One of the best movies of 2007 and a film that will only grow in esteem as time passes can begin to do so next week on DVD when The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford hits DVD. It's a bare-bones edition without a real special feature to speak of, but Andrew Dominik's masterpiece does come with a perfect video and audio track and the film was so widely ignored in theaters that just allowing it to find the audience it deserves almost warrants the bonus-free DVD. You won't find us saying that too often. But perhaps the reason that there are no special features on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is to allow for the higher bit rate of the film itself and, if that's the case, we can certainly let this minor DVD sin pass and wait for commentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes that will surely come on an inevitable two-disc edition.

Quite simply, the film looks perfect, even in standard definition and the sound matches it. As the crickets chirp from every corner of the room during the opening woods-set scene, you'll feel like you're there and the nearly high definition transfer truly enhances one of the most beautiful films ever made. In future cinematography classes, there will be a week on the work of Richard Deakins and even though the master shot No Country For Old Men and In the Valley of Elah in 2007 alone, Jesse James was his masterwork. It's a gorgeous, riveting film that has thankfully been given the video and audio treatment it deserves on DVD.

Brad Pitt and the Oscar-nominated Casey Affleck play the title characters in Andrew Dominik's breakthrough film. We meet the James gang on their last legs, just as Robert Ford is about to become a major part of the life of one of his icons. Considering the title, it's not a spoiler to give away the end of Jesse James, which makes the film more about the journey than the destination. It's a film about disillusion with idols, dissatisfaction with life, and the feeling that you can never be more than second best. It's also about legends and what made both James and Ford part of Western history. And it's all done with an incredibly fascinating style, that makes it feel more like a recounted legend (complete with narration) than a faithful recreation. And yet Jesse James never feels distant or not driven by character. Dominik walks a fine line between myth and reality, creating something completely unique, a phrase you won't often hear about a Western. Jesse James is a must-see on every level.

Overlooked by filmgoers and by far too many critics, it's going to take time for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford to find an audience and it starts with this excellently produced DVD. I hope we don't have to wait long for a special feature or two, but if I have to sacrifice a technical presentation of this quality, I'll gladly hold on to the bare-bones edition. Like the legend it portrays, a man who was turned into a classic figure by the passage of time, Jesse James will thrive in the years to come and be remembered long after many of this year's multiple Oscar nominees. In the end, Jesse James is the perfection that its two lead characters could never be and that they both pursued to their legendary ends.