J'ai tué Jesse James

a good work, interesting western, smart story. in fact, more than adaptation of an American modern history episode, it seems be adaptation of Ahasverus myth. because it is portrait of a sin committed with noble intention. and that fact is basic virtue of that drama. it does a simple movie, mixture of love and revenge, who can impress first for its deep roots. it is a a film remarkable for actors performance because the acting is , in this case,precise tool not for present a story but to discover the profound human side of characters. and that fact has a correct result and the force of seduction for large public. it is a good work. and that thing is a real admirable virtue for the manner to expose the story in inspired light. and , for that fact, the merit of John Ireland is not little.

Sam Fuller's directorial debut is more of a character study than a traditional western. John Ireland stars as Bob Ford, who kills his friend Jesse James in order to get immunity for his past crimes so that he can settle down with the girl he loves. Wracked with guilt and feelings of inadequacy, Ford pursues the girl in the face of a rival for her heart. Fuller hasn't fully developed his dynamic style yet, in fact, this feels more like a low budget Nicholas Ray film than a Fuller film. A scene where Ford forces a dude to sing the ENTIRE song about Jesse James being killed by "that coward Robert Ford" is priceless and worth the price of admission.

I think this movie is more about Robert Ford than say Jesse James. John Ireland does a great job as the cowardly Bob Ford.. the James gang just having finished another robbery is on the run hiding out somewhere in Missouri,, Jesse is living under an alias. One thing that this movie presented to me was that the James' somehow are related to the Younger's and the Dalton's interesting fact if its' true. With that price of 10,000 on Jesse's head it becomes almost impossible for Bob Ford to resist it,, he plans on getting a house in the country and marrying his sweetheart Cynthy,, so he figures to cash in on his friend Jesse's head dead or alive,, what he doesn't count on is 2 things,, first being the public outcry of Jesse's death,, also the shrinking of the reward money,, and secondly how Cynthy would react,, he figures she'd be happy so that they could get married and so on.. wrong ,,, she has a conscious, and starts to despise Bob,, and at best pity him. this is a pretty good telling of the story of Jesse getting shot by Bob.

Sam Fuller's first film direction is a version of what happened to Robert Ford (John Ireland), the man who famously killed his friend - Jesse James (Reed Hadley).

Taking up the basic elements of the real life story, Fuller keeps the narrative tight whilst ensuring the complexities of the main characters come to the fore. All the quirks and peccadilloes of the human condition are explored (the detail of Ford's torments and troubles superbly told), which is something of a rarity for a late 1940s "B" standard Western. The use of close-ups are to purposely highlight the psychological discord on show, marking this out as a good pointer to the later work of its maverick director. Ernest Hiller photographs the exteriors out of Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth and support to Ireland comes from Preston Foster, Barbara Britton and J. Edward Bromberg. 7/10

it reminds the Biblical stories. or damned characters of Dostoievski.in fact, it is an inspired western, proposing a hero, a coward mate and the fall of dreams, a show as remind of guilt and the public contempt. a film who did not demonstrate anything. only gives a large picture about gestures and fragile and obscure border between bad and good. and this transforms "I Shot Jesse James" more than a B western but a demonstration about values and expectations and illusion and friendship. the noble Jesse James and the knavish Ford. a story with moral veil who remains nice demonstration about limits and falls.