|
A review of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD By M.G. Wood
One cowboy says to another, “You talk good.” The complimentary cowboy seeks advice on how to woo a lady friend he’d been sweet on. “Poetry don’t work on whores”, responds the eloquent cowboy. Nuance and the subtle deliberation of poetry may fail to stir the soul of one who has grown accustomed to the quick, myopic wham-bam-thank-you-mam inherent in the business of looking for the biggest bang for the buck. But, the whore never really forgets the pleasure and the sensuality that can be found in a piece of meticulously deliberate craftsmanship, unlike the paint-by-numbers iMovies processed in Hollywood today. If Terrence Malick (DAYS OF HEAVEN) is a Tone Poem, then Jerry Bruckheimer (ARMAGEDDON) is See Dick Run. And THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES directed by Andrew Dominik is clearly influenced by Malick, and maybe even Ken Burns (THE CIVIL WAR).
Now, as much as I love art for art’s sake, I am conscious of the probability that I could be misunderstood to be a snob. I am in no way claiming one sensual experience to be more valid than another, only that we as the Whores of Modern American Cinema may be gradually losing our ability to enjoy the poetry. David Fincher’s masterpiece ZODIAC was “too long”. The Coen Bros.’ NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN was either “unsatisfying” or downright “frustrating”. But, TRANSFORMERS was just right.
Like Joe Pesci in GOODFELLAS and Alec Baldwin in GLENARRY GLEN ROSS and many others before, Mr. Affleck’s mesmerizing performance simply stands out as the most potent force in a film that has plenty of attributes to spare.
Actually reminiscent of Joe Pesci’s man child character in GOODFELLAS, Affleck’s Robert Ford is a at once dangerous and poignant and damaged at the same time. As when Robert Ford is embarrassed and humiliated by his brother and Jesse James, it is clear that Robert Ford idolizes the famous outlaw James. Affleck wears his raw nerves on his sleeves: the pre-pubescent cowboy threatens to shoot another through the head after being ridiculed for his private collection of Jesse James dime-store novels. The tear-filled eyes and red-faced rage resembles the tempestuous child also found in the ferocious poignancy of Joe Pesci as he beats a man to death for telling him to go home and get his shoe-shine box.
Initially one may be discouraged by the failure of the filmmakers to deflate the mythology of Jesse James, but in a twist only an Old West historian could see coming, Jesse James’ assassination proves to spawn a truer tragedy on par with the Greeks. Like Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone, Robert Ford was the one and only man to pull the trigger, but alas he had many, many accomplices guiding his every move.
Robert Ford may have had more in common with Rupert Pupkin of Scorsese's underrated black satire THE KING OF COMEDY, driven to distraction in his desire to be nearer to God, as celebrity. And the fact is, Ford killed a cold-blooded killer in James. Which would in any other circumstance place Robert Ford in the role of hero, but in an era when America was in the birthing stage of a celebrity culture that would ultimately engulf an entire generation, Jesse James was one of the first American Idols worshiped. Spawning a long, storied history of another kind: character assassination. “You can drag a horticulture, but you can't make her think.” On being challenged to use the word Horticulture in a sentence. -Dorothy Parker
Return to Classics
Home Page
|
