I actually saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford opening weekend in 2007. I drove down to the ArcLight to see it properly.
I mostly did that because I was, and still am, a freak about Roger Deakins and I only want to see his cinematography properly.
Surely enough, Deakins didn't disappoint; but, there are a ton of reasons why this movie is so good.
The cinematography is the low-hanging fruit. The movie is gorgeous. Despite how much I love There Will Be Blood, the only reason why The Assassination of Jesse James didn't win the Oscar that year is because Deakins got double nominated with No Country for Old Men. They actually made custom lenses for The Assassination of Jesse James (granted, they did do a modification for a lens on There Will Be Blood). The photography was gorgeous all the way through.
But, to understand how good this movie is, you've gotta go way beyond that.
Brad Pitt's performance as Jesse James is fantastic. The fact that Jesse James was a year younger than I am now when he was murdered would seemingly age Pitt out of the role; but, he plays a troubled thirty-four year-old who has lived a weary life beautifully.
Casey Affleck came through in every way as Robert Ford. Just the touch of a little fluttering of his finger against his brow kills you.
Sam Rockwell's performance as Charlie Ford is perfect.
Garrett Dillahunt was unforgettable as Ed Miller. Jeremy Renner knocked it out of the park as Wood Hite. Even Sam Shepard delivered in a couple of scenes as Frank James.
Nick Cave co-wrote the brilliant score and had a small role in the film.
I don't even generally like voice over; but, most of the voice over was taken from Ron Hanson's novel which is beautifully written.
I don't generally like freeze frames; but, the last sequence of the movie used them perfectly.
But, at it's core, this is an evolution of a genre. Heat will always be one of my favorite films because, even forgetting that it's a great film, there is no other Heat. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is another example of a movie that, to my knowledge, lacks a twin.
A lot of westerns have been brilliant stories about ethics; but, I can't think of one that resembles The Assassination Jesse James. It's fundamentally a story about celebrity and it's odd to see the Western genre used that way.
It's two hours and forty minutes of your life well spent. Well...that's if you only watch it once.