Jesse James

Rev.
08/26/05 (Blue)
Rev. 11/03/05 (Pink)
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Screenplay by
Andrew Dominik
based on the novel by Ron Hansen
This script is the confidential and proprietary

property of Warner Bros. Pictures and no portion of
it may be performed, distributed, reproduced, used,
quoted or published without prior written permission.
FINAL WHITE
JJ Pictures, Inc. - Domestic August 17, 2005

JJ Films Inc. - Canadian © 2005
4000 Warner Boulevard WARNER BROS. ENT.
Burbank, California 91522 All Rights Reserved
2.
FADE IN:
INT./EXT. WOODLAND AVE. COTTAGE - DUSK
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He was growing into middle age and
was living then in a bungalow on
Woodland Avenue.
Green weeds split the porch steps, a wasp nest clings

to an attic gable, a rope swing loops down from a dying
elm tree and the ground below it is scuffed soft as
flour.
NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

He installed himself in a rocking
chair and smoked a cigar down in
the evening as his wife wiped her
pink hands on an apron and
reported happily on their two
children. His children knew his
legs, the sting of his mustache
against their cheeks. They didn’t
know how their father made his
living, or why they so often moved.
They didn’t even know their
father’s name.
EXT. STREET (KANSAS CITY) - DAY
JESSE, from a distance, a dandy in his gentleman's

clothes and cane. Everyone seems to know him.

He was listed in the city directory
as Thomas Howard, and he went
everywhere unrecognized
and lunched with Kansas City
shopkeepers and merchants, calling
himself a cattleman or commodities
investor, someone rich and
leisured who had the common touch.
MONTAGE
JESSE'S scars and wounds:
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He had two incompletely healed
(MORE)
3.

bullet holes in his chest and
another in his thigh. He was
missing the nub of his left middle
finger and was cautious lest that
mutilation be seen.
EXT. PRAIRIE WHEAT - AFTERNOON
JESSE looks out beyond the prairie wheat, to the dying sun.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He also had a condition that was
referred to as granulated eyelids
and it caused him to blink more
than usual, as if he found creation
slightly more than he could accept.
Rooms seemed hotter when he was in

them.
TIMELAPSE CLOUDS

Rains fell straighter.
A ROCKING CHAIR

Clocks slowed.
WHEAT BLOWING IN THE WIND

Sounds were amplified.
ON JESSE

He considered himself a Southern
loyalist and guerrilla in a Civil
War that never ended. He
regretted neither his robberies
(MORE)
4.

nor the seventeen murders that he
laid claim to.
CLOSE ON JESSE
His eyes impossibly blue.

He had seen another summer under
in Kansas City, Missouri, and on
September fifth, in the year 1881,
he was thirty-four years old.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. BLUE CUT (AS SEEN FROM THE SOUTHERN RIDGE) - DAY
Thirty feet below is a cinder roadbed, the sickle curve

of rails, the grade that is hard work for a locomotive.
Beyond that is the northern ridge -- a lower elevation --
rising ten feet above the cut.
SUPER:
BLUE CUT, MISSOURI
SEPTEMBER 7, 1881
EXT. SOUTHERN RIDGE - DAY
FRANK JAMES (stern, 38) stands back in the green

darkness, studying the terrain. O.S. we hear the sound
of some fool CRASHING THROUGH THE WEEDS to the rear of
him. FRANK opens his coat and slides his hand over his
revolver.
VOICE (O.S.)
Excuse me, but I see I've traipsed
right on in and interrupted you.
FRANK turns to see a boy in a stovepipe hat and an

overlarge black coat that’s cinched by a low-slung
holster. His hands are overhead as if a gun is upon him.
FRANK
Who are you then?
5.
BOB
Bob Ford.
FRANK
Charley's brother?
BOB
Yeah.
BOB receives this as an invitation to lower his hands.

He hunkers down next to FRANK and takes off his hat.
BOB (CONT’D)
I was lying when I said I just
happened down here. I've been
looking for you. I feel lousy
that I didn't say so at the
outset.
FRANK digs in his pockets and extracts cigarette makings.

He's not inclined to converse.
BOB (CONT’D)
Folks sometimes take me for a
nincompoop on account of the
shabby first impression I make,
whereas I've always thought of
myself as being just a rung down
from the James brothers.
And I was hoping if I ran
into you aside from those
peckerwoods, I was hoping I could
show you how special I am. I
honestly believe I'm destined for
great things, Mr. James. I've got
qualities that don't come shining
through right at the outset, but
give me a chance and I'll get the
job done - I can guarantee you
that.
EXT. WOODS - DAY
Dick, Charile, Wood, and Ed sit around a fire.
CHARLEY
Hey, Dick, you ever diddled a
squaw?
6.
DICK
Shhhhh...
CHARLEY
Come on, you can tell me. I’ve
always wanted to lay down with a
redskin.
DICK
Well, Charley, there’s a feeling
that comes over you gettin’ inside
a woman whose hands have scalped a
congregation.
WOOD
There’s a thunderous sound that
comes from their cooch on account
of the fact that they birth a child
standing upright like a wild
animal.
CHARLEY
What’s it sound like?
WOOD
Whatever a thunderous cooch sounds
like, Charley. I don’t know.
DICK
No, they got a noisy quim on
account of the fact that they use
their cunnies as a saddlebag to
carry tundries across the plains.
CHARLEY
Come on, what’d it really feel
like? It feel good? Come on. Fess
up, now.
DICK
I like you, Charley.
WOOD
I like you, too, Charley.
EXT. SOUTHERN RIDGE - DAY
FRANK slimes his cigarette and strikes a match off his

boot sole.
7.
FRANK
You're not so special, Mr. Ford.
You're just like any other tyro
who's prinked himself up for an
escapade. You're hoping to be a
gunslinger like those nickel books
are about, but you may as well
quench your mind of it. You don't
have the ingredients, son.
BOB slaps a mosquito and looks at his blood-freckled

palm.
BOB
I'm sorry to hear you feel that
way since I put such stock in your
opinions.
He stands and rehats himself.
BOB (CONT’D)
As for me being a gunslinger, I've
just got this one granddaddy
Patterson Colt and a borrowed belt
to stick it in. But I've also got
an appetite for greater things. I
hoped joining up with you would
put me that much closer to getting
them.
FRANK
And what am I supposed to say to
that?
BOB
Let me be your sidekick tonight.
FRANK examines his cigarette, sucks it once more, and

flips it onto the roadbed.
FRANK
Sidekick?
BOB
So you can examine my grit and
intelligence.
FRANK
I don't know what it is about you,
but the more you talk, the more
(MORE)
8.
FRANK (CONT'D)
you give me the willies. I don't
even want you anywhere within
earshot this evening. You
understand?
BOB
I'm sorry --
FRANK
(interrupting)
Why don't you just get now? Scat.
And, after a beat, BOB tramps up the hill, slapping weeds

aside.
14 EXT. WOODS - MOVING WITH BOB TO THE GANG'S CAMP - DAY 14
BOB passes a number of horses reined to a piece of rope

fixed between two trees. He passes MEN aged in their
late teens and early twenties -- hooligans mainly, boys
with vulgar features and sullen eyes. They cradle
shotguns and wear patched coveralls and foul-looking suit
coats. They are known collectively as THE CRACKERNECK
BOYS and are just here to provide "atmosphere" at the
robbery and easy prey for the sheriff afterwards. BOB
clears this group and arrives to a view of JESSE
surrounded by the inner gang; the current apostles:
ROBERT WOODSON HITE (WOOD) is JESSE'S cousin, sulking and

mooning over some imagined slight.
CHARLEY FORD is BOB'S older brother, who chuckles and

brays and hee-haws and who covers his left boot with a
coat in order to conceal a clubfoot.
DICK LIDDIL and ED MILLER can be seen in the b.g.,

working over a cast-iron pot:
ED MILLER is the anxious type; has a streak of spit where

his spine ought to be.
DICK LIDDIL is a good-looking horse thief.
BOB eyes this group hungrily, coveting admission.
ED
I was with a girl once. Wasn’t a
squaw, but she was purty. She had
yellow hair, like uh... oh, like
something.
9.
DICK
Like hair bobbed from a ray of
sunlight?
ED
Yeah, yeah. Like that. Boy, you
talk good.
DICK
You can hide things in vocabulary.
ED
Maybe you and me could write her a
note, send it by post?
DICK
See, all you gotta do, Ed, is
predict her needs and beat her to
the punch.
ED
Well, this girl, she had a real
specific job.
DICK
Specific?
ED
We’s only together once. She’s
afraid of lightning. She came up
into the wagon and just cuddled
right up to me. She gave me a kind
price, too.
DICK
Well I be! That is specific.
ED
Yeah, sure, she been with other
people. But the kind of things she
said to me, people just don’t say
unless they really mean it.
DICK
“My love said she would marry only
me and Job himself could not make
her care, for what women say to
lovers, you’ll agree, one writes on
running water or on air.”
ED
My God that’s good. Let’s write her
that.
10.
DICK
Naw. Poetry don’t work on whores.
EXT. WOODS - GANG CAMP - DAY
JESSE takes a heaped bowl from DICK LIDDIL in his

gunnysack apron. He lowers himself onto a stump and
BOB squats in the dirt at his feet.
BOB
Am I too late to wish you a happy
birthday?
JESSE
How’d you know?
BOB
Oh, you’d be surprised at what I
got stored away. I’m an authority
on the James boys.
JESSE
Is you?
BOB
Your brother Frank and I just had
a real nice visit, just chit-
chattin’ about this and that, right
over there. Must've been a
hundred subjects entertained --
JESSE
Good Lord. Do you know what this
stew needs?
BOB is perplexed:
BOB
Dumplings?
JESSE
Noodles. You eat yourself some
noodle stew and your clock will
tick all night. You ever see that
woman over in Fayette could suck
noodles up her nose?
11.
BOB
Don't believe I have.
JESSE
You never heard of her? You've got
canals in your head you
never dreamed of.
BOB is dumbfounded.
BOB
I don't like to harp on a subject
but --
JESSE
I don't care who comes with me.
Never have. That’s why they call
gregarious.
FRANK JAMES is drinking coffee and scowling as he sits on

the far side of the fire. JESSE raises his voice:
JESSE (CONT’D)
I hear you and young Stovepipe
here had a real nice visit.
FRANK looks askance at BOB and flings the dregs of his

coffee onto the ground.
FRANK
(terse)
Your boys have got about an acre
of rock to haul, Dingus. You'd
better goose them down yonder.
EXT. BLUE CUT RAILBED - DAY
A cottonwood tree is skidded down the bank and heaved

over the polished steel rails. The CRACKERNECK BOYS
carry boulders of lime and sandstone which they fort
around the tree as SHOVELS SING and picks splinter.
JESSE supervises the rock piling, recommending land to be
mined for stone, chewing his green cigar black.
12.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The James gang committed over 25
bank, train, and stagecoach
robberies from 1867 to 1881. But
except for Frank and Jesse James,
all of the original members were
now either dead or in prison. So
for their last robbery at Blue Cut,
the brothers recruited a gang of
petty thieves and country rubes,
culled from the local hillsides.
Shadows grow long and die. Clouds brick overhead and

brindle pink. Then crimson. Then violet. Then black.
EXT. BLUE CUT RAILBED - NIGHT
Jesse hops down the bank in three plunging steps, shakes out
his trouser cuffs, and kneels to put his ear to the
rails. The HUM of the LOCOMOTIVE is like insects in a
jar.
JESSE
She's right on schedule, Buck!
EXT. SOUTHERN RIDGE - NIGHT
FRANK stubs out his cigarette.
FRANK
Snuff those lanterns. Look at those
fools. They’re going to trip and
shoot each other into females.
DICK
I bet you I can find them husbands
if they do.
JESSE raises the blue bandana over his nose and places
his right boot on the rail as DICK slides down the
southern cliff. DICK ties a red bandana over his face
and ambles over, shaking the dust from his shirt.
The LOCOMOTIVE'S CHUFFING is GROWING LOUD.
JESSE'S right foot tickles with rail vibrations.

