Riders
The Long Riders
The Long Riders is a 1980 western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the Best Music award in 1980 from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for this soundtrack...

, this is your film." The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...

film critic Stephen Whitty gave the film four stars and called it an "epic film that's part literary treatise, part mournful ballad, and completely a portrait of our world, as seen in a distant mirror." Whitty also said that the film is "far superior" and "truer to its own world" than 3:10 to Yuma
3:10 to Yuma (2007 film)
3:10 to Yuma is the 2007 remake of the 1957 film of the same name, making it the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard's short story Three-Ten to Yuma. It is directed by James Mangold and produced by Cathy Konrad, and stars Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles. ...

. Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle gave the film 3½ stars and said the film "grabs on to many of the classic tropes of the Western — the meandering passage of time, the imposing landscapes, the abiding loneliness, the casual violence — and sets about mapping their furthest edges."

Film critic Emanuel Levy gave the film an "A" and wrote, "Alongside Joel and Ethan Coen
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...

's No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men (film)
No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American crime thriller directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The film was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name...

, which is a Western in disguise, or rather a modern Western, Assassination of Jesse James is the second masterpiece of the season." Levy also wrote, "Like Bonnie & Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...

, Dominik's seminal Western is a brilliant, poetic saga of America's legendary criminal as well as meditative deconstruction of our culture's most persistent issues: link of crime and fame, myths of heroism and obsession with celebrity." Lewis Beale of Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....

said "Impeccably shot, cast and directed, this is a truly impressive film from sophomore writer-director Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik is a New Zealand-born Australian film director and screenwriter. He has directed two films so far: Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.-Early life and career:...

...but suffers from an unfortunate case of elephantiasis
Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and male genitals. In some cases the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball. It is caused by...

." Beale said Affleck is "outstanding in a breakout performance" and said Pitt is "scary and charismatic." Beale wrote, "The director seems so in love with his languorous pacing, he’s incapable of cutting the five or ten seconds in any number of scenes that could have given the film a more manageable running time. In the scheme of things, however, this amounts to little more than a quibble." Beale said that ultimately, the film is "a fascinating, literary-based work that succeeds as both art and genre film."

British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 critic Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...

 named the film as his best of 2007 in his end-of-year review on Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo is an English radio presenter who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. As of January 2010, Mayo is presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 and, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews on BBC Radio 5 Live.In 2008, Mayo was recognised as the "radio...

's BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 radio programme. Kermode later wrote that historians a hundred years from now will consider it "one of the most wrongly neglected masterpieces of its era."

Many critics opined that the film is too long. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

said that the relationship between Pitt and Affleck "gets smothered in pointlessly long takes, repetitive scenes, grim Western landscapes and mumbled, heavily accented dialogue." Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....

critic Bob Strauss gave the film 2½ stars out of 4 and said, "To put it most bluntly, the thing is just too long and too slow." Strauss also said, "Every element of this Western is beautifully rendered. So why is it a chore to sit through?" Pam Grady of Reel.com gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and said, "The movie is merely a long, empty exercise in style." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...

 said that the film "represents a breakthrough in the moviegoing experience. It may be the first time we've been asked to watch a book on tape."

The movie has gained a following, becoming a cult classic.

Jesse James's descendants have effusively praised the film, specifically singling out Affleck and Pitt for their performances.

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.
  • 1st - Mark Kermode
    Mark Kermode
    Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...

    , BBC Radio 5 Live
  • 1st - Peter Vonder Haar, Film Threat
    Film Threat
    Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...

  • 1st - Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter
    The Hollywood Reporter
    Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

  • 1st - Matt Cale, Ruthless Reviews
  • 2nd - Dennis Harvey, Variety
    Variety (magazine)
    Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

  • 3rd - Claudia Puig, USA Today
    USA Today
    USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

  • 3rd - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
    San Francisco Chronicle
    thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

  • 4th - Tom Charity, CNN
    CNN
    Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

  • 4th - Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
    New York Daily News
    The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

  • 4th - Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club
    The A.V. Club
    The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

  • 5th - Empire
    Empire (magazine)
    Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...

    magazine
  • 5th - Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
    The A.V. Club
    The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

  • 5th - Tasha Robinson, The A.V. Club
    The A.V. Club
    The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

  • 6th - Scott Foundas, LA Weekly
    LA Weekly
    LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...

