Trailer: The Assassination of Jesse James
(Kimberly French)
Story:
Jesse James (Brad Pitt) was one of the countrys first bona fide
celebrities. There have been countless books written and tales told
about Americas most famous outlawall of them colorful and
fascinating, all focused on his larger-than-life public persona and
daring exploits, and most of them bearing only incidental reference
to the truth.
To those he robbed and terrorized, and to the families of those he
admittedly killed, he may have been just a criminal, but in the
sensational newspaper articles and dime novels chronicling the
James Gang throughout the 1870s, Jesse was the object of awe and
admiration. He was a Robin Hood, they suggested, targeting railroad
owners and banks that exploited poor farmers. He was a man with a
tragic cause, a wronged and wounded Confederate soldier striking
back against the Union that had ruined his life. Most importantly,
to an increasingly buttoned-down and citified population leading
ordinary lives, he was the last frontiersmana symbol of freedom
and the American spirit, a charismatic rebel who flouted the law
and lived by his own rules
by all accounts, a legend.
Foremost among his admirers was Robert Ford [CASEY AFFLECK], an
idealistic and ambitious young man who had devoted his life to the
hope of one day riding alongside his idol. He could never have
imagined that history would ultimately mark him as the "the dirty
little coward" who shot Jesse in the back.
But who was Jesse James, reallybehind the folklore and the selling
of newspapers? And who was Robert Ford, just nineteen and a member
of Jesses inner circle, who was able to bring down such a
formidable figure when lawmen across ten states had tried and
failed? How did they come to be friends and what happened between
them in the days and hours leading up to the gunshot that would end
one mans life and become the definition and sum total of
anothers?
No one will ever know the whole truth.
Based on the novel by Ron Hansen, "The Assassination of Jesse James
by the Coward Robert Ford" delves into the private lives of
Americas most notorious outlaw and his unlikely assassin to offer
a new perspective on a legend and address the question of what
really may have transpired in the months before that infamous
shooting.
The year is 1881 and Jesse is 34 years old. As he plans his next
great robbery, he continues to wage war on his enemies who are
trying to collect the reward money and the glory riding on his
capture. But the greatest threat to his life could come from those
he would trust the most.
