The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 2007 American epic revisionist Western film written and directed by Andrew Dominik.

Based on Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same name, the film dramatizes the relationship between Jesse James and Robert Ford, focusing on the events that lead up to the titular killing.

The original edit of the movie was envisioned by Dominik to be "a dark, contemplative examination of fame and infamy", reaching more than three hours in runtime.

The film received positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised Pitt and Affleck's performances and Roger Deakins' cinematography, but was a box-office bomb.

The train turns out to be carrying only a fraction of the money originally thought, and a dispirited Frank James leaves the gang and his brother.

Jesse sends Charley, Wood, and Dick away, but insists that Bob stays for help in moving furniture to a new home in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Liddil reveals to Bob that he is in collusion with another member of the James gang, Jim Cummins, to capture Jesse for a substantial bounty.

Unable to locate him, Jesse viciously beats Albert Ford, a young cousin of Bob and Charley who had hosted him.

Following Liddil's confession to participation in numerous gang robberies, Bob brokers a deal with the Governor of Missouri, Thomas T. Crittenden.

He is given ten days to capture or kill Jesse and is promised a substantial bounty and a full pardon for Hite's murder.

In March 2004, Warner Bros. and Plan B Entertainment acquired feature film rights to Ron Hansen's 1983 novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Producers Pitt and Ridley Scott and editors Dylan Tichenor and Michael Kahn collaborated to assemble and test different versions.

The idea was to generate a sense of foreboding atmosphere by using only the lanterns held up by the outlaws and the 5K PAR light mounted on the front of the train[18] In order to enhance the blacks, Deakins did a slight bleach bypass on the negative, which was especially important in terms of rendering detail.

[citation needed] These time-lapse sequences were often accompanied by the film's melancholic score, suggesting the passage of time and contributing to the unease that builds up to the inevitable yet unsettling climax.

The website's consensus reads: "On the strength of its two lead performances Assassination is an expertly crafted period piece, and an insightful look at one of the enduring figures of American lore.

"[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Tallerico also said, "Stunning visuals, award-worthy performances, and a script that takes incredibly rewarding risks, Jesse James is a masterpiece and one of the best films of the year.

"[33] He notes that it has the "space and freedom" of classic Western epics, where "the land is so empty, it creates a vacuum demanding men to become legends.

Levy also wrote, "Like Bonnie & Clyde, Dominik's seminal Western is a brilliant, poetic saga of America's legendary criminal as well as meditative deconstruction of our culture's most persistent issues: link of crime and fame, myths of heroism and obsession with celebrity.

Beale wrote, "The director seems so in love with his languorous pacing, he's incapable of cutting the five or ten seconds in any number of scenes that could have given the film a more manageable running time.

"[37] Critic Mark Kermode named the film as his best of 2007 in his end-of-year review on Simon Mayo's BBC radio programme.

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said that the relationship between Pitt and Affleck "gets smothered in pointlessly long takes, repetitive scenes, grim Western landscapes and mumbled, heavily accented dialogue.

"[39] Los Angeles Daily News critic Bob Strauss gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and said, "To put it most bluntly, the thing is just too long and too slow."

Unwilling to give the lawmen that satisfaction, James embraces his own death and subtly cultivates the mercurial attentions of the most obviously cringing and cowardly of his associates: 20-year-old Robert Ford.

With the taunts and whims of a lover, he encourages Ford's envious, murderous fascination, and grooms him as his own killer, so that his own legend will be pristine after his death.

He engineers a character-assassination of Ford, and the title, knowingly, gets it precisely the wrong way around.Bradshaw took issue with the narration that often redundantly describes action clearly visible to the viewer on the screen.

"[43] During a post-screening Q & A at the movie's "revival" in 2013, Dominik reported that when he showed Terrence Malick a cut of Jesse James, his reaction was "it's too slow," drawing a laugh from the audience.

[49] The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was identified by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures as one of the top 10 films of 2007.

[52][53] The San Francisco Film Critics Circle named The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as the Best Picture of 2007.