The Assassination of Jesse James Trailer Now Showing Online

The teaser trailer for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" has been released, and the glimpse of the movie shows it to be a serious historical exploration of the final days in the life of the first infamous outlaw of the Wild West, Jesse James. James is played by Brad Pitt, and Casey Affleck plays Robert Ford, the member of James's own gang that betrayed and killed him.

 

 

Pitt and Affleck are on display in character without giving away much, though the title pretty much says it all. Casey Affleck (Ben's younger brother) has a chance to establish himself on a more dramatic level as this insidious villain. The movie also stars Zooey Deschanel, Sam Shepard, Sam Rockwell, and Mary Louise-Parker, but none of them are to be found in the teaser. Fittingly, we are only introduced to the title characters and given the hints at the history behind that title. As for the trailer itself, this appears to be the antithesis to Colin Farrell's young and cool Jesse James in "American Outlaws." Also, in case it sounds familiar, the soft yet eerie music in the trailer is a sampling from "The Shawshank Redemption" score by Thomas Newman.

The last western this sober based on a real figure from the Wild West was probably Kevin Costner's "Wyatt Earp," which lost out in appeal to the cooler, more fun Hollywood version, "Tombstone." Westerns have not fared too well at the box office in recent years. Even "Tombstone" only took $56 million in domestic gross. Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" was the western that broke the mold, earning $101 million domestically and four Academy Awards. If this first peek at Brad Pitt's "Jesse James" is an accurate read, it could have that kind of financial sway and large scale audience at theaters, because come September, it could turn out to be the best western movie in more than a decade.