13.
The headlamp's aisle of white light fills the forest

passage, streaks across scrub and bush, then bends and
floods towards JESSE. He swings his red lantern in a
yard master's signal to stop. The brakes are engaged
with an ear-splitting scream. Couplings bang. Sparks
slice off the rails as the ENGINE swiftly DECELERATES.
And a great cloud of steam breaks over JESSE.
Then the GANG is running and bounding and skidding down

the embankments.
BOB FORD slides down like a debutante in petticoats, his

left hand snatching at roots while his right unveils his
eyes long enough to peek around at the commotion:
MEN rush alongside the train levering their rifles in a

manner they fancy is ghoulish and frightening.
JESSE hops out of the steam and up onto the cab step and
cocks his revolver. The ENGINEER cringes down behind his
hands.
EXT. BAGGAGE/EXPRESS CAR - NIGHT
The BAGGAGEMASTER and EXPRESS MESSENGER have their heads

tilted out the door at radically different heights.
BAGGAGEMASTER
Do you think that lock will hold?
EXPRESS MESSENGER
No I don’t.
The door slams.
INT. BAGGAGE/EXPRESS CAR - SAME TIME
The wood screams and folds inward from the blow.
JESSE socks the door open, heaves his chest onto the
threshold and knees himself into the room. DICK LIDDIL,
ED MILLER and the come-lately CHARLEY FORD follow him. A
lantern is passed up as JESSE lifts packages and shakes
them and guesses at their contents:
JESSE
You got anything good in here?
14.
MESSENGER
Could be.
JESSE smashes another box on a nail and snags it open,

finding inside a photograph of a child in an oval frame,
the cheek torn by a nail. He looks at it a moment and
then glares at the frightened MESSENGER;
JESSE
Open that safe. Do it!
The MESSENGER looks to the BAGGAGEMASTER for council --

but the man's head is down. He looks back at JESSE with
his nervous smile. CHARLEY FORD steps forward and
strikes him over the skull with his pistol. The man
drops to his knees, blood shoelacing his face. The
BAGGAGEMASTER backs to wall in horror.
ED MILLER
You didn't have to bop him,
Charley.
JESSE
Yes, he did. They need the
convincing. They got their
company rules and I got my mean
streak and that's how we get
things done around here.
CHARLEY grins with accomplishment and JESSE clears some

registers off the only safe he can see.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Get on over here and attend to this
thing.
We hear a wild and scrambled O.S. FUSILLADE and DICK

leans outside to see what's going on.
INT. BAGGAGE/EXPRESS CAR - NIGHT
The EXPRESS MESSENGER jerks the company vault door open.

CHARLEY FORD empties the contents of the safe into a
grain sack which he hands to JESSE. JESSE puzzles over
its contents.
15.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Isn't no hundred thousand dollars
in here, Dick.
JESSE turns on the EXPRESS MESSENGER:
JESSE (CONT’D)
Get down on your knees.
MESSENGER
Why?
JESSE
You oughta pray; I'm going to kill
you. Get down!
MESSENGER
You'll have to make me.
JESSE
All right.
JESSE socks the man with his pistol and he drops like
empty clothes. JESSE looks at him for a moment, then
cocks his pistol and puts it against the unconscious
man's head. ED MILLER reacts with horror:
ED MILLER
Don't shoot him! Don’t... shoot
him.
JESSE grins, uncocks the pistol, and picks up the grain

sack.
JESSE
Don't you tell me what I can and
can not do, Ed.
The gang rides through the rain on horseback.

16.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Chicago newspaper publishers made a
great deal of the Blue Cut train
robbery, alleging that in no state
but Missouri would the James
brothers be tolerated for twelve
years.
INT. WOODLAND AVE BARN - NIGHT
Charlie and Wood sit in the corner, while Frank stands alone.
CHARLIE
Hey, can you keep a secret?
WOOD
Depends on what you’re concealing.
CHARLIE
Are you afraid of the dark?
WOOD
No.
CHARLIE
Are you superstitious?
WOOD
Nuh uh.
Jesse stands just inside the sloshing eave, peering at his

older brother with meloncholy. It’s a moment before he
perceives that BOB FORD is standing to his right.
JESSE
You must’ve creeped up on cat’s
paws.
BOB
I’ll wager that’s the first and
last time you’ll ever be caught off
guard.
JESSE
How old are you?
BOB
Twenty.
(beat)
Except I won't really be twenty
until January.
(MORE)
17.
BOB (CONT'D)
(scratches his sleeve
apologetically)
I'm nineteen.
JESSE
You feel older than that, though,
don't you?
BOB
Yes, I do.
JESSE
You enjoy yourself this evening?
BOB
I was strung too high for much
pleasure.
JESSE seems to think this an appropriate remark.
JESSE
Do you like tea?
INT./EXT. WOODLAND AVE. BARN - LATER
FRANK gathers two horse blankets and makes his way to an

empty stall.
CHARLEY
Hey Frank, do you think the
sheriff's out
already?
FRANK
More than likely.
CHARLEY slinks over to the stall and watches as the grim

man hangs his coat.
CHARLEY
I had a real fine time tonight.
FRANK
You think so?
18.
CHARLEY
I wasn't just flapping my lips
about my kid brother and me. What
I figured was if you and Jesse
could gauge our courage and
daring, you just might make us
your regular sidekicks.
FRANK shoots him a look of umbrage as he spreads out a

wool blanket on the straw.
FRANK
Your courage and your daring. I
about heard all I want to about
sidekicks. You sound like your damn
brother.
CHARLEY
I'll be square with you: it was
Bob who put me up to it. He's got
plans for the James boys that I
can't even get the hang of,
they're that complicated.
FRANK settles into repose, wrapping another horse blanket

around him.
FRANK
You might as well forget
everything about that because after
tonight there'll be no more
shinanigans. You can
jot it down in your little diary:
September seventh, eighteen
eighty-one; the James gang robbed
one last train at Blue Cut and
gave up their nightriding for
good.
CHARLEY
How will you make your living?
FRANK is smoking a cigarette with his eyes shut.
FRANK
Maybe I'll sell shoes.
EXT. WOODLAND AVE. PORCH - NIGHT

19.
JESSE and BOB come out onto the porch with a candle and
two cigars. JESSE lowers into a rocker and BOB takes the
mating chair. BOB bends forward over the flame and
lights his cigar.
BOB
I can't believe I woke up this
morning wondering if my Daddy
would loan me his overcoat, and
here it is just past midnight and
I've already robbed a railroad
train and I'm sitting in a rocking
chair chatting with none other than
Jesse James.
JESSE
Yeah, it's a wonderful world.
Bob reaches into his pocket.
BOB
Oh, what’s this? I was real
agitated this morning, wondering if
I’d be able to tell you and Frank
apart. So I had the clipping that
described you both. You want me to
read it?
JESSE
Go on.
BOB
Well, I gotta find... here. Jesse
James, the youngest, has a face as
smooth and innocent as a
schoolgirl. They blue eyes, very
clear and penetrating, are never at
rest. He form is tall and graceful
and capable of great endurance and
great effort. Jesse is light-
hearted, reckless, and devil-may-
care. There is always a smile on
his lips --
JESSE
All right, all right.
20.
BOB
Well, yeah. Then it’s “Frank,
Frank, Frank...” You know what I’ve
got right next to my bed? The Train
Robbers, or a story of the James
Boys, by R.W. Stevens. Many’s the
night I’ve stayed up with my mouth
open and my eyes open, reading
about your escapades in the Wide
Awake Library.
JESSE
They're all lies, you know.
BOB
'Course they are.
JESSE
You don't have to keep smoking
that if it's making you bungey.
BOB is relieved. He reaches over the banister and drops

the cigar in a puddle.
EXT. WOODLAND AVE. - HOUSE - DAY
FRANK JAMES and family are assembled in traveling clothes

around a PHAETON CARRIAGE. ZEE hugs ANNIE RALSTON JAMES
and then grasps three-year-old ROB to her bosom. FRANK
receives her kiss like medicine, and then turns to the
backyard to see his younger brother angrily looking away.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Alexander Franklin James would be
in Baltimore when he would read of
the assassination of Jesse James.
He had spurned his younger brother
for being peculiar and
temperamental, but once he
perceived that he would never see
Jesse again, Frank would be wrought
up, perplexed, despondent.
INT. WOODLAND AVE. HOUSE - DAY
BOB watches from the kitchen window as the Phaeton pulls

21.
away, then drops his cup in the sink and heads out to the
backyard.
EXT. WOODLAND AVE. - BACKYARD - DAY
JESSE sits in a rocker that is submerged to its seat in

grass and weeds. Beat.
JESSE
My brother and me are hardly
on speaking terms these days.
BOB
I wasn't going to mention it.
JESSE reaches into a tin under his chair and hauls up two
writhing snakes. BOB flinches.
JESSE
You scared?
BOB (CONT’D)
Just surprised a little.
JESSE
They aren't as succulent as I like
and they're the devil to clean but
if a man skins them and fries them
in garlic and oil -- mercy, thems
good eating.
BOB
Well, I've never been that hungry.
JESSE unfolds a four-inch knife and lifts the head of a

snake on the blade.
JESSE
I give them names.
BOB
Such as?
JESSE
Such as enemies. I give them the
names of enemies.
22.
He lays the snakes on the arm of his chair and carefully

saws off their heads with his knife. The bodies curl and
thrash. He flicks the heads into the grass.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Go tell Wood and Charley to get
their gatherings together.
BOB
Me too?
JESSE
You can stay.
INT./EXT. BARN (WOODLAND AVE.) - DAY
Charley and Wood are talking in the barn when Bob enters.
BOB
Hey
WOOD
What you want, peckerwood?
BOB
Nothing, except to tell you two
Jesse wants you to gather your
parts and get on your horses and
get out of town. And me to stick
around.
The dismissal hits WOOD hard:
WOOD
Well, I'm his cousin! My momma was
his daddy's sister!
BOB
Was that how they described it to
you, Wood?
WOOD
You better watch your tongue, young
sapling. So how come it's me who
has to
rattle his hocks out of town?
CHARLEY is already packing.

23.
CHARLEY
If I know Jess, there's some real
nasty sad-suzie work that's got to
be done around here and Bob's the
ninny that has to do it.
BOB
Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s it,
Charley.
CHARLEY
You only met him twelve hours ago.
He doesn’t even know your name.
EXT. WOODLAND AVE. - BACKYARD - DAY
When they exit JESSE is at the compost crib, drooling the

snake bodies onto the mulch.
JESSE
Wood? You tell your daddy I'll be
in Kentucky in October and maybe
we can hunt some birds together.
WOOD
So how come it's Bob who gets to
stay?
JESSE
Bob's going to move my gear to a
house down the street.
CHARLEY winks at his brother.
CHARLEY
See.
BOB
I don't mind.
(though of course
he does)
Sounds like an adventure.
24.
EXT. TROOST AVE. - HOUSE - NIGHT
NARRATOR (V.O.)
They moved to 1017 Troost Avenue
at night so that the neighborhood
couldn't get a good look at them
or their belongings.
BOB does all the lifting, JESSE provides direction.

And then Bob thought Jesse would
give him eight hours sleep and a
daydreaming goodbye --
INT. TROOST AVE. HOUSE - DAY
The FAMILY are assembled around the dining table. BOB

seems to be hoping his continued presence won't be
noticed.

-- but with a second day in the
Thomas Howard house, Bob thought
he might never go but might be
brought in as a good-natured
cousin to the boy and a gentleman
helper to Zee.
INT. TOPEKA EXCHANGE SALOON - DAY
Action as per V.O.:

He went everywhere with Jesse. They
made trips to the Topeka Exchange
saloon, where Jesse could spend
nearly sixty minutes sipping one
glass of beer and still complain
about feeling tipsy.
ANGLE ON BOB
25.

Bob would rarely vouchsafe his
opinions as they talked. If
spoken to, he would fidget and
grin --
EXT. TOPEKA EXCHANGE SALOON - DAY
JESSE chats with a man in the street. MOVE IN ON BOB.

-- if Jesse palavered with another
person, Bob secretaried their
dialogue, getting each inflection,
reading every gesture and tick, as
if he wanted to compose a biography
of the outlaw, or as if he were
preparing an impersonation.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - KITCHEN - DAY
BOB, with bated breath, watches through the doorway.
JESSE stands naked in a laundry boiler wringing a

washcloth over his skull. He's wracked by a coughing
fit. He seems old, prematurely decrepit, the scars on
his body stand out red as slaughter.
After a long beat, JESSE says:
JESSE
Go away.
BOB
Used to be nobody could sneak up on
Jesse James.
JESSE
Now you think otherwise?
BOB
I ain’t never seen you without your
guns, neither.
JESSE tows a towel off a chair and reveals, almost

incidentally, a twelve-inch Remington revolver on the
26.
seat.
JESSE
Can't figure it out: Do you
want to be like me, or do you want
to be me?
BOB
I’m just making fun is all.
EXT. FRONT YARD - DAY
Bob is on horseback, while Jesse and Zee say goodbye.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Bob was sent away cordially the
next day, with a goodbye from
Jesse, but nothing from Zee beyond
what good manners demanded. It was
forty miles from his sister’s farm
to Kansas City, and it was well
into the afternoon by the time he
arrived there. Mrs. Martha Bolton
rented the Harbison farm in 1879,
just after becoming a widow, and
she made a good income giving room
and meals to her brothers Charley,
Wilbur, and Bob, and the members of
the James gang who would appear
when they needed seclusion.
EXT. HARBISON FARM - YARD - DAY
DICK LIDDIL is at the yard swing with Bob's niece, IDA

(12 years old), twisting the seat until the ropes are
raveled. He releases her and she twirls, squealing, her
auburn hair flying out.
WOOD HITE stands on the kitchen porch, stern as John the

Baptist.
WOOD
You're gonna make her sick! She's
gonna upchuck, you don't watch
out!
27.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Wood had been spurned by Martha and
her affections and his attempt to
switch his pursuit to her daughter
was currently being thwarted by
Dick Liddil.
DICK cuffs the girl's dress so that it blooms and reveals

her thighs.
DICK
Wait a second. You assured me that
you were not ticklish. What’s going
on, now?
IDA
You’re not supposed to peek, Dick!
DICK
But you’re so pretty! I can’t help
myself!
BOB, approaching, calls:
BOB
Howdy!
But they ignore him. WOOD, jealous, slams the screen

door shut.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - KITCHEN - DAY
BOB can be heard before he's seen:
BOB (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Howdy!
Neither CHARLEY nor MARTHA BOLTON (BOB AND CHARLEY'S

