I Shot Jesse James

Bob Ford shoots Jesse James in the back. He wants the reward and the pardon that will let him marry his girlfriend Cynthy. On paper the plan works. But when he comes back into town nobody treats him as a hero; everyone sees the man who killed his friend. He ends up performing his own story on stage, goes to Colorado, tries prospecting, and meets the same look wherever he goes. This is Samuel Fuller's first film as director. He puts the killer rather than the hero at the center of a western, and finishes the event in the opening minutes. The remaining eighty minutes are about the consequences of a crime. That choice was unusual for 1949 and points toward the cinema Fuller would go on to make. John Ireland plays Bob Ford and Preston Foster his rival in town. Who it's for: Viewers interested in films that step outside the western, narratives built on guilt, and Samuel Fuller's early work. Who it's not for: The budget is low, the action is sparse and the sets are limited. Anyone wanting the historical Jesse James story will not find it.