The First Films of Samuel Fuller

Sam Fuller made his first movie about a sullen loser, Robert Ford, instead of a two-fisted hero, a singing cowboy or an outlaw. Lucky for Fuller, I Shot Jesse James did well at the box office. John Ireland was always a tough actor to read; it was hard to tell if he was smiling or grimacing, deep in thought or merely confounded. But that quality works in I Shot Jesse James because the audience find’s Ford’s center without road signs. Fuller is more than a little sympathetic toward Ford. �