Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Writer-director Andrew Dominik's thoughtful, elegiac saga is a dead-on throwback to classic Westerns of yore. Brad Pitt gives a bang-up performance as the notorious outlaw living out his final days in 1882 before being gunned down by a member of his gang (Casey Affleck). Features a cameo by political pundit James Carville as Governor Crittenden and rocker Nick Cave as a saloon singer. Cave also co-wrote the score. Actor-playwright Sam Shepard costars as Jesse's brother Frank.