SISTER) look up.
BOB (CONT’D)
Howdy!
BOB enters, making a beeline for the staircase and his

bedroom.
28.
BOB (CONT’D)
I'm finally home!
MARTHA
I'm real glad, Bob.
CHARLEY
I'm in that room too, Bob. Don't
mess up my things.
BOB
Alright, grandpa!
HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - DAY
BOB reaches under his bed and hooks out a shoebox. He

opens the lid and lays it on the bed. From his pocket he
removes a cigar butt and wraps it in the eye-holed white
handkerchief. He tucks this little bundle into the box
alongside lurid nickel books about the James gang, Civil
War photographs, yellowed newspaper articles, and other
James brothers' mementoes. Then he squirms his boots off
and strips out of his month-old clothes.
EXT. HARBISON FARM - DAY
Two calves stare with worry as BOB takes a bath in the

broad water tank. BOB bends over to rinse soap from his
hair and then shakes water like a hound. Then he notices
an amused DICK LIDDIL standing as close as a tailor.
BOB (CONT’D)
How long you been there?
DICK
Just now arrived. Did I miss
much?
BOB
Not unless you've never seen a man
wash his dirty carcass before.
DICK
You've got a big old pecker for
being
such a little squirrel.
29.
BOB
Is that what you come over here to
see?
DICK bends for the towel and some of the good nature
slides from his face.
DICK
No. Your brother said Jesse kept
you in Kansas City some extra days.
What was the reason?
Bob rubs his hair wild.
BOB
Well, I'm not at liberty to say
exactly.
BOB straddles the tank and surrounds himself with the

towel.
DICK
Let me ask you this: did Jesse
mention that me and Cummins were
in cahoots?
BOB
Is that so?
DICK
Oh dear. I've went on and said
too much, have I?
BOB
Who else is partners with you two?
DICK
See, he'll cut our throats if he
finds out. You don't know him like
I do. You do Jesse dirt, you
connive behind his back, he'll
come after you with a cleaver.
BOB
So what are you three cahoots
cooking up?
DICK
Don't know that I should say.
30.
BOB
I don't want to wheedle the dang
news from you, Dick.
DICK
Then how about let's leave it a
mystery and we won't neither one
of us regret our little chat.
BOB rolls his eyes in exasperation.
DICK (CONT’D)
Can you hand me that six-gun,
Bob.
Dick cocks the gun and presses it against Bob’s head.
DICK (CONT’D)
You so much as mention
my name to Jesse; I'll find out
about it, you better believe that.
And I'll look you up, I'll
knock on your door, and I will be
as mad as a hornet, I will be hot.
BOB
You be careful with that iron,
Dick.
Dick lowers the gun.
DICK
You know where I stand on these
matters and that's all there is to
it. We can be friendly as pigs
from now on.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - MARTHA'S BEDROOM - DAY
BOB dresses in his new clothes, selected according to

Jesse's sartorial preferences. But while these clothes
might suit Jesse James, they do not particularly suit
ROBERT FORD.
62 INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - DAY
BOB enters to find CHARLEY and WOOD rooting through his

mementoes:
31.
BOB
You two have some nerve!
BOB elbows them aside and begins repacking the shoebox.

Charley holds up a photograph.
CHARLEY
We were just reading about the
James boys among the Mexicans. This
ain’t Jesse.
BOB
You don't know that.
CHARLEY
Never wore no mustache; never was
anywheres near a cannon.
WOOD
I can't even calculate what I'm
lookin' at.
CHARLEY
Ever since he was a child, Bob's
collected whatsoever he could find
about the James brothers. Got
himself a little museum in this
room.
BOB rams the night-stand's door closed. He's humiliated,

angry, close to tears:
BOB
Next time you snoop around up here
you better strap on a shootin'
iron.
CHARLEY
Ooh, You can see how scared I am.
BOB
You too, Wood Hite. You cross me
again and I'll put a bullet
through your head.
WOOD pokes BOB onto the bed.
WOOD
(sneers)
Son, you better recollect who my
cousin is.
(MORE)
32.
WOOD (CONT'D)
You seem to've misremembered that
Jesse loves me like the Good Book.
You may play like you're a
dangerous person at the grocery
store, but don't you misremember
who you'll be accounting to if I
so much as get my feelings hurt.
MARTHA (O.S.)
Do I have to yell suwee?
CHARLEY
Why don't everyone make up and be
pleasant for once? Why don't we
pass the evening like pleasant
human beings?
EXT. JESSE’S LAND - DAY
Jesse and his son are digging in the dirt together.
JESSE
You see something?
SON
Just a bird.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE - DAY
Jesse slowly walks though town.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The month of October came, and
Jesse began seeing Pinkerton
operatives in every floor walker,
street sweeper, and common man
poking about in a store. On the
morning of the 11th, he would wake
his wife with scripture pertaining
to the Holy family’s flight into
Egypt. Overnight, the Thomas Howard
clan vanished from Kansas City.
Shortly thereafter, four of the
Blue Cut train robbers were
arrested in shacks near Glendale.
How Jesse could have known remains
a mystery.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - KITCHEN - DAY
DICK enters with his coat and bags. MARTHA kisses him on
33.
the lips and whispers in his ear.

There was a wandering existence.
Men who choose to be outlaws cannot
afford to be in one place for very
long.
DICK
Oh, goodness! Maybe I'll change
my mind.
But then WOOD is behind him, jealously bumping him

towards the door.
WOOD
Come on.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE (SOUTHWEST KENTUCKY) - DAY
They ride sullenly. WOOD reads a penny newspaper four

inches from his nose. DICK watches the geography sail
by.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Wood and Dick bicker across the
entire state of Kentucky, until
they made Russelville, home of
Major George Hite, Wood’s father,
and uncle to Frank and Jesse James.
EXT. HITE PROPERTY (KENTUCKY) - AFTERNOON
DICK and WOOD approach the HITE family home. Two EX-
SLAVES thresh corn in a field. A BLACK WOMAN pins
laundry on a clothesline.
MRS. SARAH HITE stands up from her weeding and excitedly

waves. She's pert and pretty.
WOOD
You stay away from this one.
She's my daddy's wife. You got it?
INT. HITE HOMESTEAD - DINING ROOM - NIGHT
Dinner in silence: SARAH sits next to her ancient and

emaciated HUSBAND. The atmosphere is becoming strained,
so DICK leans over his pot roast:
DICK
You cook this, ma'am?
34.
She shakes her head:
SARAH
I've got a nigger woman.
MAJOR GEORGE HITE raises an ear trumpet and inclines it

towards his wife:
MAJOR GEORGE HITE

How's that?
SARAH
Dick asked if I cooked this.
MAJOR GEORGE HITE

Did you?
SARAH
No.
WOOD
She knew what he was like when she
married him.
EXT. HITE HOMESTEAD - PORCH - NIGHT
MRS. SARAH HITE sits in a rocking chair with her

needlework. DICK comes out and leans on the porch rail.
Finally, he says:
DICK
I guess we're the night owls, you
and I.
She simpers but does not look up.
SARAH
I'm glad.
DICK
Oh? How come?
SARAH
You’re interesting to look at; You
have a real pleasant disposition
and, I don't know, you sort of make
me warm all over.
DICK
I'm what they call a Enamoratu.
35.
SARAH (CONT’D)
Well, I knew there had to be a
name for it.
DICK
You and the Hite family don't get
along, if I'm to trust Wood and
his version of the situation.
SARAH
We hate each other like poison, if
you want to know the truth. Most
of the Hites wouldn't spit on me
if I was on fire.
DICK grins:
DICK
They say when a woman's on fire
you're supposed to roll her around
on the ground and cover her with
your body.
Sarah laughs and clamps her mouth.
SARAH
You are a naughty tease!
WOOD appears at the screen door, scowling, in his

nightshirt.
WOOD
Isn't it about bedtime?
DICK
I'll just kiss those dainty
nubbins.
And, as he does so, SARAH giggles.
WOOD
Good night.
INT. HITE HOMESTEAD - NIGHT
DICK follows WOOD up to the second floor bedroom.
INT. HITE HOMESTEAD - BEDROOM - LATER
DICK is tucked under the bed sheet. He whacks his

pillow. He rustles and stirs.
36.
WOOD (CONT’D)
Would you stop?
DICK
I drank too much coffee.
He sits up to see WOOD glaring at him from the bunk

opposite.
DICK (CONT’D)
I need to visit the privy
something terrible.
EXT. HITE HOMESTEAD - PORCH - NIGHT
DICK exits, careful not to let the screen door clap

behind him.
EXT. HITE HOMESTEAD - LAWN - NIGHT
He crosses the lawn to the outhouse in back: An interior

candlelight can be seen through each severance and crack.
DICK looks around him and then slips inside.
INT. HITE HOMESTEAD - OUTHOUSE - NIGHT
SARAH sits with her dress hiked up and collected like

laundry. Her eyes are downcast, but she seems less
shocked than amused.
SARAH
This is embarrassing.
DICK
You go ahead and do your duty; I
don't mind.
SARAH
I've sort of got stage fright with
a strange man in the commode with
me.
DICK
I ain’t strange. I’m built just
like the rest of them. You look
awful pretty.
SARAH
Do I?
37.
DICK
I've never in my life seen such
well-shaped limbs.
She glances fleetingly at the bent pronouncement at his

crotch.
SARAH
Is Wood awake?
DICK
Just me.
She considers her knees for a moment and then blows out
the candle.
SARAH
And I bet you thought I was a lady.
EXT. ED MILLER'S CABIN - DUSK
ED MILLER at the screen door with a gun in his hand and

fright in his eyes. Jesse James is riding down the trail
towards his house.
78 INT. ED MILLER'S CABIN - CONTINUOUS ACTION
JESSE enters. The room is a mess: Mold-crusted dishes

stacked on the kitchen table; newspapers shucked like
corn against the couch; a chair tipped over; a cat on the
kitchen cutting board licking something from the sink.
JESSE
You aren't much of a housekeeper,
are you?
ED MILLER
You didn't just happen by.
JESSE
Why not?
JESSE looks at the gun and MILLER puts it on the kitchen

table.
JESSE sits himself down on the ringed rug. He nods

toward the sagging couch:
JESSE (CONT’D)
Go ahead and take a load off your
feet.
38.
MILLER does as instructed. His clothes are wrinkled as

crumpled paper, his fingernails are outlined with filth,
a corner of his mouth is stained with tobacco juice.
JESSE (CONT’D)
You ought to get yourself a wife.
ED MILLER
I was going to ask Martha --
Charley's sister? I was going to
ask her if she could imagine it,
but I guess Wood has plans of his
own, and there's always Dick
Liddil getting in the way. I've
give it some thought, though.
MILLER can't seem to put his eyes on JESSE. His right

foot rapidly taps the floor.
JESSE
Your crops in?
ED MILLER
I don't got much. A garden patch
and pasture. I was sick at
planting time.
JESSE
Ed, how you feeling now?
A fleeting glance at JESSE:
ED MILLER
Why?
JESSE
You're acting queer.
ED MILLER
Well, you and me, we ain’t been
just real good friends lately.
It's not your fault, you
understand. You hear talk though.
JESSE
Talk?
ED MILLER
People tell you things.
JESSE
Why don’t you give me an example.
39.
ED MILLER
Jim Cummins come by. Oh and Jim
says -- you know those boys got
caught for the Blue Cut deal? --
Jim says he got word that you're
planning to kill them.
JESSE
Why would I do that?
MILLER shoots a glance at JESSE'S gun hand and then

re-establishes his gaze on the yard.
ED MILLER
It's just talk probably.
JESSE
To shut 'em up?
ED MILLER
Just talk.
JESSE
Cummins say anything else?
ED MILLER
Nope. That was it basically.
JESSE
It still don't explain why you're
scared.
MILLER looks at him with watery eyes and spit on his

mouth, light glinting off the oils on his skin.
ED MILLER
I'm in the same situation, you see?
I was petrified when I saw you
ride up!
JESSE
I just happened by, Ed.
ED MILLER
Suppose you heard gossip though.
Suppose you heard Jim Cummins come
by here. You might've thought we
were planning to capture you and
get that reward. Isn't true, but
you might've suspected it.
JESSE gets up and jiggles a pants leg over his boot.

