Talk:Robert Ford (outlaw)

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Contents

[edit] Birthdate

His grave has the obviously wrong 1842 listed, but other sources have him as being born in 1862. I'm curious where the 1860 comes from and how certain we are about his birth at all since there's no month and day listed.

--68.188.91.24 01:59, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Written Statement

  • At [[1]], you can read the written statement made by Robert Ford to the Missouri Governor about the assasination. It is quite interesting. It may be nice to include this, or excerpts of it, in the article. I'm not sure what the wiki-etiquette of this is, or how it should be cited. mobyrock 17:47, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Early history of Ford

Is someone willing to write a section on Robert Ford's early life. Jeff Soapy Smith 04:38, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Asperger's syndrome?

Do any third-person accounts of Robert Ford's personality suggest that he might have been afflicted with AS, as Casey Affleck's performance appears to have played him in the recent movie? j/w - 208.127.136.174 17:40, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

You're a lunatic and it's people like you who are ruining wikipedia (and the world). Die. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.75.110.235 (talk) 03:20, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
  • I researched Colorado Newspapers on Ford being he had connections with my great grandfather, Soapy Smith. I found the opposite to be true regarding the stereotyped movie version of Ford. Strong, politically motivated and successful saloon proprietor. Soapy 20:03, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure where you got the idea that Affleck's character was supposed to have Asperger's. He played him as a 20-year-old in awe of meeting his longtime hero. I think the dogged ambition shows through his portrayal as well. It certainly does in Hansen's novel. Far from being stereotyped, it's a far more nuanced portrayal and truer to the available source material than the other film and book depictions of Ford. At the end of the movie, Affleck's character has completely changed. The awe of Jesse James that you took for Asperger's has been traded for a kind of melancholy resignedness. The saloon tycoon aspect is portrayed at the end of the film as well, although not nearly elaborated on as much as in the book. --68.188.91.24 01:58, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Assassination"

I suppose streching the definition of assassination, one could call Ford's killing of James to be an "assassination", yet it has a strange "ring" to it. Sure, some look to this thug (James) as some kind of icon, yet he was a criminal and not some kind of Robin Hood. He was murdered by another criminal. Calling it a murder or killing seems more appropriate, or even a hit. That is how it is portrayed in the WP Jesse James article. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Is the recent film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, based on what this event has been called for a long time, or are we advertising the movie or Hansen's novel? Dr. Dan (talk) 22:02, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

I see where you are coming from, but the definition of assassination is to kill with an ideological or political motivation or gain - which can include power, money, prestige or notoriety. Calling Ford the "assassin" of Jesse James does not intrinsically imply that Jesse was good (I tend to agree that he was a thug - as was Ford). Though I do agree that it does - as you say - have a strange ring to it, based on many people's tendency to associate assassination with an immoral or un-honorable motive. Beatfootprints (talk) 01:41, 20 March 2008 (UTC)