Why did the film 'The Assassination of Jesse James' flop?

[CodeBreaker]

Yup. Maybe I'll try to watch it again. Think the last time I saw it was 10 years ago. I'm generally a fan of Westerns.

Please watch it again.

 

[El Chimpo]

Most people cant sit through such a long movie

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

Most people don't like westerns + it's a slow burn

 

[tinobar]

I liked it they tried to make you feel sorry for Ford but I was glad when he got blasted but I was also glad when Jesse James got it he was a evil fucker in the movie

 

[mbinder]

I'm not positive, but I think it came out the same year There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men did. It just got overlooked by a lot of people.

 

[spin]

its in good company

https://www.decluttr.com/blog/2016/02/15/10-of-the-best-movies-that-bombed-at-the-box-office/

 

[Fedorgasm]

Because it sucked

 

[Winter-John]

It was hard for people to get to the end of the title, never mind the film.

 

[JRY82]

Because most people are dumb af and need some cornball one liners or an unrealistic explosion

 

[mjmj]

This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this movie. It either didn’t get much attention, or wasn’t that good. Or both.

 

[HelloJapan]

Imo, it's actually a great film. Shot very well, great acting, love the narration. Casey is legit as fuck in it.

 

[UFC=Pride]

The name is too long

 

[bigkick]

It was super slow. Not what people expect when thinking about a western.

 

[Organic Damage]

I've argued about this film a lot in Bullit's movie thread. It's just not for me. The pacing is slow as fuck imo. I found the cinematography to be unnecessary and distracting. I don't understand why it's shot in vignettes when it's pretty much a fairly straightforward narrative.

There was another Western that came out around the same time called The Proposition, which I thought was far superior.

Yeah I love slow ponderous character pieces as much as the next film snob, but the Proposition scratched the western itch far more effectively.

I did like it though, enough to be excited for Killing them Softly. What a piece of shit that was...

 

[That209]

Honestly I think a lot of the reason for it is that this generation just isn’t interested in westerns as much. People think of westerns and go “lol cowboys and inadians” but that’s not what it was like at all. So many little jokes made about those days when in reality it truly was an interesting time in American history.

 

[gonads20]

I watched this movie a long time ago. I don't remember hardly anything from the movie but i do remember that I thought it sucked.

 

[HereticBD]

Westerns generally aren't big money makers. Slow, artsy westerns, with an absurdly long title, even less so.

 

[Big L]

I liked it.... I think it flopped because it had the wrong affleck in it

Do you really believe this? You think that Ben is a better actor than Casey?

Out of the Furnace
Gone Baby Gone
Jesse James
Manchester By the Sea

I don’t think that other than Gone Girl, Ben has done any acting at Casey’s level.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

The film is an all-time great. It has an awesome cast led by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. Amazing score and cinematography. One of the best films ever made. So why did this movie flop? Why is it highly under-appreciated?

Because it came out a week or two after 3:10 to Yuma and modern film audiences don't go for Westerns enough to sustain two films from that genre in direct competition with one another. It ain't the '50s anymore.

 

[TheNinja]

Everybody knew Jesse James got assassinated even before this film was made lol

Ummmmm....Spoiler Alert please!!