40.
JESSE
Haven't heard a lick of gossip
lately.
JESSE looks out at the road and at the sky which is pink
with sunset. The road he looks down seems never-ending.
ED MILLER (O.S.)
I've got six hundred dollars
stashed away; I don't need any
governor's reward.
JESSE
It's the principle, too.
I'm glad I happened by.
ED MILLER (O.S.)
Me too.
JESSE
I want to put your mind at rest.
MILLER pulls himself to his feet and sweeps his hand over
a plate to shoo away flies.
JESSE (CONT’D)
How about if we go for a ride? We
go into town and I buy you dinner?
And I’ll be on my way.
ED
Okay.
INT. DICK'S BEDROOM (KANSAS CITY) - NIGHT
DICK doesn't know what wakes him. He looks from his

sleeping wife (MATTIE) to the light spilling through the
bedroom doorway. He seems transfixed by it. A SOUND
begins to BUILD. Hairs stand up on the back of his neck.
He retrieves his Navy Colt from under his pillow and
slides quietly out of bed.
INT. DICK'S KITCHEN (KANSAS CITY) - NIGHT
DICK enters and almost screams:
JESSE JAMES sits like an apparition at his kitchen table.
JESSE
You ready to go for a ride?
41.
EXT. ROAD (OUTSIDE KANSAS CITY) - DAWN
They head their horses through the cold. DICK is

suspicious and unnerved.
DICK
Are we going to your place?
JESSE puts his finger inside his cheek and flicks out the
last of his tobacco chew.
JESSE
You seen Ed Miller lately?
DICK
Nobody has.
JESSE
Must've gone off to California.
DICK looks at him with perplexity.
DICK
I'd still like to know where we're
going.
JESSE
If you were going to see Jim
Cummins, wouldn't you follow this
road?
DICK
I guess so.
EXT. BILL FORD'S FARM - ESTABLISHING - DAY
JESSE and DICK approach the farmhouse.
INT. BILL FORD'S FARMHOUSE - DAY
A 12-year-old boy (ALBERT FORD) stands at the sitting

room window and watches the two men climb down from their
saddles.
EXT. BILL FORD'S FARMHOUSE - PORCH - DAY
The boy CREAKS open the DOOR and comes outside:
ALBERT
Howdy.
42.
But he's ignored as JESSE reconnoiters the yard and then

gravely ascends the steps. DICK can see past the nervous
ALBERT to the kitchen where TWO WOMEN stir clothes in a
laundry boiler. JESSE peers into the other rooms.
ALBERT (CONT’D)
Are you friends of my Pa's?
JESSE
We're friends of Jim Cummins.
ALBERT
Oh.
ALBERT gains thirty years -- becomes sullen.
ALBERT (CONT’D)
Well, it so happens he's been gone
since August and never said where
he gone to.
DICK
I'm Matt Collins.
DICK shakes the boy's hand.
ALBERT
Very happy to meet you.
JESSE clenches the boy's hand and introduces himself.
JESSE
Dick Turpin.
ALBERT
Pleased to make your acquaintance.
JESSE smiles around the cigar but stalls the shake and
crushes ALBERT'S hand until the boy winces. ALBERT is
about to cry out when JESSE clamps his hand over the
boy's mouth and yanks him into the yard. DICK softly
shuts the mahogany door.
EXT. BILL FORD'S FARM - YARD - DAY
JESSE manhandles the boy toward a red barn stopping to

slam ALBERT into a cottonwood tree so that he loses his
wind. DICK shambles after them, looking apprehensive and
ashamed, checking the road.
43.
INT. BILL FORD'S FARM - BARN - DAY
JESSE throws the boy to the ground and steps a boot onto
his throat.
DICK
Jesus, Jesse! He's just a kid.
JESSE glowers at DICK for letting his name slip, then

returns his attention to the choking boy.
JESSE
He knows where his Uncle Jim is
and that's gonna make him old
pretty soon.
ALBERT brawls and kicks at JESSE.
DICK
Maybe he doesn't know.
JESSE
He knows.
JESSE falls to his knees on the boy's biceps. ALBERT

cries out. JESSE clamps the boy's mouth shut.
JESSE (CONT’D)
You need to ask and ask sometimes.
Sometimes a child won't remember
much at first and then it'll all
come back.
He twists the boy's ear like a clock wind-up and ALBERT'S

body racks wildly, his BOOTS THUD the earth. JESSE leans
over to examine the injury.
JESSE (CONT’D)
My gosh, I believe it's about to
tear, sweetie. Just a little more
to get her started, then I can rip
your ear off like a page from a
book.
DICK
Let the kid go.
JESSE
He's lying.
44.
DICK
Jesus; he can't even talk!
JESSE
Where's Jim?
(beat)
Where's Jim? Where's Jim?
Where's Jim?
DICK
(slapping JESSE'S
hat off his head)
Quit it!
JESSE sits back and rubs his hands on his thighs. ALBERT
weeps but can't make words. He wipes his nose and eyes
and shudders with sobs as he gasps for air. When at last
he speaks his voice is scaled like a child's:
ALBERT
You bastard! I don't know where
he is and you won't believe me and
you never even gave me a chance.
You kept my mouth shut! I never
know where Jim is or when he comes
so leave me alone, get off me, you
son of a bitch!
(grunts and bucks
under JESSE and
shouts)
Get off!
JESSE rises and ALBERT rolls over crying. DICK walks out
in disgust.
EXT. BILL FORD'S FARM - YARD - DAY
DICK walks around the barn to the road, his face

splotched crimson with fury. He climbs onto his mount.
When JESSE comes forward, DICK looks away; squints down

the road in order to talk.
DICK
I'm worn out. I can't --
My mind's all tangled anyway.
Little deals like this just make
me feel dirty.
45.
DICK turns to gauge JESSE'S reaction to this and is

astonished to see him caved forward into his bay horse,
his face flattened into its mane in a grimace of
affliction, noiselessly crying.
DICK (CONT’D)
You all right, Jesse?
JESSE nuzzles into the horse's hide and mutters words we

can't make out.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Jesse was sick with wounds and
aches, and lung congestions.
Insomnia stained his eye sockets
like soot. He read augeries in the
snarled intestines of chickens, or
the blow of cat hair released to
the wind. And the omens promised
bad luck, which moated and
dungeoned him.
FADE IN:
EXT. HARBISON FARM - MORNING
WOOD HITE approaches through the arctic wind. His

moustache is jeweled with ice. Snow has made boards of
his trousers and sleeves.
He sees ELIAS FORD (BOB AND CHARLEY'S ELDER BROTHER) in

the distance; throwing up his arm in greeting and
pointing him toward the stables.
INT. HARBISON FARM - BARN - MORNING
WOOD walks his horse inside a stall and throws a moth-

eaten blanket over it.
EXT. HARBISON FARM - YARD - MORNING
WOOD walks to the kitchen with WILBUR, who's teetering

with a milk can. (WILBUR is another FORD BROTHER, in
between BOB and CHARLEY.)
WOOD
How come it's always you who does
the chores?
46.
WILBUR
Charley and Bob pay extra to
Martha so's they don't have to.
WOOD
Still don't seem fair.
WILBUR
Well.
WILBUR opens the storm door for the man and bangs the
milk can inside.
WILBUR (CONT’D)
I'd take a rag to my nose if I
were you; it's unsightly.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - KITCHEN - MORNING
MARTHA kneads bread dough on a floured board. IDA stirs

a kettle, yawning. WILBUR straddles a chair and MARTHA
turns to see WOOD thawing his right ear over the coal
lamp's glass chimney.
MARTHA
Look what the cat dragged in.
He rotates his ear to thaw the left ear.
MARTHA (CONT’D)
You come from Kentucky?
WOOD squints at her:
WOOD
You have your head in a hole,
Martha?
WILBUR
Wood and Dick had a shooting
scrape a few months ago.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - MORNING
BOB is awake upstairs. The North window is raised and

the room is so cold spirits leave him with each
exhalation. The sounds of BREAKFAST being prepared
below:
47.
MARTHA (O.S.)
Cover the kettle, Ida.
Then he hears his sister say:
MARTHA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

What on earth did you and Dick get
into a fracas about?
And he bolts out of bed. He scoots his hand under DICK'S

pillow and shakes him:
BOB
Dick!
LIDDIL automatically reaches for the Colt revolver but

finds it trapped. He looks at BOB'S worried face.
BOB (CONT’D)
Wood Hite's downstairs.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - KITCHEN - MORNING
MARTHA
I-da! Don't stick your thumb in
the cream when you skim it!
Goodness sakes!
WILBUR
Dick told me a complete other
version of that affray.
WOOD
You mean he's here?
WILBUR
Came in late last night.
WOOD'S CHAIR SCREECHES on the floor as he stands up.
WILBUR (CONT’D)
Simmer down.
DICK cocks his Navy Colt and points it at the closed

door. BOB extracts a loaded revolver from CHARLEY'S
holster.
48.
MARTHA (O.S.)
Don't you boys get into a fracas
up there. I've almost got
breakfast cooked.
They listen as WOOD makes a RACKET on the STAIRS.
WOOD slams the bedroom door with his boot so that it

bashes the wall and CHARLEY jolts up.
DICK FIRES a SHOT, missing WOOD and smashing a hole in

the doorjamb.
WOOD FIRES at DICK, strewing pillow feathers, and FIRES a

second time as DICK rolls off the mattress.
A terrified BOB cowers next to his bed and clicks back

the hammer of his revolver.
WOOD FIRES a SHOT through DICK'S thigh; swatting the

floorboards and bed sheets with blood.
DICK triggers a SHOT that snags WOOD'S right arm.
CHARLEY gets out of bed and dives for the windowsill,

squirming under the sash.
WOOD SHOOTS at CHARLEY but misses.
98 EXT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - ROOF - MORNING
CHARLEY slips on the eave and slides off the roof and
whumps into a snowbank twelve feet below.
99 INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - MORNING
DICK, in agony, raises his Navy Colt again but the hammer
snaps against an empty chamber.
WOOD then switches his pistol to his left hand, steps

forward, and takes slow and careful aim at DICK.
It is then that BOB FORD SHOOTS ROBERT WOODSON HITE: The

round goes in just next to his eyebrow and makes a small
button of red carnage that shuts WOOD'S motor off. WOOD
collapses to his knees, his brown eyes jelly and reason
vanishes, and then he falls to the left with a concussion
that jostles the room.
DICK looks at BOB with consternation.

49.
BOB walks around to WOOD with sickness in his stomach, an

apricot in his throat.
BOB is deafened by the gunfire
WOOD'S chest swells and relaxes. Blood pools wide as a

birdbath under his skull.
BOB
He's still sucking air, but I
think he's a goner.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR CORRIDOR - MORNING
BOB steps shakily out into the corridor and looks down at
MARTHA and ELIAS at the bottom of the stairs.
BOB (CONT’D)
(holding it together)
Maybe you oughta come up and wish
him well on his journey.
Blood creeps away from WOOD and drools into board cracks.
BOB stares at it as the STAIRS CREAK.
MARTHA bumps past BOB, removes her apron, and carefully

wads it under the exit wound. ELIAS squats next to her.
ELIAS
You were a good fellow, Wood.
MARTHA
I hope the pain isn't frightful,
Wood. I'd fetch something for you
to drink but I'm afraid it'd just
make you choke.
(beat)
Little Ida's going to miss you.
So is the rest of the family.
DICK collars his thigh with his hands.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - KITCHEN - AFTERNOON
CHARLEY sits with his foot propped up on a chair, his

sprained ankle as round as a melon.
CHARLEY
One thing's settled: can't take
him into Richmond.
50.
WILBUR
How come?
CHARLEY
One: the sheriff will put Bob in
jail. And two: Jesse will find
out his cousin Wood's been shot in
our house and that'll be the end
for each and every one of us.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - DUSK
WOOD'S corpse, now naked, is laid out on BOB'S twin bed.

DICK'S lips move as he reads a yellow book. BOB enters.
DICK doesn't raise his eyes.
DICK
He ain't disappeared if that's
what you were hoping.
BOB
What chapter are you on?
DICK
She's seen some young swell and
got herself all agitated.
BOB
How's that leg?
DICK
Full of torment, Bob. Thanks for
asking.
EXT. HARBISON FARM - DUSK
Snow falls around BOB and ELIAS as they struggle with

their cumbersome load.
EXT. HARBISON FARM - RAVINE - DUSK 107
WOOD'S naked body is rolled into a snow-filled ravine.

The brothers begin kicking clods of earth down onto the
body.
ELIAS (V.O.)
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are them that
(MORE)
51.
ELIAS (V.O.) (CONT'D)

mourn: for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are the --
EXT. HARBISON FARM - SLOPE ABOVE RAVINE - LATER
ELIAS stands with hat at his chest, petitioning BOB with

his eyes.
BOB
Meek.
ELIAS
Blessed are the meek...
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - DUSK
BOB sits, spooked, in the living room. The CLOCK CLUNKS.

A candle blows out.
BOB turns to lock eyes with an apparition at the window

glass: It's JESSE receding back into the darkness.
And then suddenly JESSE is filling up the kitchen, as

large and as loud as a beer wagon: Rowdily swatting
shoulders and biceps, receiving the other FORD BROTHERS'
handshakes.
BOB scuttles up the stairs.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - DUSK
DICK is already hopping one-leggedly toward the closet.
BOB
Why'd he come by, Dick? Does he
know about Wood, do you think?
DICK
I can't figure it, Bob. I only
know that he doesn't miss very
much.
BOB
What should I say about you if he
asks?
52.
DICK
Just tell him I'm in K.C. with
Mattie.
Dick swaddles himself in yanked-down petticoats and

crinolines as BOB closes the closet door.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - KITCHEN - SOON AFTER
BOB shies into the kitchen.
JESSE
Why, it's the kid!
BOB
How's everything?
JESSE ignores question and takes off his hat and coat.
No one talks as JESSE moves -- it's as if his acts are
miracles of invention wondrous to behold.
JESSE
I never take off my gun belts.
WILBUR
Good thinking.
JESSE walks back to his coffee and CHARLEY hitches aside.
JESSE
Well, Charlie. Hurt your leg?
CHARLEY
I slipped off the roof and smacked
down into a snowbank like a ton of
stupidness. One second I'm
screaming, 'Whoa, Nelly!' and the
next second, poof! I'm neck-deep
in snow.
JESSE
Whatever possessed you to climb the
roof in December?
CHARLEY loses his smile and sees the criticism in BOB'S

expression.
CHARLEY
(stammering)
There was a kite -- what am I
saying? There was a cat. A cat
was on the roof and I went after
(MORE)
53.
CHARLEY (CONT'D)
him. A tom cat. Yowling and
whatall; and I slipped.
CHARLEY rubs his eye and coughs into his fist.
JESSE
I thought maybe your clubfoot was
gaining on ya.
WILBUR and CHARLEY guffaw as if this is funny. MARTHA

carries a bowl of ham hocks to the table.
BOB
Dick went to Kansas City to be with
his wife. He was here for a little
bit.
JESSE gives BOB a look and then pretends he hasn't heard.

