Winning the prize for longest movie title of the year (I think), we have “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” just coming out in theaters. I admit I’m a little intrigued with this one. There have been 11 other movies about Jesse James, and the sad fact is that the 1966 horror movie “Jesse James meets Frankenstein’s Daughter” may be one of the most factual.

Not that I’m an expert. I said last September that I was no fan of Jesse James, and I’m still not. But his life is still laid out in this part of Missouri, and it’s been exactly a year since I went on my own little road trip to try to find out about the guy. One thing I noticed is that the real person was only occasionally related with what people made out of him. And here’s Hollywood doing it again, and I might as well check out this latest installment.

So here’s the link to the trailer, for those who like watching trailers. (I’m starting to. Often these days, that’s the only good part of the movie.)

And here are the four installments to my Jesse James road trip, in case you’d rather read these than go look at Brad Pitt for two hours. I mean, it’s not likely, but it could happen.

1. Introduction - I figure out my theme and lay down some ground rules, ending with a malted milk ball binge.
2. Boyhood and wartime - I take in the James farm where Jesse got off to a very bad start. And I happen to meet up with a historian at our local graveyard who educates me on the uncelebrated local history of the Civil War.
3. Robbery and the end - Off to the site of the first bank Jesse robbed — the first peacetime bank robbery in American history, according to my guide. And by day’s end, I was ready to take in the house where James was shot. The docent there was sparse on details, but a replica of the St. Jo paper that came out the day after the shooting provided plenty.
4. Wrap-up - I should’ve been finished with it all, but I found that there were leftover facts and impressions still floating in my head.