Assassination of Jesse James cinematography

[Marty McCool]

I'm writing a story about The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, with a view to the cinematography. This film has received much kudos from the right critical quarters for Roger Deakins's wonderful lighting. Would someone be prepared to elaborate on the calibre of the cinematography of Jesse James. What scenes stand out and why?

You may well find this great quote from Irish Film Critic Mark Cousins inspiring, from his great book 'Widescreen'. Cousins speaks of the film’s visual splendour and how he was “seeing the texture of bark on tree trunks, the weave of the characters’ clothing and the pores in the actors’ skin, in remarkable detail. Compared to any frame of Jesse James, Terrence Malick’s beautiful Days of Heaven (1978) looks like a movie drawn in soft pastel crayons.”