He begins to tickle IDA's side and stomach, saying
"Kootchy Kootch" until the girl is sore with giggles, and
the fun is over.
MARTHA
Oh, quit it, you two.
CHARLEY casts about anxiously for something to say.
CHARLEY
Here's a cute story, Jess. Bobby
was -- what -- eleven or twelve?
And you were by far his most
admired personage. He couldn't
get enough. It was Jesse this,
Jesse that, from sunrise to sunset.
JESSE
Fascinating.
CHARLEY
No; there's more. This is cute.
We're at supper and Bob asks, 'You
know what size boot Jesse wears?'
BOB
Charley, Jesse doesn’t want to hear
this.
CHARLEY
Shush now, Bob. Let me tell it.
Bob says, he says, 'You know what
size boot Jesse wears? Six and a
half.' He says, 'Ain't that a
dinky little boot for a man five
(MORE)
54.
CHARLEY (CONT'D)
feet eight inches tall?' Well, I
decide to josh him a little, you
know, so I said, 'He doesn't have
toes, is why.'
BOB
That’s a really stupid story.
CHARLEY
'He was dangling his feet
off a culvert and a catfish
nibbled his toes off.' Well, Bob
taxed himself trying to picture it.
BOB
That’d be a good story. If it was
funny.
CHARLEY laughs and claps his hands.
CHARLEY
Isn't that a cute story, Jess?
JESSE suppresses his opinion. He regards BOB in a way

that implies the sight is disappointing. He skewers a
cigar with the tine of his fork.
JESSE
Give me some more conversations,
Bob.
CHARLEY
I got one. This one's about as
crackerjack.
JESSE
Let Bob tell it.
BOB
I don’t even know what you’re
talking about.
CHARLEY
About how much you and Jesse have
in common.
JESSE
Go on, Bob.
CHARLIE
Tell a story.
55.
BOB
Nope. Nope.
CHARLEY
Entertain Jesse. He’s here.
BOB
Well, if you'll pardon my saying
so, I guess it is interesting, the
many ways you and I overlap and
whatnot. You begin with our
Daddies. Your daddy was a pastor
of the New Hope Baptist Church; my
daddy was pastor of a church at
Excelsior Springs. Um. You're the
youngest of the three James boys;
I'm the youngest of the five Ford
boys. Between Charley and me, is
another brother, Wilbur here (with
six letters in his name); between
Frank and you was a brother,
Robert, also with six letters.
Robert is my Christian name. You
have blue eyes; I have blue eyes.
You're five feet eight inches tall.
I'm five feet eight inches tall.
Oh me, I must've had a list as long
as your nightshirt when I was
twelve, but I've lost some
curiosities over the years.
JESSE is as still as a photograph. Smoke spirals from

his cigar in a line and then squiggles above him like
sloppy handwriting; but his eyes are active, cagey,
calculating. He comes carefully to life and taps ashes
into his coffee cup.
JESSE
Ain't he something?
WILBUR sniggers.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Did I ever mention that scalawag
George Shepherd? George was one of
Quantrill's lieutenants and he gave
me a story like Bob's, is why I
thought of him, giving me
everything we had in common and so
on, just so he could join the
gang. How could I know he had a
grudge against me and was lying to
(MORE)
56.
JESSE (CONT’D)
get on my good side? I said,
'Come aboard, George. Glad to
have ya,' George thought he was
smart. 'Cept he wasn't. He rode
into camp one morning and about
twenty guns opened up on him. But
he only had one eye --
and you need two eyes to get
Jesse.
BOB and WILBUR laugh for a suitable period of time, and

JESSE laughs until tears come out of his eyes.
BOB
You oughtn't think of me like you
do George Shepherd.
JESSE
You brought him to mind.
BOB
It's not very flattering.
MARTHA waitresses around them collecting cups and

saucers.
JESSE
Sure is good eating, Martha.
MARTHA
Well, I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
BOB
How come George had a grudge
against you?
JESSE
Hmmm?
BOB
I said “How come George had a
grudge against you?”
JESSE
Oh. George asked me to protect
this nephew of his during the war
and it so happens the kid had five
thousand dollars on him. The kid
winds up killed, and all the money
swiped from him, and when George
was in prison someone whispers to
him it was Jesse James slit the
boy's throat.
57.
CHARLEY
Just mean gossip, was it?
JESSE
Bob's the expert; let’s put it to
him.
BOB rises from the table like a stamping boy in a snit.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Oh dear, I've made him cranky.
WILBUR snickers.
BOB
I’m not cranky. I've been through
this before, is all. Once people
get around to making fun of me,
they just don't ever let up.
MARTHA
Someone's speaking awful fresh
over there!
BOB
Woman, shut your face for once.
BOB is forced to walk past JESSE to get to the main room.

JESSE kicks a leg across BOB'S path, clouting the
floorboards with his boot. BOB glances down at his bogus
grin -- the suggestion of malice beneath his antics.
JESSE
I don't want you to skip off to
your room and pout without knowing
why I dropped by for this visit.
BOB
I suppose you're going to tell us
how sorry you are that you had to
slap my cousin Albert around.
Such great heat seems to come then from JESSE'S eyes that
BOB glances away as if from sunlight, but in a second the
man cools and says:
JESSE
I come by to ask one of you two
Fords to ride with me on a journey
or two. I guess we've both agreed
it ought to be Charley; you've been
acting sort of testy.
58.
BOB stands pale and silent. Then he steps around JESSE'S

boot and calmly climbs the stairs to the upper room.
113 EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - ESTABLISHING - Day
JESSE and CHARLEY approach on horseback.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Have you seen Wood Hite lately?
CHARLEY
No, not at all.
SUPER: St. Joseph, Missouri
EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - PORCH - DAY
ZEE is in the doorway waiting for them.
ZEE
You're Charley Ford.
CHARLEY
Yes, ma'am, you've seen me once or
twice before.
ZEE
I got a letter from George Hite.
Hasn't seen hide nor hair of him.
JESSE squints at CHARLEY.
JESSE
And you say you haven't seen Wood?
CHARLEY
Can't imagine where he could be.
115 EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
CHARLEY is woken by JESSE:
JESSE
You finished with your sleeping?
CHARLEY
I could use a couple more hours if
it's no trouble.
CHARLEY sits up from his bedroll:

59.
JESSE
I've been holding a discussion
with myself over if I ought to
tell you this or no. My good side
won out and, well, I'd like to
make a clean breast of things.
CHARLEY
My mind is a little cobwebby yet,
is the only drawback. I could use a
little more sleep.
JESSE crosses close.
JESSE
You knew I went to Kentucky?
CHARLEY
Yeah.
JESSE
I come back through Saline County
and thought to myself, 'Why not
stop by and see Ed Miller?' So I
do and things aren't to my
satisfaction. Ed's got
himself all worked up over
something and I can see he's
lying like a rug and I say to
myself, 'Enough's enough!' and I
say to Ed, 'Come on, Ed, let's go
for a ride.' Do you understand
what I'm saying?
CHARLEY
Going for a ride is like giving
him what-for.
JESSE
Exactly. Ed and Jesse, they
argued on the road...
EXT. COUNTRY TRAIL - NIGHT - FLASHBACK
Ed rides his mare down the road with Jesse following behind.
JESSE
You ever count the stars I can’t
ever get the same number. They keep
changing on me.
60.
ED
I don’t even know what a star is,
exactly.
JESSE
Well, your body knows. It’s your
mind that forgot. You go on ahead,
partner. I’ll catch up with you.
Ed, terrified, rides ahead. Jesse aims his gun and shoots him
through the chest. Ed falls off his horse and struggles on
the ground for a moment before Jess shoots him again in the
head.
EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
Jesse continues his story.
JESSE
And when push came to shove, Jesse
shot and Killed him
CHARLEY
Jesse did.
JESSE
You got it.
CHARLEY
You.
JESSE pats CHARLEY'S knee.
JESSE
So you see? Your cousin, he got
off easy. I was just playing with
Albert.
CHARLEY
I've made him squeal once or twice
myself. I'm just not as thorough
as you are.
JESSE
You want to swap a tale with me
now?
CHARLEY
(sudden fright)
I don't get your meaning.
61.
JESSE
It seems to me, If you've got
something to confess in exchange,
it'd only be right for you to spit
it out now.
CHARLEY
Can't think of a single thing.
JESSE
About Wood Hite, for example.
CHARLEY
I've been saying over and over
again I can't figure out where
he's gone. I'm not going to
change my story just to have
something to spit.
JESSE
Why was your brother so agitated?
CHARLEY
Which?
JESSE
Bob.
CHARLEY
It's just his way. He's antsy.
JESSE retreats. Sits in a chair.
JESSE
You can go on back to sleep now.
CHARLEY
You got me agitated now: you see?
JESSE
Yeah, just ain't no peace with old
Jesse around. You ought to pity my
poor wife.
CHARLEY
Ed Miller was a good friend of
mine. He introduced me to you at
that one poker game. I'm a little
angry with you, if you want the
God's honest truth.
62.
JESSE crosses his ankles and shuts his eyes. He pushes

his hands deep into his pockets.
JESSE
You ought to pity me too.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. COMMERCIAL DISTRICT (KANSAS CITY) - DAY
BOB stands in a street of mud and slush and manure. He

watches a stern man in his 40s (HENRY CRAIG) cut between
two surreys and enter the Times Building. BOB waits for
an agonizing moment -- crippled with indecision. And
then he follows, grim-faced. As he enters the building
we come upon a window sign: "HENRY CRAIG, ATTORNEY AT
LAW."
EXT. WOODS SURROUNDING HARBISON HOMESTEAD - DAWN
An ARMED POSSE crunches through the snow on foot,

approaching the Harbison farm. They are led by HENRY
CRAIG and SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE.
INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - DAWN 119
THROUGH the window, BOB sees 12 ARMED MEN coming out of

the woods, as rounded over as hedgehogs.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
As proof of his confederacy with
the James Gang, Bob told the
authorities that Dick Liddil was
sleeping over at the farmhouse
while his ruined leg mended. And
then he created a map of the
Harbison property, leading to the
creek where Wood Hite’s remains now
mouldered.
EXT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - DAWN
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE has his mouth bracketed with his

mittens. He's surrounded by CRAIG and the DEPUTIES.
63.
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE
You boys are cornered! If you
know what's good for you, you'll
come out peaceably and no one will
get shot up!
The kitchen door is pushed open and the MEN all crouch
down. BOB calls out:
BOB (O.S.)
Don't shoot!
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE
Come on out and show yourself!
BOB steps out with a smirk.
BOB
If this isn't a surprise!
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE
That's how we intended it.
121 INT. HARBISON HOMESTEAD - 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM - SOON

AFTER
The POSSE are gathered in the room. BOB and MARTHA watch
as TIMBERLAKE whams the ceiling cover and points his
revolver into the crawl space.
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE (CONT’D)

You there! Give yourself up!
DICK climbs down. He is handcuffed.
HENRY CRAIG
Andrew James Liddil, this is a
warrant for your arrest for the
murder of William Westfall and
participation in the Winston train
robbery on the 15th of July, 1881.
64.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Snow storms would move over
Missouri that Sunday, February 19,
shutting down commerce for more
than two days. And yet this
wouldn’t prevent Robert Ford from
presenting himself to Governer
Crittenden at the Craig Rifles Ball
on Wednesday.
FADE OUT.
INT. ST. JAMES HOTEL - GRAND BALLROOM - NIGHT
GOVERNOR CRITTENDEN speaks to a large crowd of GENTLEMEN

in tails and LADIES in satin gowns.
CRITTENDEN
I deem it a great privilege on
this glorious occasion to
recognize publicly the intelligent
and efficient assistance that
Captain Henry Craig has thus far
provided the State of Missouri and
myself in our joint quest to
extirpate the James band from
Jackson County. The task Henry
Craig has assumed requires
fearless courage, extraordinary
vigilance, and an unerring
selection of instrumentalities.
BOB lingers against a pillar on the fringes.
CRITTENDEN (CONT’D)
My wife has just signaled that
enough is enough. But before I sit,
I’ll ask you to join me in a toast
to the great son of the state of
Missouri, my friend, Henry Craig.
INT. ST. JAMES HOTEL - NIGHT
BOB jostles through the crowd, insinuating himself closer

to CRITTENDEN. He raises his hand in a juvenile wave and
is about to give his name when he's grasped by two
POLICEMEN. They clamp his mouth shut and sock him in the
groin. He collapses in agony.
65.
INT. ST. JAMES HOTEL - CORRIDOR - SOON AFTER
The POLICEMEN shove BOB against a mahogany pillar. CRAIG

is with them.
HENRY CRAIG
You're more goddamned trouble than
you're worth, Bob.
BOB
I was just going to say hello.
HENRY CRAIG
You weren’t going to do that, Bob.
You think you’re the goddamned bell
of the ball. That isn’t why you’re
here, you sill little bastard. The
governor will see you in good time.
Take him upstairs, boys.
INT. ST. JAMES HOTEL - HENRY CRAIG'S SUITE - SOON AFTER
BOB enters, looking disheveled. DICK, guarded by TWO

