Summary:

Dirt farmer Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is on the verge of losing what little stake he has as wealthy forces from nearby Bisbee, Arizona try to force him and his family out to make way for the coming railroad. In exchange for the $200 he needs to save his homestead, Evans agrees to accompany a handful of men in escorting vicious criminal Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to a nearby town where he will be placed on the 3:10 train to a prison in Yuma and certain execution. The band is pursued by Wade’s bloodthirsty gang.

Steve says:

People keep pronouncing the western genre dead but, like Lazurus and Zsa Zsa Gabor, it just keeps rising again and again. Director James Mangold undertakes a tough assignment here…the remaking of a beloved western classic. The roles originated in the original 1957 film by Glenn Ford and Van Heflin are essayed here by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Think of it as Gladiator Meets Batman in the old west. The story is a good yarn, originally spun by Elmore Leonard in 1953 in a western pulp magazine. Best known as one of the leading writers of crime fiction, Leonard has also penned his share of western fiction and 3:10 TO YUMA is one of his best.

Like many of Leonard’s characters, neither his hero nor his villain is all black or all white. Indeed, the story is driven by a series of moral ambiguities, not the least of which is when does one stop being motivated by money are start responding to what is right and necessary.

I was raised on westerns to the point of getting sick of them. The early westerns were all morality plays, so similar in nature that one tended to blend into another. The concept of “black hats” and “white hats” originated with those Saturday afternoon oat-operas. Indeed, the only good guy I can remember who ever wore a black hat was Lash LaRue. (Okay, I know I date myself as most of the readers scratch their heads and mutter, “Lash LaWho?”) I grew weary of the genre because the stories were all so similar in nature and ultimately predictable, even down to the pretty schoolmarm who carried a torch for the new sheriff. The original 3:10 TO YUMA stood out in the genre as a cut above the others in maturity, originality and intelligence. All of those qualities are infused into Mangold’s lovingly crafted remake.

The film is populated by a top-notch cast, with Crowe and Bale supported by Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster, a grizzled Peter Fonda as an even more grizzled bounty hunter and, in a blink-and-you’ll miss him cameo, Luke Wilson. But the movie belongs to Crowe and Bale, both effectively submerging their respective Australian and British accents and thoroughly inhabiting their complex characters. These are two actors at the top of their game, each bringing all their considerable acting gifts to the party. Foster, (SIX FEET UNDER) who usually plays doe-eyed young sensitive types, will blow you away with his riveting portrayal of a steely psychopathic henchman who keeps Wade’s gang together and focused on the task of rescuing their boss from his captors.

A word of interest about the script. An early draft was done by Halsted Welles, who hadn’t written anything since an episode of a long-forgotten tv series back in 1976. But it was Welles who originally adapted Elmore Leonard’s short story for the 1957 Delmer Daves film. It’s nice that Hollywood still turns to a veteran once in a while. Of course, two younger wordslingers were brought in to rewrite him, but it must have felt good to Welles to have Hollywood come calling again.

Whether or not the western is your thing, you’ll be entertained by 3:10 TO YUMA. It’s storytelling at its best in the hands of gifted artists.

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September 10, 2007