Good story, Not enough for a whole film

From my favorite movies..

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

*Spoiler/plot- I shot Jessie James, 1949. After a bank robbery goes bad, Jesse James and a wounded Bob Ford hide out and quit for 6 months. Ford is thrilled to learn that his love, Cynthy Waters, is in town acting on stage with a traveling company. She's happy to see him but both realize that with a price on his head. They are unlikely to ever marry so their happiness is in doubt. When the Governor announces an amnesty for any criminal that brings in Jesse James, dead or alive; Ford decides to act and shoots his best friend in the back. He receives a pardon from the Governor but finds that he's become something of a pariah. Ford is being labeled both a traitor and a coward by the public. He goes off to make his fortune in mining but finds that there is nothing he can do to get Cynthy love him again with this curse of his actions. *Special Stars- John Ireland, Preston Foster, Barbara Britton. DIR: Sam Fuller.*Theme- Bad people should not be canonized as heroes.*Trivia/location/goofs- B&W. Directorial debut of Samuel Fuller. The character played by Robin Short, identified in the cast merely as "Troubadour," is obviously based on the real-life traveling musician Billy Gashade, who shortly after Jesse James' death wrote the "Ballad of Jesse James" sung by Short in the film. It's also used as a recurring theme by composer Albert Glasser. *Emotion- I enjoyed this film for it's realism and honesty. Director Samuel Fuller said that he wanted to make this picture because, unlike many filmmakers in Hollywood, he did not see the real Jesse James as a "folk hero" or someone to be admired. Fuller saw him as a cold-blooded psychopath who shot down women, children, the elderly, the helpless (his gang once stopped a Union hospital train and executed every wounded federal soldier on it) In Fuller's words, Bob Ford "did something that should have been done quite a bit earlier in the life of Jesse Woodson James". *Based On- A new more honest view of 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 writer/ director debut foreshadows much of the quirky originality one would come to expect from his pictures in the decades to follow. Leave it to Sam to have a protagonist that cowardly shoots an infamous icon in the back as opposed to making another oater featuring Jesse James. I Shot Jesse James is a fresh approach to the western canon and from this angle makes for a more than satisfying ride for a B western with something extra. Jesse James is living incognito in St. Joe MO with his family as well as providing shelter for the Ford brothers. When Bob Ford (John Ireland) learns he can receive amnesty as well as a fat reward for Jess dead or alive he plans his future to run off with his entertainer girl friend and start anew. After performing the dastardly act he fails to get the full reward so he agrees to go on tour re-creating the scene on stage as well as avoid a similar fate.Fuller presents James as a decent man while Ford displays a loutish personality filled with jealousy and paranoia. Ireland does a fine job of managing to evoke sympathy for a an execrable character looking for a way out as he displays just enough sensitivity to temper his surly ways. Eventually you find yourself rooting for him and perhaps identifying with him since he is not only an assassin but a dreamer as well.

This is Samuel Fuller's first effort;it is a western and it's got something bizarre,something unusual which we find in every work of this director,whatever he films :films noirs ("underworld USA" ),melodramas ("the naked kiss" ) ,thrillers verging on horror ("shock corridor" ) or westerns ("run of the arrow" and "forty guns").They say that Fuller approved of Robert Ford's attitude.But his movie is not so simple.It seems that Jesse really WANTS to be killed ;we might take the lines "what are you waiting for?here's my back " literally.Once Robert Ford has taken the plunge ,his fate is sealed;there's no coming back,no hope for the life he dreams of with his gorgeous girl.Anyway,Cynthy's love has turned to despise at worst ,pity at best.The scene on the stage is some kind of mirror ,where Ford fully realizes what he has done -a scene which contains an unusual inventive use of the flashback-,as is the folk singer who performs his "ballad of Robert Ford": when he sings his last verse ,he may be frightened,but it's Cain's eye all over again.I do not have to kill you,Jesse's brother says ,you're already dead.