KANSAS CITY POLICEMEN, looks over the top of his paper
and smiles.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Bob would later be cross-examined
repeatedly about the exact nature
of the deal he had made with the
authorities. And he was never
consistent with his recollections.
INT. ST. JAMES HOTEL - CRITTENDEN'S SUITE - NIGHT 129
CRITTENDEN receives them in a red silk robe and directs

them towards wingback chairs:
CRITTENDEN
My wife's asleep in the next room,
so let's speak as quietly as we
can.
CRITTENDEN settles himself into a settee and his eyes

glitter as he regards the two strangers:
66.
You're Dick little.
DICK
Liddil.
CRITTENDEN
I beg your pardon?
DICK
I spell it with two d's.
HENRY CRAIG
He's given us a confession,
Governor, but so far the newspapers
haven't caught onto it. You've
guaranteed him a conditional pardon
and amnesty for all the robberies
he’s commited.
CRITTENDEN
You're Robert Ford?
BOB grins, but can't think of anything to say.
How old are you?
BOB
Twenty.
CRITTENDEN
Did you surrender to Sheriff
Timberlake as well?
HENRY CRAIG
No, no, govenor. It was his brother
Charley who was in the James Gang.
We couldn't find anything on Bob.
He's acting in the capacity of a
private detective.
67.
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.
(beat)
I'm going to wreck his train first.
BOB emits a scoffing laugh. CRITTENDEN glares at him.
BOB
I'm sorry, Your Excellency. I was
thinking of something else.
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.
DICK looks to BOB to respond -- but sees that the boy is

overpowered by the situation, so he responds for him:
DICK
You've got the right man for the
job.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. FROZEN LAKE (SOMEWHERE IN NEBRASKA) - DAY

68.
JESSE walks like Jesus out onto the frozen water.
JESSE
You ever consider suicide?
CHARLEY
Can't say that I have. There was
always something else I wanted to
do. Or my predicaments changed or
I saw my hardships from a
different slant; you know all what
can happen. It never seemed
respectable.
JESSE squats and brushes snow from the ice: The dark
shapes of fish can be seen moving below.
JESSE
I'll tell you one thing that's
certain; you won't fight dying
once you've peeked over to the
other side; you'll no more want to
go back to your body than you'd
want to spoon up your own puke.
CHARLEY'S motor works in the silence:
CHARLEY
Since we're looking to rob banks,
I was wondering if I could go as
far as to recommend we add another
feller to the gang and sort of see
if we couldn't come out of our
next job alive.
JESSE seems transfixed by a stain on his glove.
CHARLEY (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Bob wanted to know could he ride
with us next time we took on a
savings bank or --
Jesse fires his gun into the ice below his feet. The shot’s
echo hangs in the air.
CHARLEY (CONT’D)
A saving’s bank or --
69.
Jesse fires again.
CHARLEY (CONT’D)
A railroad.
Jesse fires a final shot.
CHARLEY continues hopefully:
CHARLEY (CONT’D)
Bob isn't much more than a boy to
most appearances, but there's
about two tons of sand in him and
he'll stand with his shooter when
that's what's called for. And
he's smart too -- he's about as
intricate as they come.
JESSE
You're forgetting that I've
already met the kid.
CHARLEY
He surely thinks highly of you.
JESSE
All America thinks highly of me.
CHARLEY
Still. It's not like you've got
two million names you can snatch
out of a sock whenever you need a
third man.
JESSE sighs, gets up, and mounts his horse:
JESSE
I can see you’re trying to wear me
down on this.
CHARLEY
(smiles)
That was my main intention.
Jesse walks away, leaving Charley alone by the edge of the

lake.
70.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Robberies would be conceived, but
never carried out in Nebraska,
Colorado, and Missouri. During this
time, Henry Craig had enjoined
Robert Ford in returning to Elias’
Grocery Store in Richmond and await
instructions from Sheriff James
Timberlake.
INT. ELIAS' GROCERY STORE (RICHMOND) - DAY
BOB is busy with CUSTOMERS, SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE enters,

prowls the store once, and then slips into the storeroom.
INT. ELIAS' GROCERY STORE (RICHMOND) - STOREROOM - DAY
TIMBERLAKE smokes. BOB enters.
BOB
Haven't seen any sign of him.
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE
Do you know where he's living?
BOB
No.
TIMBERLAKE sighs.
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE
I can't guess how he does it, but
he's always knowledgeable about
what's going on. He'll know
you've been with me. You ought to
take that for granted. And he'll
kill you if he gets the chance.
BOB scratches at his neck and looks away.
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE (CONT’D)

You willing to risk that?
BOB
Yes I am.
71.
BOB fastens his eyes on TIMBERLAKE and all the

ingratiation is gone from his face; only longing and
misery remain:
BOB (CONT’D)
I've been a nobody all my life. I
was the baby; I was the one they
made the promises to that they
never kept. And ever since I can
recall it, Jesse James has been as
big as a tree. I'm prepared for
this, Jim. And I'm going to
accomplish it. I know I won't get
but this one opportunity and you
can bet your life I'm not going to
spoil it.
TIMBERLAKE stands and grinds out his cigarette.
SHERIFF TIMBERLAKE
Wait for your chance. Don't allow
yourself to be found alone with
him. And don't let him get behind
you.
TIMBERLAKE exits through the loading door.
BOB remains standing there.
133 INT. ELIAS' GROCERY STORE (RICHMOND) - ANOTHER DAY
BOB stands on a wooden stool, stacking ketchup bottles,

in his clerk's apron. The afternoon sun blazes behind
JESSE like a halo:
JESSE
You've been chosen.
BOB swivels and nearly slips. The color has leached from
his face.
BOB
What do you mean?
JESSE
Your brother said that you wanted
to join us. But maybe you like
(MORE)
72.
JESSE (CONT'D)
this grocery store more than you
said you did.
He takes off his apron by way of illustration. JESSE

smiles.
JESSE (CONT’D)
So you missed me?
BOB
I've been crying myself to sleep
every night.
EXT. ELIAS' GROCERY STORE (RICHMOND) - DAY
BOB comes outside with carrots for the horses. CHARLEY

is already in the saddle:
CHARLEY
Don't let him see us so much as
wink at each other. He's
suspicious as a danged coyote, and
he don't trust you one iota.
BOB
I guess that makes us even.
CHARLEY
He's already put way Ed Miller.
Said so like it was something
piddly he'd done.
The talk ceases when JESSE comes out. JESSE corrects the
crease in his black fedora and slips his boot into the
stirrup. HE climbs into the saddle and hooks his horse
around:
EXT. ROAD TO ST. JOSEPH - NIGHT
They ride through a cold rain. In the distance they spot

a church and head towards it.
INT. LUTHERAN CHURCH - NIGHT
JESSE throws his greatcoat on a pew and lights an altar

candle that he carries into the sanctuary.
73.
BOB kicks his bedroll flat on the floor and says to

CHARLEY:
BOB
If we're ever alone for more than
a minute, I'd like a chance to
speak to you further.
EXT. LUTHERAN CHURCH - CEMETERY - DAY
CHARLEY sits in the long grass smoking. BOB ambles up to

him with his palms cupping his elbows.
BOB (CONT’D)
They gave me ten days.
CHARLEY
For what?
BOB
Arresting him.
CHARLEY
You and me, huh?
BOB
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 looks at him disparagingly.
CHARLEY
Bob, he's our friend.
BOB
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
(MORE)
74.
BOB (CONT'D)
friendship could put you under the
pansies.
CHARLEY looks away.
CHARLEY
I'll grind it fine in my mind,
Bob. I can't go any further than
that, right now.
BOB
You'll come around.
CHARLEY
You think it's all made up, don't
you. You think it’s all yarns and
newspaper stories.
It's BOB'S turn to look away.
BOB
He's just a human being.
EXT. LUTHERAN CHURCH - DAY
They approach the church and discover a furious JESSE.
JESSE
From now on, you two won't go
anywhere without me! From now on
you'll ask for permission; you'll
ask to be excused!
EXT. LAFAYETTE STREET (ST. JOSEPH) - DAY 139
They approach the roller coaster of Confusion Hill. BOB

looks up the steep ascent to a high skull of land upon
which rests the white cottage.
EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - YARD - DAY
JESSE climbs off his saddle and accepts his son in his
arms.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - KITCHEN - DAY

75.
BOB and JESSE enter. ZEE JAMES backs from the stove,
sees BOB, and winces.
ZEE
You never mentioned Bob would be
here.
BOB
Maybe he was saving it as a
pleasant surprise.
MARY is submerged in the woman's skirt, glowering at BOB.

ZEE combs the girl's hair.
ZEE
You've got two cousins for company
now.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
JESSE, on the sofa, weds his fingers over his stomach and
closes his eyes.
JESSE
How it will be is we'll leave here
next Monday afternoon and ride
down to Platte City.
BOB
How far is that from Kansas City?
Something in BOB'S enquiry makes JESSE resistant and he

answers around the question:
JESSE
Platte City's thirty miles south.
You and me and Charley will sleep
in the woods overnight and strike
the Wells Bank sometime before the
court recesses.
BOB
(a little too
insistent)
(MORE)
76.
BOB (CONT'D)
What time will that be exactly?
JESSE
You don't need to know that.
BOB scrawls on the floorboards with his finger and JESSE

arises to a sit.
JESSE (CONT’D)
You know I’m real comfortable with
your brother. Hell, he's ugly as
sin and he smells like a skunk and
he's so ignorant he couldn't drive
nails in the snow, but he's sort
of easy to be around. I can't say
the same for you, Bob.
BOB
I'm sorry to hear you say that.
JESSE is silent a moment.
JESSE
You know how it is when you're
with your girlfriend and the moon
is out and you know she wants to
be kissed even though she never
said so?
BOB
Yeah.
JESSE
You're giving me signs that grieve
my soul and make me wonder if
mayhbe your mind's been changed
about me.
BOB
What do you want me to do? Swear
my good faith on the Bible?
CHARLEY enters with the firewood to see JESSE glowering

at BOB with great heat in his eyes.
77.
CHARLEY
You two having a spat?
JESSE
I was getting ready to be angry.
JESSE smiles and reaches out to coddle BOB'S neck.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Sit over here closer, Kid.
BOB vacillates a little, then scooches over, smirking at

his brother with shyness. JESSE massages BOB'S neck and
shoulders, communicating that all is forgiven.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Charley, You'll stay with the
animals. Me and The Kid will
walk into the bank just before
noon. Bob will move the cashier
away from the shotgun that's under
the counter and I'll creep up
behind that cashier and cock his
chin back like so...
JESSE snaps BOB'S skull back and slashes a skinning knife

against his throat. BOB is incapacitated by panic.
JESSE is terrifying:
JESSE (CONT’D)
I'll say, 'How come an off-
scouring of creation like you is
still sucking air when so many of
mine are in coffins?'
BOB'S eye lolls to the blade.
JESSE (CONT’D)
I'll say, 'How'd you reach your
twentieth birthday without leaking
out all over your clothes?' And
if I don't like his attitude, I'll
slit that phildoodle so deep he'll
flop on the floor like a fish.
Then JESSE retracts the blade and shoves BOB rudely

forward. Then his temper abruptly alters and he slaps
both knees gleefully, laughing at BOB:
78.
JESSE (CONT’D)
My God, what just happened?
I could hear your gears grinding
rrr, rrr, rrr, and your little
motor wondering, 'My Gosh, what's
next, what's happening to me?'
You were precious to behold, Bob.
You were white as spit in a cotton
field.
BOB examines his neck with his hand.
BOB
You want to know how that feels?
Unpleasant. I honestly can't
recommend it.
JESSE
And Charley looked stricken!
CHARLEY
I was!
JESSE
'This is plumb unexpected!,' old
Charley was thinking, 'This is
done ruint my day!'
JESSE laughs and laughs, and when at last the two laugh
with him, JESSE adopts a scolding look and slams out of
the room.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - CHILDREN'S ROOM - NIGHT
JESSE sleeps with BOB in the children's room, a revolver

clutched in his left hand. BOB listens to each in-suck
of air so he can tell when JESSE'S gone off.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Jesse slept with Bob in the
children's room that night and Bob
remained awake.
He could see that there was a gun

on the nightstand. He could
imagine its cold nickel inside his
(MORE)
79.
NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)

grip, its two-pound weight reached
out and aimed.
Bob cautiously rolls to a sit and places his feet on the

boards. The REVOLVER is cocked with THREE CLICKS.
BOB
I need to go to the privy.
JESSE
You think you do but you don't.
BOB obediently returns to bed.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - DINING ROOM - DAY
ZEE sets down a soup tureen and JESSE winks at BOB:
JESSE
Is this fit to eat or will it just
do?
As ZEE retreats into the kitchen, JESSE inches the soup

bowl under CHARLEY'S elbow and says to BOB:
JESSE (CONT’D)
That woman's cooking has always
been a scandal. Cut her meat and
the whole table moves.
JESSE laughs as CHARLEY stains his sleeve.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
And so it went, Jesse was
increasingly cavalier, merry,
moody, fay, unpredictable. He
camouflaged his depressions and
derangements with masquerades of
extreme cordiality, curtesy, and
goodwill towards others.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - SITTING ROOM - ANOTHER DAY
JESSE hooks CHARLEY'S spurs together while he snores in

the sitting room and then screams the man off the couch,
so that CHARLEY farcically sprawls.
80.

