The beautiful, sexy, intelligent Mahnola Dargis in the NYTS on The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

It’s [Brad Pitt's] a curious performance, at once central and indistinct, but then, so too is the character. Based on the novel of the same title by Ron Hansen, the film introduces James at the beginning of his end. Hunkered down in some woods, surrounded by darkly dressed men and leafless birch trees, and framed by Roger Deakins’s impeccable, stark, high-contrast cinematography, he looks a vision. This isn’t just Jesse James — it’s also Jim Morrison at the Whisky in 1966 with a dash of Laurence Olivier, a touch of Warren Beatty and more than a hint of Ralph Lauren. It’s the beautiful bad man, knowing and doomed, awaiting his fate like some Greco-Hollywood hero, rather than the psychotic racist of historical record.

This may not be the Western my Dad was looking for. He likes his more in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly vein. It's a shame because Andrew Dominik's Chopper was a kick-ass film. Instead he gets bogged down in the poetry for God's sake. Ralph Lauren?! Christ almighty. Well, there is always 3:10 to Yuma for the old man.