The twilight of the hero, infinite silence

Bernhard 2022-04-21 09:01:53

When the boy who admired Jessi came to Jessi's side, Jessi's "career" had reached the day when it was going downhill. As soon as the film started, they were already planning the last robbery, and then everyone washed their hands and scattered. The myth of jessi has come to the end, and it is inevitable that I have some silence and depression. Perhaps only the boy's admiration warmed Jessi's pride. In the end, the boy kills Jessi, which is really not unexpected at all, and at this point in the story, such an outcome is logical. For Jessi, being shot to death by a subordinate who admires him is of course more extraordinary, more romantic, and full of Jessi mythology than being hanged at trial. It's a perfect finish.

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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford quotes

  • Robert Ford: They gave me ten days.

    Charley Ford: For what?

    Robert Ford: Arresting him.

    Charley Ford: You and me, huh?

    Robert Ford: It's going to happen one way or another. It's going to happen, Charley, and it might as well be us who get rich on it.

    Charley Ford: Bob, he's our friend.

    Robert Ford: He murdered Ed Miller. He's going to murder Liddil and Cummins if the chance ever comes. Seems to me Jesse's riding from man to man, saying goodbye to the gang. Your friendship could put you under the pansies.

    Charley Ford: I'll grind it fine in my mind, Bob. I can't go any further than that, right now.

    Robert Ford: You'll come around.

    Charley Ford: You think it's all made up, don't you? You think it's all yarns and newspaper stories.

    Robert Ford: He's just a human being.

  • Governor Crittenden: Jesse James sent me a telegram last month, saying he was going to kill me if he had to wreck a train to do it. He said that once I was in his hands he was going to cut my heart out and eat it in strips like it was bacon.

    [pause]

    Governor Crittenden: I'm going to wreck his train first.

    Robert Ford: [Bob scoffs, Crittenden glares at him] I'm sorry, Your Excellency. I was thinking of something else.

    Governor Crittenden: Jesse James is nothing more than a public outlaw who's made his reputation by stealing whatever he could and by killing whoever got in his way. You'll hear some fools say he's getting back at Republicans and Union men for wrongs his family suffered during the war, but his victims have scarcely ever been selected with reference to their political views. I'm saying his sins will soon find him out. I'm saying his cup of iniquity is full. I'm saying Jesse James is a desperate case and may require a desperate remedy.