But even as he jested...
EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - PORCH - DAY 148
JESSE horses with TIM:

... or tickled his boy in the
ribs, Jesse would look over at Bob
with melancholy eyes, as if the
two were meshed in an intimate
communication that had little to
do with anyone else.
ON BOB
Working at keeping his expression neutral.

Bob was certain that the man had
unriddled him, had seen through
his reasons for coming along, that
Jesse could forecast each of Bob's
possible moves and inclinations
and was only acting the innocent
in order to lull Bob into stupid
tranquility and miscalculation.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - CHILDREN'S ROOM - DAY
Sunshine is diagonal in the room and curtains flirt in

the air. BOB isn't sure what woke him. He pivots in the
child's bed and sees JESSE in a spindle chair.
BOB
How long've you been studying me?
JESSE
You're gonna break a lot of
hearts.
BOB rolls to a sitting position.
BOB
How do you mean?
81.
JESSE reveals a black box from behind his back and

reaches it over to BOB.
JESSE
It's a present.
BOB hefts it.
BOB
It’s Heavy.
JESSE
You going to look inside?
BOB crams a coin into the interstices and twists until

the lid releases.
BOB
It's April Fools Day, you know.
JESSE
Ain’t no joke.
Inside the box, nestled in red velvet, is a pearl-handled

.44 caliber revolver. BOB beams at JESSE.
BOB
Such extravagance!
JESSE
Don't that nickel shine though!
BOB
It's more than I could hope for!
BOB clicks the chamber around, cocks and releases the

hammer, cocks the hammer again and aims the revolver at a
red ball on the floor. Squeezes the trigger.
JESSE
I figured that granddaddy Colt of
yours might blow into fragments
the next time you squeeze the
(MORE)
82.
JESSE (CONT'D)
trigger.
BOB
You might have something there.
ZEE (O.S.)
Tom? Supper’s ready.
JESSE
Pretty soon, sweetheart.
BOB
I might be too excited to eat.
Jesse smiles broadly and rises from the spindle chair.
JESSE
You know what John Newman Edwards
once wrote about me? He said I
didn't trust two men in ten
thousand and was even cautious
around them. The government's
sort of run me ragged.
I'm going the long way around the
barn to say I've been feeling
cornered and just plain ornery of
late and I'd be pleased if you'd
accept the gun as my way of
apologizing.
BOB
Heaven knows I'd be ornerier if I
were in your position.
JESSE
No. I haven't been acting
correctly. I can't hardly
recognize myself sometimes when
I'm greased. I go on journeys out
of my body and look at my red
hands and my mean face and I
wonder about that man who's gone
so wrong: I've been
becoming a problem to myself.
BOB looks at the man in bewilderment and can't find the

words for an answer, so he says:
83.
BOB
I need to wash my hands if
supper's on.
JESSE
Go ahead.
EXT. LAFAYETTE STREET - DAY
JESSE, ZEE, CHARLEY, TIM and MARY, seen from a distance,

walking down Confusion Hill.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The day before he died was Palm
Sunday and Mr. And Mrs. Thomas
Howard, their two children, and
their cousin Charles Johnson
strolled to the Second Presbyterian
Church to attend the ten o'clock
service.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - DAY
Action as per V.O.

Bob remained at the cottage and
slyly migrated from room to room.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - MASTER BEDROOM - DAY
Action as per V.O.

He walked into the master bedroom
and inventoried the clothes on the
hangers and hooks. He sipped from
the water glass on the vanity. He
smelled the talcum and lilacs on
Jesse's pillowcase. His fingers
skittered over his ribs to construe
the scars where Jesse was twice
shot.
He manufactured a middle finger

(MORE)
84.

that was missing the top two
knuckles. He imagined himself at
thirty-four. He imagined himself
in a coffin. He considered
possibilities and everything
wonderful that could come true.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - CHILDREN'S ROOM - NIGHT
CHARLEY is scrunched close to the wall in his sitting

room bed, a pillow muting his mouth.
BOB can just barely perceive that his older brother is

crying.
BOB
He isn't going to kill us.
CHARLEY
Yes he is.
BOB looks over his shoulder to check the room and then
murmurs in CHARLEY'S ear:
BOB
I'll stay awake so he can't.
CHARLEY rolls to his back and gazes at the ceiling and

then looks to his kid brother.
BOB (CONT’D)
You're imagining things.
CHARLEY covers his eyes with his arm, and respirates

himself with great calming breaths of air. Quiet comes
to the room again and then he says:
CHARLEY
Isn't going to be no Platte City.
That's Jesse fooling with us.
BOB slips out of bed and into his clothes.
BOB
Go to sleep, Charley.
BOB moves through the sitting room, dining room, kitchen,

and steps off the wooden porch into the night.
85.
EXT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - MORNING
BOB pumps water into a bucket outside.
SUPER: APRIL 3RD, 1882
He flinches his eyes open and sees ZEE peering at him

through the porch screen.
ZEE
How much do you want to eat?
BOB
I'm feeling sort of peculiar.
BOB moves over to the fence where he sees:
JESSE and TIM climbing the steep ascent of the sidewalk.

The great man has his hand on the boy's shoulder. JESSE
moves the cigar in his mouth and squints through the
smoke.
JESSE
How come you're looking so
interested?
BOB
Do you think it's intelligent to
go outside like that, so all
creation can see your guns?
JESSE ignores him and rushes his daughter, monstering,

catching MARY as she runs squealing to the screen door
and swinging the girl around so wildly that her right
foot loses its shoe.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - SITTING ROOM - MORNING
MARY hugs her father's neck as he walks into the dining

room. TIM tosses the papers carelessly onto the couch.
BOB sees instantly the headlines of the Kansas City
Times:
"The Arrest and confession of Dick Liddil."
Bob looks to the dining room: the family assembling

around the table, CHARLEY slouching in. BOB slips the
paper under a shawl and goes into his room.
86.
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - CHILDREN'S ROOM - MORNING
BOB straps on the gun he has been given, tying the

leather holster to his thigh with a string.
ZEE (O.S.)
Bob, everything is getting cold!
INT. HOUSE ON THE HILL - DINING ROOM - MORNING 175
BOB seats himself across from JESSE. JESSE regards his

six-year-old son, who is staring blankly at the sunshine,
woolgathering, his oatmeal spoon in his mouth.
JESSE
(to Charley)
What do you think goes on in that
noggin of his?
CHARLEY
Nothing.
JESSE
(laughs)
I was referring to his mind, not
yours.
JESSE stands from his chair and fetches the newspapers

from the sofa. BOB watches as he almost misses and then
retrieves the Kansas City Times from under the shawl.
JESSE sits again and stirs a spoon in his cup.
JESSE (CONT’D)
Hello now! The Arrest and
Confession of Dick Liddil.
CHARLEY
(too urgent)
You don't say so!
JESSE
It's very strange.
BOB sees the crease in his brow, the fret in his reading
eyes, the nicotine stain on his finger moving down the
page.
87.
JESSE (CONT’D)
It says here Dick surrendered
three weeks ago.
He glances at BOB with misgivings.
JESSE (CONT’D)
You must've been right there in
the neighborhood.
BOB
Apparently they kept it secret.
JESSE slumps back in his chair and glares at BOB and

CHARLEY.
BOB (CONT’D)
If I get to Kansas City soon, I'm
going to ask somebody about it.
BOB gets up and goes into the sitting room with his right
hand on his gun and reacquaints himself with the rocking
chair.
CHARLEY walks into the sitting room.
He sits on the mattress and loops his holster off the

bedpost, looking significantly at BOB as he puts it on.
JESSE surprises them.
JESSE
You two ready?
BOB jumps up from the rocker and it rears and rows,

clubbing the floor, until he can still it with his hand.
CHARLEY
I will be by noon.
JESSE looks out the window and sees:

88.
His daughter's shoe on the grass.
JESSE
It's an awfully hot day.
JESSE removes his Prince Albert coat and six-button black

vest.
CHARLEY shambles over to the screen door to scan

Lafayette Street.
JESSE proclaims in a sentence that seems composed just

for Bob:
JESSE (CONT’D)
I guess I'll take my guns off
for fear the neighbors might spot
them.
CHARLEY turns from the screen door with vexation on his

face. BOB'S thumb twitches as he lowers his hand to his
gun.
JESSE unbuckles his holsters and lays them on the bed as

if creating an exhibit.
JESSE focuses on the picture of Skyrocket:
JESSE (CONT’D)
Ain’t that picture look dusty.
He withdraws a furniture duster and climbs a rush-

bottomed chair.
BOB slinks from the wall and stands between JESSE and his
two revolvers.
He shakes his fingers like a gunfighter and instructs his

brother with scared eyes.
CHARLEY steps further into the room and the two FORDS
slip out their guns.
BOB extends his .44 and cocks it with THREE SOFT CLICKS.
JESSE swivels slightly, authentically surprised, reaching

for a gun that isn't there.
Then BOB FORD'S .44 IGNITES and a red stamp seems to

89.
paste itself just behind the outlaw's right ear. His

face socks into the watercolor glass. GUNPOWDER AND GUN
noise fills the room. JESSE drops from his knees and
smacks onto the floor like a great animal, shaking the
house with his fall.
ZEE rushes into a room that is still blue with smoke and
screams.
BOB slowly retreats and straddles the windowsill.
ZEE
What have you done?
BOB looks stricken, as though he wants to apologize but

can't.
JESSE looks at the ceiling, his fingers curl and uncurl,

his mouth works at making words.
ZEE kneels and cradles his skull in her apron.
ZEE (CONT’D)
No! Oh Jesse! Jesse, Jesse, Jesse.
Her petticoats are quickly soaked red with his blood.
TIM is at the door; seeing everything.
ZEE (CONT’D)
Bob, have you done this?
BOB
I swear to God that I didn't.
JESSE sighs and grows heavy on her legs. His muscles

slack; the blood is as wide as a table. He makes a
syllable like "God" and then everything inside him stops.
CHARLEY collects their hats and coats.
CHARLEY
It was an accident, Zee. The pistol
went off accidentally.
The two FORDS make their way to the door.
EXT. LAFAYETTE STREET - MORNING

90.
The brothers run down Confusion Hill, their coats flying.
EXT. COMMERCIAL DISTRICT (ST. JOSEPH) - MORNING
They cut through yards and down alleys until they attain
the American Telegraph office.
INT. AMERICAN TELEGRAPH OFFICE - MORNING
Bob writes out a message on a telegram card and hands it to

the clerk:
"I HAVE KILLED JESSE JAMES. BOB FORD."
BOB
You might want to keep that.
INT. SEIDENFADEN UNDERTAKING - DAY
JESSE'S body is strapped to a board with ropes. The

board is tilted nearly vertical and a camera lens
uncapped. A room full of CORRESPONDENTS wait for the
exposure.
EXT. ALEX LOZO PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO - DAY
REPORTERS follow the PHOTOGRAPHER as he carries the

photographic dry-plate back to the studio.
INSERT - JESSE'S REQUIEM PHOTOGRAPH
DEVELOPING.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The resulting prints sold for two
dollars a piece -- and were the
models for the lithographed covers
on a number of magazines.
EXT. LAFAYETTE ST. - DAY 195
CROWDS make the journey up Confusion Hill.

91.

Soon a thousand strangers were
making spellbound pilgrimages to
the cottage --
INT. SEIDENFADEN UNDERTAKING - DAY 196

-- or were venerating the iced
remains in Seidenfaden's cooling
room.
ZEE JAMES sits catatonically in a chair, unmindful of the

other visitors, merely staring at the slain man.
MOVE IN ON JESSE.

