Missouri's movie is...

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Located very near the center of the United States, Missouri is both demographically and topographically diverse, melding Northern and Southern sensibilities and featuring rolling plains and mountain ranges. Similarly, the types of films set in the state vary widely, from small-town mockumentary (Waiting for Guffman) to Great Depression-era crime film (Kansas City, by Missouri’s own Robert Altman). However, it’s the story of one of the nation’s most (in)famous outlaws that makes the cut here. 2007’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford begins its tale in Missouri, where Jesse James was born and raised, and culminates in the title event at Jesse’s St. Joseph home. Though not actually filmed in the state, Assassination succeeds in portraying Missouri frontier life as it was in the 1800s, and its subjects, like their home state, represent a middle ground, a transition between the last days of the Western outlaw and the dawn of the new century.