Jessie James ... yet another folk hero?

Well, after 6 months of waiting and betting on the Hollywood Stock Exchange, Dan and I finally got an opportunity to go see Jesse James and after almost 3 hours of watching this movie I felt unable to satisfactorily rate this wonderful film without a second viewing. So, I will rate it as I viewed it and then when it comes to the Clyde I will watch it yet again and decide if my rating is accurate.

First let me say that although the movie only rated a single shot, I felt that there was definitely some two shot materials in there. For instance, the photography in this movie was two shots. It was beautiful and very authentic! I loved it and it's eloquence. I felt that Casey Afflecks acting deserved two shots! He truly was exceptional and he played against Brad Pitt... That is saying a lot! Now why the movie did not earn a two shot rating. I felt that it left out some pieces like the fact that Jesse James was a ladies man, and I felt that the charisma that Jesse James was supposed to possess and which Brad Pitt has no problems displaying was not portrayed that effectively in the movie. I actually became more involved in Robert Ford than in Jesse James (I guess that is the idea but after watching the movie I felt that there was a question about what the focus should have really been.) I wanted to know more about Jesse James. I wanted to know why he is still such a folk hero and I still do not understand it! In short, my expectations for the movie were that it would explain some of these questions. It didn't and consequently it did not live up to those expectations. On the other hand I thought the movie would turn out to be just another shoot 'em up and it wasn't. It was a thoughtful and provocative character study of both Jesse James and Robert Ford and it was a wonderful period piece so it surpassed my expectations on that issue.

So after all this explaining I have to say that the movie rated a single shot. Note that there are things in the movie that earned a double shot as well. I loved this movie (I think) and I enjoyed my time spent watching it at the theaters.

Jesse James never toured Whidbey Island.