Jesse James (BRAD PITT) was one of the
country's first bona fide celebrities.
There have been countless books written and tales told about
America's most famous outlaw--all 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
frontiersman--a 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, really--behind the folklore and the
selling of newspapers? And who was Robert Ford, just
nineteen and a member of Jesse's 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 man's life and
become the definition and sum total of another's?
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 America's 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.
©
2007 Warner Bros. All Rights
Reserved.
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