I just watched the ending of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It has been years since I watched the entire thing, but I can remember the first time I watched the entire thing. It was at the theater, and the man behind me fell asleep. He also snored.
That says something about the movie. It is not a shoot ’em up Western. It is a work of art based on the interactions of Robert Ford and Jesse James.
This is not a review of the movie. It is about trivia. The narrator is my favorite part of the movie. His voice sets the tone, and he fills in some missing pieces. Heck, I am a big narrator fan. I like movies with narrators, and I like watching documentaries because they have narrators. I have always wanted to be a narrator. I wonder how people get into the line of work.
Anyway, Hugh Ross narrates The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Now, here is the trivia on top of the trivia. Ross plays the trainer in For Love of the Game, the movie where a retiring Kevin Costner pitches a perfect game. When he makes the decision to retire, he hands an autographed baseball to Ross. You know what it says?
Tell them I’m through, “for love of the game”, Billy Chapel
Wait, did I spoil the ending? I apologize.
Anyway, Hugh Ross, the all-knowing narrator in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, was the first one to learn that Billy Chapel was going to retire. He also had a role in Costner’s Wyatt Earp.
To honor Hugh Ross, here is some wisdom from a few of his movies.
From Wyatt Earp
I think the secret old Mr. Death is holding is that it’s better for some of us over on the other side.
Nothing counts so much as blood. The rest are just strangers.
From For Love of the Game
A lot of little bottles makes a big bottle.
If you give something your all it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you’ve risked everything put everything out there.
From The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
You can hide things in vocabulary.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
I don’t think I’ve seen it. I looked it up, and it’s on a couple of the cable channels this week so maybe we’ll take a look. “For the Love of the Game” was one of Costner’s better efforts. He’s always better in “small movies.” Huge and heroic never worked for him.
You guys should check out the Jesse James movie. It’ll be interesting to see what you think.