  • 6th - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
  • 7th - Sight & Sound
    Sight & Sound
    Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...

    magazine
  • 9th - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
    Entertainment Weekly
    Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

  • 9th - Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
    Slant Magazine
    Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

  • 9th - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
    Chicago Tribune
    The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

  • 10th - J. Hoberman, The Village Voice
    The Village Voice
    The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...


Historical accuracy

The film is considered as one of the most historically accurate portrayals of Jesse James and Robert Ford, even by James's descendants, who found both performances more realistic and true to history than the dozens that came before them.

Accolades

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was identified by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...

 as one of the top 10 films of 2007. The board also named Casey Affleck
Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt , better known as Casey Affleck, is an American actor and film director. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting and Ocean's Eleven as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as...

 as Best Supporting Actor in the film. The San Francisco Film Critics Circle
San Francisco Film Critics Circle
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle was founded in 2002 as an organization of film journalists and critics from San Francisco, California based publications....

 named The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as the Best Picture of 2007. The circle also awarded Affleck as best supporting actor for the film. Affleck was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for the 65th Golden Globe Awards
65th Golden Globe Awards
The 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...

.

The film received two Academy Award nominations for the 80th Academy Awards
80th Academy Awards
The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...

. Affleck was nominated for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

 and Roger Deakins
Roger Deakins
Roger Antony Deakins, ASC, BSC is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers. Deakins is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers...

 was nominated for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...

. Earlier in the year, Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

 won the prestigious Volpi Cup
Volpi Cup
The Volpi Cups are the principal awards given to actors at the Venice Film Festival. Formal acting awards were introduced in the second festival . Initially they were called Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment. The name Volpi Cup was introduced the following year...

 for Best Actor when the film premiered at the annual Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

. Several other awards circles also awarded composers Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

 and Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis (musician)
Warren Ellis is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known for his work with Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman and his soundtrack scores with Nick Cave. He plays violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin, and tenor guitar...

 for their music in the film (see below).

The film also holds a place on Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...

's recent list of The 500 Greatest Films of All Time, coming in at #396.
Award Category Recipients and nominees Outcome
Academy Awards
80th Academy Awards
The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

Casey Affleck
Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt , better known as Casey Affleck, is an American actor and film director. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting and Ocean's Eleven as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as...

Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...

Roger Deakins
Roger Deakins
Roger Antony Deakins, ASC, BSC is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers. Deakins is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers...

American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)
American Society of Cinematographers Awards 2007
The 22nd American Society of Cinematographers Awards, given on 26 January 2008, honored the best cinematographers of 2007. -Film: Theatrical Release:* There Will Be Blood - Robert Elswit...

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases Roger Deakins
Broadcast Film Critics (BFCA)
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2007
The 13th Critics' Choice Awards were given on 7 January 2008 to honor the finest achievements in 2007 filmmaking.-Winners and nominees:The nominees in each of the 18 categories are listed below :-Best Actor:...

Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Chicago Film Critics
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2007
The 20th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given by the CFCA on December 13, 2007 honored the best in film for 2007.-Best Actor:Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood*George Clooney - Michael Clayton...

Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Best Original Score Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...


Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis (musician)
Warren Ellis is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known for his work with Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman and his soundtrack scores with Nick Cave. He plays violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin, and tenor guitar...

Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Chlotrudis Awards
Chlotrudis Awards 2008
The 14th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 30, 2008, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

Best Actor Casey Affleck
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2007
The 14th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association on 17 December 2007, honored the best in film for 2007.-Top 10 Films:# No Country for Old Men # Juno...

Top Ten Films of the Year -
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Detroit Film Critics Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Empire Awards Best Film -
Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards Best Foreign Film - English Language Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik is a New Zealand-born Australian film director and screenwriter. He has directed two films so far: Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.-Early life and career:...

Florida Film Critics Circle
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2007
The 12th Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, given by the Florida Film Critics Circle on December 12, 2007, honored the best in film for 2007.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood*Best Actress:**Ellen Page - Juno...

Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Golden Globes
65th Golden Globe Awards
The 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Casey Affleck
Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing - Music in a Feature Film Gerard McCann
William B. Kaplan
Jonathan Karp
Golden Trailer Awards
Golden Trailer Awards
The Golden Trailer Awards is an annual awards show that honors achievements in motion picture marketing, including film trailers, posters and television advertisements.- Overview :...

Best Drama Poster -
Best Voice Over -
Houston Film Critics
Houston Film Critics Society Awards 2007
The 1st Houston Film Critics Society Awards were announced on January 3, 2008. The awards are presented annually by the Houston Film Critics Society based in Houston, Texas. In addition to the category awards, the HFCS named filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen as "honorary Texans" for their work on No...

Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
International Cinephile Society Top Ten Films of the Year -
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Best Original Score Nick Cave
Warren Ellis
Italian Online Movie Awards
Italian Online Movie Awards
Italian Online Movie Awards is the name of the movie award assigned every year by a group of Italian movielovers to the best films of the season ....

Best Cinematography -
Best Actor in a Supporting Role Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

Las Vegas Film Critics
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards 2007
The 11th Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the best in film for 2007, were given by the Las Vegas Film Critics Society on 21 December 2007.-Top 10 Films:#No Country for Old Men#Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street...

Top Ten Films of the Year -
London Film Critics Actor of the Year Casey Affleck
Film of the Year -
National Board of Review
National Board of Review Awards 2007
The 79th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2007, were given on 5 December 2007.-Top 10 Films:*The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford*Atonement*The Bourne Ultimatum*The Bucket List...

Top Ten Films of the Year -
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
National Society of Film Critics
National Society of Film Critics Awards 2007
The 42nd National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 5 January 2008, honored the best filmmaking of 2007.-Best Picture::1. There Will Be Blood2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly...

Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Online Film Critics Society
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2007
----Best Picture:No Country for Old MenThe 11th Online Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the best in film for 2007, were given on 9 January 2008.-Best Picture:No Country for Old Men*Atonement*Juno*There Will Be Blood...

Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Best Score Nick Cave
Warren Ellis
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
San Francisco Film Critics
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2007
The 6th San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2007, were given on 10 December 2007.-Winners:*Best Picture:**The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford*Best Director:...

Best Picture -
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Satellite Awards
Satellite Awards 2007
The 12th Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film- and televisionmaking in 2007, were given on 16 December 2007.-Film: Best Actor – Drama* Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises**Christian Bale – Rescue Dawn...

Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Best Art Direction and Production Design Patricia Norris
Martin Gendron
Troy Sizemore
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Best Score Nick Cave
Screen Actors Guild Awards
14th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: No Country For Old Men ----Best Cast - Drama Series: The Sopranos Best Cast - Comedy Series: The Office ...

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Casey Affleck
Southeastern Film Critics
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards 2007
The 16th Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards, honouring the best in film for 2007, were given in December 2007.-Top 10 Films:# No Country for Old Men# There Will Be Blood# Atonement# Juno# Michael Clayton# Zodiac...

Top Ten Films of the Year -
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards 2007
-Best Actor:*Don Cheadle – Talk to Me as Ralph "Petey" Greene*George Clooney – Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton**Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview*Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl as Lars Lindstrom...

Best Picture -
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins
Best Score Nick Cave
Warren Ellis
Utah Film Critics Association
Utah Film Critics Association
The Utah Film Critics Association is an organization of cinema journalists affiliated with publications, broadcasting stations and online media based in Utah...

Top Ten Films of the Year -
Best Actor Casey Affleck
Vancouver Film Critics
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2007
The 8th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2007, were given on February 11, 2008.-International:*Best Actor:**Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood*Best Actress:**Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose ...

Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck
Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...

Andrew Dominik
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Volpi Cup
The Volpi Cups are the principal awards given to actors at the Venice Film Festival. Formal acting awards were introduced in the second festival . Initially they were called Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment. The name Volpi Cup was introduced the following year...

Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...

Best Western Drama Andrew Dominik

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK