Talk:The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Piano Player

Is there a piano player in this movie? If so, she might be my music teacher (who just happens to be Jarome Iginla's grandmother).Ohyeh 19:04, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

- I saw the movie 5 days ago in Venice. There is no piano player in the movie. Just Jesse James, Robert Ford, a couple of bandits and few fights. It's a weird western, a little long and slow for today's cinema standards. Great photography, at least.

Editing

This page makes too much out of Michael Kahn's part in the editing. He did not take over for Tichenor. In reality Kahn was brought in for a very short period by the studios to create a "faster, more Hollywood" version. This kind of thing happens ALL the time, especially on an artistically ambitious, and long film. The cut was not well received, and was dropped. It all but obliterated the eerie, introspective story telling in favor of action and fast pacing. That kind of editing sometimes, but was not the formula for an internal story where every look has meaning, where the acting in a scene is more important than the story information.

Also, this page fails to mention Curtiss Clayton, who took over for Tichenor and reworked the film for over a year. Clayton, responsible for many of the most artistically ambitious films of the last 20 years (My Own Private Idaho, Buffalo '66, etc), had a far larger part than Kahn in crafting the look and feel of the film. He deserves mention here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.31.203.211 (talk) 00:10, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Do you have citations to verify this information? We can include it in the article. —Erik (talk • contrib) - 00:13, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Synopsis

The current synopsis (as of the date I'm posting this) is inappropriate in a few ways: (1) It's not really a plot synopsis at all (it reads more like a press release, or a short review of the film). There is some character description but none of the main plot points are described. (2) It speaks of the film itself in terms that are way too glowing to be encyclopedic, hence the above comment about it seeming more like a press release or review. (3) It is identical to the "synopsis" on IMDb, which comes pretty much verbatim from another source, which isn't surprising given the last two points. See http://www.movieorigins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6752 JMBrust (talk) 07:37, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

I also noticed the unsuitable style and the evident copyright infringement. I've removed it. --Tony Sidaway 18:42, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Headlines

1

• The Assassination of Jesse James?
• | title=Brad Pitt's 'Jesse James' comes under fire (dead)
• Pitt flick finally ready for theatres
• "Assassination of Jesse James" a celluloid crime
• Pitt Turns Outlaw in `Jesse James'
• Jesse James, an Outlaw for All Seasons
• 'Jesse James' does the book right
• Pitt's take on Jesse James
• Brad Pitt understands the celebrity of Jesse James
• Brad Pitt tackles fame in new film

2

• Low-key Casey Affleck makes noise in two films
• Brad Pitt relates to outlaw 'Jesse James' character
• A killer performance
• Behind the legend

Headlines.

Historical Accuracy

needs a section evaluating the historical accuracy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.86.74.135 (talk) 14:44, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

I agree there should be a historical accuracy section. By the looks of it, this movie is the most historically accurate Jesse James movie to date. There is very little you can say to criticize the accuracy except for the little details. However, evaluating this would be difficult considering there is very little known about the supporting roles. There is no online source that says there ever was a "Dorothy Evans" per se, but Ron Hansen has done his fair share of historical research before writing this novel and I can say with certainty that there was a Dorothy Evans in Creede, 1892. Although the dialogue is fictionalized, the documented events in the movie are as accurate as they could be. Lhw1 (talk) 13:00, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

• • User Lhw1 You did a great injustice to several non-fictional articles when you added fictional material from Hansen's novel, no matter how authentic you might think it was.

I am very curious by your comment, "I can say with certainty that there was a Dorothy Evans in Creede, 1892." I have studied Creede/Soapy Smith history and there is no mention of her in any of the newspapers or books I have ever seen. Where did you get your information?

You inserted the information so you should be expected to go through and make the corrections. Please be more careful with non-fictional articles in the future. Thank you. Jeff Smith (talk) 06:23, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

i have some newspaper references to martha evans accompanying the body to missouri, etc. the newspaper at that time believed that she was associated with ford, as did my family. (was "dorothy" her stage name? there are newspaper references to her looking for singing jobs after ford's death.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.168.30.47 (talk) 18:25, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Plot Synopsis (again)

The plot synopsis seems a bit too long and detailed. I especially thought the bit about the ending was off, quoting as it does a huge chunk of the ending narration verbatim. There's a little bit of non-neutral writing and possibly original research as well. I changed the very end to try and rectify this. 80.229.225.16 (talk) 16:53, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Feel free to reduce it, but don't take large chunks out that are integral to the understanding of the story. But I believe many important details are necessary and should be kept, since this movie is largely a historical film (like Downfall (film)), and without these details the story may be difficult to follow when reading the synopsis. I welcome more suggestions. Lhw1 (talk) 17:13, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Music Section

Could someone write up a music section and possibly link it to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (soundtrack)? The music was an important aspect of the film and has been widely acclaimed. Lhw1 (talk) 13:19, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Length of Plot section

The so-called plot "summary" is almost longer than the movie itself! It could and should be digested to a single section. Then feel free to summarize discussions about the movie, its plot, themes etc. CapnZapp (talk) 14:50, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Sources for adding to "Release" section

Anyone know of any sources which discuss why this film relatively commercially bombed given how significant it was in terms of production, release, and critical significance? I actually came here looking for that info; it would probably be valuable to the article..... Ideas?

Peace and Passion ☮  ("I'm listening....") 07:06, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Plot length (again)

I have readded the plot template to that section because it is still entirely too long and detailed. WP:FILMPLOT guidelines say a plot "should be between 400 and 700 words." This plot section is 1,558 words in length, making it more than double the highest number it should be. It needs a significant trimming. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 01:10, 4 January 2010 (UTC) I Concur, I've noticed that if the movie is popular, there will be a lengthy discussion of box office performance and it almost seems that there is a group of people protecting these kinds of negative aspects of the movie from appearing on the article. I love this movie but kinda want to know what the box office revenue was. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.34.246.31 (talk) 17:14, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

O'Kelley is later pardoned for the killing.

O'Kelley wasn't pardoned. He was sentenced to life, which was reduced to 18 years on appeal and served 8 of those years (a not uncommon chain of events for any murderer at that time), perhaps the plot section should identify this if he is depicted as being pardoned in the film, as historical pieces tend to stipulate notable deviations from reality in their wiki articles usually. I haven't seen the film, so I cannot aptly judge if he IS depicted as being pardoned in it or not. BaSH PR0MPT (talk) 18:40, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

I agree and this is why I came to the talk page. I wish someone who's seen the film would comment. 70.172.214.70 (talk) 02:31, 26 May 2013 (UTC)