Talk:Robert Ford (outlaw)

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)


 * The date of 1842 on his grave marker is wrong. Ford was only 20 years old when he shot James, not 40 years old. Jeff Smith (talk) 21:04, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Written Statement

 * At [], 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)

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)

Asperger's syndrome?
Certain third-person accounts of Robert Ford's personality suggest that he might have been afflicted with AS. This is reflected in Casey Affleck's performance in a recent movie. (Citation Needed.) 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)

"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)


 * Some avoid the term assassination in wikipedia, not sure why yet it may be a policy. Kasaalan (talk) 08:09, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Dorothy Evans
A new section devoted to Dorothy Evans was added and I would like to know if anyone has any reliable source this person was involved with Ford. She supposedly worked for Ford as a singer, dancer, etc., in his Creede, Colorado saloon but there is no evidence he had a saloon except for a small tent saloon erected after the fire of June 5, 1892 and he was killed three days later. There are no newspaper records that mention her name in Creede. I am hoping user Lhw1 can shed some light on the information he/she supplied in the article. Jeff Smith (talk) 04:53, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I am deleting the section on Dorothy Evans as user Lhw1 has admitted he based his findings on a novel and that there is no on-line information on such a person. He wrote the following quote at this |discussion page on the film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

"I agree there should be a historical accuracy section. By the looks of it, this movie is the most historically accurate Jesse James movie to date. There is very little you can say to criticize the accuracy except for the little details. However, evaluating this would be difficult considering there is very little known about the supporting roles. There is no online source that says there ever was a "Dorothy Evans" per se, but Ron Hansen has done his fair share of historical research before writing this novel and I can say with certainty that there was a Dorothy Evans in Creede, 1892. Although the dialogue is fictionalized, the documented events in the movie are as accurate as they could be." Lhw1 (talk) 13:00, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

From this users contributions it is easy to see he is a big film fan and I had my suspicions that he has been adding fictional information from a novel and film to non-fictional articles. From the quote above I feel my suspicions are correct. I have tried several times to get a response from this user with no success. If someone has the time it would be a good idea to go through his contributions and see which articles he added fictional material to. Jeff Smith (talk) 05:53, 3 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Do "smitten with" is a widely known world, can people understand it means "suddenly realize that you fall in love". I am not a native speaker, so your view matters. Kasaalan (talk) 17:20, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Reason Jesse James leave off his guns and details
On April 3, 1882, as James prepared for another robbery, he climbed a chair to dust a picture. It was a rare moment. He had his guns off, having removed them earlier when the unusual heat forced him to remove his coat. As he moved in and out of the house, he feared the pistols would attract attention from the passers-by. Seizing the opportunity, the Ford brothers drew their pistols. Bob was the fastest, firing a shot into the back of Jesse's head, killing him instantly.

There are theories about why James left his guns off, and missing details I will add theories here, then try to find WP:RS that supports them. Kasaalan (talk) 08:11, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

IMDb not an RS
Per WikiMOS, IMDb is not a reliable source (RS), therefore should not be used for inline cites. I moved IMDb references to External links.Parkwells (talk) 15:02, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

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