The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

press release: USA | 2007 | 35mm | 160 min.

Director: Andrew Dominik

Cast: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell

Pitt stars as Jesse James, the troubled legendary outlaw living out his final days in the American Midwest. In an Oscar-nominated performance, Affleck is Bob Ford, whose lifelong dream of riding with Jesse’s gang leads him towards an act of betrayal that will seal his own tragic destiny. Overlooked upon its original release, don’t miss your opportunity to see this grand and beautifully photographed masterwork on the big screen. The astonishing supporting cast includes Rockwell as Charlie Ford, Sam Shepard as Frank James, Jeremy Renner, Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Parks, Zooey Deschanel, and Nick Cave, who also composed the score.

Chicago Film Society Presents!

Founded in January 2011 by Becca Hall, Julian Antos, and Kyle Westphal, three Chicago based projectionists and programmers, the Chicago Film Society was created to “to promote the preservation of film in context.” The CFS’s successful regular screening series at Northeastern Illinois University, the Music Box Theatre, and other locations in Chicago, was, according to their mission statement, launched out of a conviction that “films capture the past uniquely. They hold the stories told by feature films, but also the stories of the industries that produced them, the places where they were exhibited, and the people who watched them. We believe that all of this history–not just of film, but of 20th century industry, labor, recreation, and culture–is more intelligible when it’s grounded in unsimulated experience: seeing a film in a theater, with an audience, and projected from film stock.” The CFS has also established a significant and eclectic archive of 35mm and 16mm film prints that we have drawn upon for the purposes of this series tribute to the Society’s cinephilic accomplishments. Our Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen series from September through December will present an international selection of 15 feature films and several shorts from throughout film history, all on 35mm, from the collection of the Chicago Film Society! Additionally, Julian Antos and Becca Hall will appear in person on September 28 at our regular Vilas Hall venue to present a CFS restoration of Hal Hartley’s American indie classic Trust.