The man who offered thirty
thousand dollars for the body of
Charles Guiteau sent a telegram to
City Marshal Enos Craig offering
fifty thousand for the body of
Jesse Woodson James so that he
could go around the country with
it, or at least sell it to P.T.
Barnum for his 'Greatest Show on
Earth.'
INT. SEIDENFADEN UNDERTAKING - DAY
Action as per V.O.:

Another photograph was taken of
the renowned American bandit
Nestled in the bed of ice.
And it was this shot that was most
available in sundries stores and
apothecaries to be viewed in a
stereoscope alongside the Sphinx,
the Taj Mahal, and the Catacombs
of Rome.
INT. BROADWAY THEATRE - NIGHT 210
We are BEHIND an ACTOR silhouetted by footlights:

92.
ACTOR
Hello, here! The Arrest and
Confession of Dick Liddil! Young
man, I thought you told me you
didn't know that Dick had
surrendered.
PAN to reveal BOB: He's groomed as a European Prince,

and sports a glued-on mustache:
BOB
You mean he did? I didn't know!
(to the audience)
But I knew I had not fooled him.
And he knew as well as I in that
moment that I intend to bring him
to justice. But he would not kill
me in the presence of his wife and
children. And so he was smiling to
throw me off guard.
FRONT ANGLE - BOB AND CHARLEY
are on a stage: The set behind them resembles the

sitting room of the cottage on Confusion Hill.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
It was widely felt that Bob
possessed some acting talent and
Charley not a jot:
CHARLEY takes off his revolvers and flings them onto the
bed -- his voice yells for the balcony:

Charley was only expected not to
slouch or mutter and to transport
his sicknesses to the alley before
letting them go.
CHARLEY fetches a feather duster and flags it towards an

implausible painting of the death of Julius Caesar:
CHARLEY
That picture's awful dusty!
BOB rises surreptitiously from his chair. CHARLEY flicks

the duster.
93.
BOB raises his gun.
Some in the audience stir with anticipation.
BOB lets the hammer snap and a charge of GUNPOWDER

EXPLODES with a great noise on the stage.
The audience gasps.
CHARLEY reels on the chair, claps his palms to his chest

and crashes unauthentically to the floor.
A GIRL playing Mrs. James runs onto stage from the right
and permits herself a blood-curdling scream.
The house lights dim to darkness. Then rise on a stage

which contains only Robert Ford. He slings his gun and
proclaims with gravity:
BOB
And that’s how I killed Jesse
James.
The curtain rings down to magnanimous applause.
INT. BROADWAY THEATRE LOBBY - DAY
A CROWD of PEOPLE applaud BOB in the theatre lobby,

wanting to shake his hand.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
By October of 1883, Bob Ford could
be identified correctly by more
citizens than could the President
of the United States.
INT. MANHATTAN RESTAURANT - NIGHT
BOB, dressed in fine clothes, eats in an elegant

restaurant, fawned over by PRETTY TEENAGED dancing girls.
They are a rowdy group.

He was as renowned at twenty as
Jesse was after fourteen years of
Grand Larceny.
Charley was increasingly

superstitious, increasingly
(MORE)
94.

subject to the advice of sooth
sayers who promised to cure his
miseries with pipe smoke,
poultices.
BOB
You’ve been spending too much time
with gypsies, Charley.
INT. BROADWAY THEATRE - NIGHT
Details of the performance: CHARLEY'S walk, his mouth,

his hand gestures.
CHARLEY
Picture’s awful dusty.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Something began to change in
Charley's stage portrayal of
Jesse: his limp seemed more
practiced, his high voice was
spookily similar to the man's, his
newly suggested dialogue was
analogous to a script Jesse might
have originated.
He began to look at his younger

brother with spite, as if he
suspected that in some future
performance he might present
himself to a live cartridge in
Robert Ford's gun.
A voice comes from the dark beyond the footlights:
HECKLER (O.S.)
Murderer! Cur!
BOB strides towards the insults.
HECKLER (O.S.) (CONT’D)
COWARD!
BOB shields his eyes from the glare, searching for his
95.
antagonist in the large audience.
BOB
You want to investigate my
courage? Do you? Find out! Find
Out! Nobody
Bob returns to his position on stage.
HECKLER
Coward!
BOB leaps from the stage and springs himself at the

HECKLER, swinging punches at his skull. Striking him a
dozen times before others yank him off. BOB smashes into
them as well, his fists striking blood from their lips
and shattering their noses as the audience of three
hundred stampedes from the theatre.
221 INT. THEATRE LOBBY - LATER
BOB'S clothes are shredded and he's covered in blood from

head to toe as he's led through the lobby in shackles by
POLICEMEN.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
By his own approximation, Bob
assassinated Jesse James over
eight hundred times; he suspected
no one in history had ever so
often or so publicly recapitulated
an act of betrayal.
INT. CHARLEY’S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Charley sits alone on a wooden chair.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Bob always challenged the
allegations of cowardice, but
Charley seemed to agree with them.
He spoke of Mrs. Zee James the way
certain priests might the Madonna,
and composed long, soul-describing
letters to her begging forgiveness.
None of which he ever mailed.
Charley Ford enters the room and lies down on his bed. He
takes his revolver from it’s scabbard and shoots himself
though the heart.
96.

Charley Ford became all that his
countrymen wanted an assassin of
Jesse James to be.
INT. BOWERY SALOON - NIGHT
BOB is drunk, wrung out and disheveled. A SINGER tunes

his guitar and begins to play.
SINGER
Jesse James was a man who killed
many men/ He robbed the Glendale
train/ He stole from the rich and
he gave to the poor/ He'd a hand
and a heart and a brain.
The SINGER begins to stroll the room: coming so near BOB

that BOB has to pull back his legs to let him pass.
SINGER (CONT’D)
Oh Jesse had a wife to mourn for
his life/ Three children, they
were brave/ But that dirty little
coward that shot Mister Howard has
laid Jesse James in his grave.
BOB works at registering no change in expression.
SINGER (CONT’D)
It was Robert Ford, that dirty
little coward/ I wonder how does
he feel?/ For he ate of Jesse's
bread/ and he slept in Jesse's
bed/ Then he laid Jesse James in
his grave.
Finally BOB can stand it no longer. He takes out his GUN

and FIRES into the floor. The noise is deafening.
Everyone turns to BOB in the silence that follows. BOB
lurches slowly to his feet.
BOB
(swaying drunk)
I'm Robert Ford.
He flings his pistol at the SINGER and tilts slightly

from the alcohol.
97.
BOB (CONT’D)
It was two children, not three
They look at him silently. Watch as he slips on peanut

shells, and ends up on the floor, tears glinting in his
eyes. He gets to his feet and sways for a moment.
SALOONKEEPER
Get on home now, son. Go on! Get
yourself outta my place.
INT. TRAIN - MOVING - DAY 224
BOB watches PASSENGERS.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He thought, at his angriest, about
visiting the kin of Jesse's
slaughtered victims: Mrs. William
Westfall in Plattsburg, the Wymore
family in Clay County, perhaps
even Mrs. Joseph Heywood in
Northfield, Minnesota.
EXT. TRAIN STATION (KANSAS CITY) - DAY 225
BOB steps off the train. He is going on 22. He's

dapper, glamorous, physically strong, comparatively rich,
and psychologically injured.

He would go to their homes and
give his name as Robert Ford, 'The
man who killed Jesse James.' He
imagined they would be grateful to
him.
INT. EXCHANGE CLUB - NIGHT
DOROTHY sings "Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage" for a packed

house.
SUPER: CREED, COLORADO 1892

It was only with Dorothy Evans
that Bob spoke revealingly or
(MORE)
98.

plainly, and it was with her that
he spoke of things he didn't know
he knew.
EXT. RIO GRANDE AVENUE - DAY
BOB and DOROTHY stroll the snowy streets of Creede. BOB

is extraordinary in his dress; a dandy in his gentleman's
clothes and cane. SHOPKEEPERS and CITIZENS greet him,
defer to him. He is like a king in this town.

He told her that he had no real
memory of the shooting and its
aftermath: He could remember
lifting the gun that Jesse had
given him and then it was Good
Friday and he was reading about
the funeral proceedings as if
they'd happened a long time ago.
DOROTHY
Why did you kill him?
BOB
He was going to kill me.
DOROTHY
So you were scared and that's the
only reason?
Beat.
BOB
Yeah. And the reward money.
DOROTHY
Do you want me to change the
subject?
He looks at her in a calculating way.

99.
BOB
Do you know what I expected?
Applause. I was only twenty years
old then. I couldn't see how it
would look to people. I was
surprised by what happened. They
didn’t applaud.
INT. TENT PHOTO STUDIO
Bob and DOROTHY are in a tent studio. A PHOTOGRAPHER is

at work:
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He was ashamed of his persiflage,
his boasting, his pretensions of
courage and ruthlessness; he was
sorry about his cold-bloodedness,
his dispassion, his inability to
express what he now believed was
the case.
That he truly regretted killing
Jesse, that he missed the man as
much as anybody and wished his
murder hadn't been necessary.
INT. EXCHANGE CLUB - NIGHT
Bob walks through his crowded bar.

Even as he circulated his saloon
he knew that the smiles
disappeared when he passed by.
FREEZE ON BOB

He received so many menacing
letters that he could read them
without any reaction except
curiosity.
INT. BOB’S APARTMENT - DAY
Bob sits alone at a table, flipping cards.

100.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
He kept to his apartment all day,
flipping over playing cards,
looking at his destiny in every
King and Jack.
EXT. SNOWY HILL - DAY
A man dressed in black solemnly marches through the snow with

a look of determination on his face.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Edward O’Kelly came up from
Bachelor at One PM on the 8th. He
had no grand scheme. No strategy.
No agreement with higher
authorities. Nothing but a vague
longing for glory, and a
generalized wish for revenge
against Robert Ford.
INT. EXCHANGE CLUB - DAY
Bob stands at the bar of his empty club, checking mail.
EXT. OUTDOOR SHOP - DAY
Edward O’Kelly loads a musket with the help of a friend.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Edward O’Kelly would be ordered to
serve a life sentence in the
Colorado Penitentiary for second
degree murder. Over seven thousand
signatures would eventually be
gathered in a petition asking for
O’Kelly’s release, and in 1902,
Governor James B. Ullman would
pardon the man.
FREEZE ON EDWARD O’KELLY
ELLA MAE WATERSON pours jiggers of whisky to a group of

miners. BOB removes his suit coat and hangs it on a
nail. He then removes his cartridge belt, winds it
around his gun and snugs this against the cash register.
101.
MINER
You shouldn't be wearing that
stickpin again, Bob. Opals are
unlucky.
BOB
My luck isn't very good as it is.
I guess an opal couldn't change it
much.
MINER
I hear you.
Bob removes his hat and opens the day’s paper.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
There would be no eulogies for
Bob, no photographs of his body
would be sold in sundries stores,
no people would crowd the streets
in the rain to see his funeral
cortege, no biographies would be
written about him, no children
named after him, no one would ever
pay twenty-five cents to stand in
the rooms he grew up in.
EXT. RIO GRANDE AVE./INT. OMAHA CLUB - DAY
We FOLLOW O'KELLY as he makes his way UP the street TO

the Omaha Club.
O'KELLY enters with his shotgun raised and catches the

man who shot Jesse James laughing with ELLA MAE WATERSON
and giving his back to the street.
O'KELLY
Hello, Bob!
BOB turns to the greeting and we FREEZE ON his face.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The shotgun would ignite, and Ella
May would scream, but Robert Ford
would only lay on the floor and
(MORE)
102.
NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)

look at the ceiling, the light
going out of his eyes before he
could find the right words.
FADE OUT.
THE END

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Rev.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD

based on the novel by Ron Hansen

This script is the confidential and proprietary

JJ Pictures, Inc. - Domestic August 17, 2005

INT./EXT. WOODLAND AVE. COTTAGE - DUSK

Green weeds split the porch steps, a wasp nest clings

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

EXT. STREET (KANSAS CITY) - DAY

JESSE, from a distance, a dandy in his gentleman's

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

JESSE'S scars and wounds:

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

EXT. PRAIRIE WHEAT - AFTERNOON

Rooms seemed hotter when he was in

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

WHEAT BLOWING IN THE WIND

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

His eyes impossibly blue.

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

Thirty feet below is a cinder roadbed, the sickle curve

EXT. SOUTHERN RIDGE - DAY

FRANK JAMES (stern, 38) stands back in the green

FRANK turns to see a boy in a stovepipe hat and an

BOB receives this as an invitation to lower his hands.

FRANK digs in his pockets and extracts cigarette makings.

EXT. WOODS - DAY

Dick, Charile, Wood, and Ed sit around a fire.

EXT. SOUTHERN RIDGE - DAY

FRANK slimes his cigarette and strikes a match off his

BOB slaps a mosquito and looks at his blood-freckled

He stands and rehats himself.

FRANK examines his cigarette, sucks it once more, and

And, after a beat, BOB tramps up the hill, slapping weeds

14 EXT. WOODS - MOVING WITH BOB TO THE GANG'S CAMP - DAY 14

BOB passes a number of horses reined to a piece of rope

ROBERT WOODSON HITE (WOOD) is JESSE'S cousin, sulking and

CHARLEY FORD is BOB'S older brother, who chuckles and

DICK LIDDIL and ED MILLER can be seen in the b.g.,

ED MILLER is the anxious type; has a streak of spit where

DICK LIDDIL is a good-looking horse thief.

BOB eyes this group hungrily, coveting admission.

EXT. WOODS - GANG CAMP - DAY

JESSE takes a heaped bowl from DICK LIDDIL in his

FRANK JAMES is drinking coffee and scowling as he sits on

FRANK looks askance at BOB and flings the dregs of his

EXT. BLUE CUT RAILBED - DAY

A cottonwood tree is skidded down the bank and heaved

Shadows grow long and die. Clouds brick overhead and

EXT. BLUE CUT RAILBED - NIGHT

EXT. SOUTHERN RIDGE - NIGHT

FRANK stubs out his cigarette.

EXT. BLUE CUT RAILBED - NIGHT

The LOCOMOTIVE'S CHUFFING is GROWING LOUD.

JESSE'S right foot tickles with rail vibrations.

The headlamp's aisle of white light fills the forest

Then the GANG is running and bounding and skidding down