Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Cunninghamolga This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

evanston_dad This rather mediocre film doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it other than the fact that it's an early example of Samuel Fuller's filmmaking before he developed his unique, kinetic, and instantly recognizable style."I Shot Jesse James" feels fairly anonymous, as if anyone could have directed it. It clearly was made for peanuts, and I wonder if that had a lot to do with Fuller's unusually constrained choices. Scenes are often shot with a static camera planted broadside to a pair or trio of actors who stand in one spot and deliver lines like they're on the world's tiniest stage. There is no dynamism to the film, and not a single shot stands out as being especially creative, which makes it feel very unlike a Samuel Fuller film.One thing that DOES, however, mark "I Shot Jesse James" as a Fuller movie is its preoccupation with the psychological effects of violence and masculine insecurity.John Ireland plays Bob Ford, the "I" of the film's title in the same year that he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in "All the King's Men." Grade: C

Armand 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.

st-shot 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.

OldAle1 Few DVD releases this year so far have been more exciting to me than this issue of Criterion's Eclipse series, consisting of Sam Fuller's first 3 films. Fuller is, no question, one of the great American originals, completely inimitable (and perhaps indescribable, at times). This, his first feature, opens on a stark tableau: bank robbers and bank employees, tensely standing each other off, the robbers hesitating to shoot while the tellers try to waste their time. A signal is tripped, a siren blares, a shootout occurs, a bandit is wounded and a teller killed -- all in less than a minute. Jesse James and his henchman Bob Ford escape, James saving Ford's life and in typical Fuller fashion, foreshadowing his own doom as he tells Ford that now he's "responsible" for him.This has little to do with what is known of the real James and Ford brothers; it seems pretty hard to believe that rural/western born Jesse was the cultured gentleman he acts in the early part of this film, and the later scenes of Ford and John (later Marshall John) Kelley bear scant resemblance to the historical record; no matter though if you're more interested in the taut, exciting storyline that Fuller has crafted. Jesse lasts just a few minutes on screen, and then it's Ford's turn to play on our sympathies as his cowardly actions haunt him for the rest of the film, and he tries to no avail to redeem himself in the eyes of his sweetheart, Cynthy, who we know instinctively will wait for him -- only so far.Many of Fuller's trademarks are already in place: hard-bitten dialogue (though not so outlandish and over-the-top here as it would be in some later films), fairly heavy use of wide-eyed close-ups, and an in-your-face, blunt yellow journalistic style that on first glance may seem to admit little subtlety. Poke around a little though and you'll find a lot of complexity in the character of Bob Ford, especially, and a fairly ambiguous attitude about both vigilantism and honor. The acting is surprisingly solid here given Fuller's penchant for picking hammy players, though only Preston Foster as Kelly seemed entirely at home.