Cast: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda, Ben Foster, Logan Lerman, Gretchen Mol
Director: James Mangold
Year: 2007
Once upon a time, the Western served the function that currently resides within the purview of Science Fiction: use an allegorical approach to explore themes and ideas that might not fit well within the scope of a traditional motion picture. It has been more than 35 years since the Western was a popular genre but, when one is well-made, it can still arrest the attention and transport the viewer to another place and time. Of course, few modern Westerns take the simplistic view of cowboys/good-Indians/bad; we have come beyond that. 3:10 to Yuma is one of those complex films that twists morality and toys with the notion of the outlaw as a folk hero. It's modern in its perspectives and approach - even though it's based on a staid 50-year-old original (which, in turn, was adapted from an Elmore Leonard short story).
It's the Old West as we know it: stagecoaches, horses, gunfights, ramshackle towns that appear to have sprung out of nowhere, and bad guys who are more dangerous when they smile than when they frown. The only thing missing are the tumbleweeds. Director James Mangold (Walk the Line) has studied his John Ford and Howard Hawks. He has assembled a respectable cast, with Christian Bale playing opposite Russell Crowe and recognizable names like Peter Fonda, Ben Foster, and Gretchen Mol in supporting roles. It wouldn't be fair to claim that this is the best Western thus far in 2007, since it's the only Western thus far in 2007 (although The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is on the way), but it's worth the investment of time and money.
For Dan Evans (Christian Bale), the capture of notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) represents opportunity. Dan needs cash to save his ranch - he owes money and foreclosure is in the picture. Despite having lost part of one leg in the Civil War, Dan's a sharpshooter and proves an important addition to the group escorting Ben to a train station, where he'll board the 3:10 to Yuma Prison, where a hangman's noose awaits. Also in the group are Dan's 14-year-old son, William (Logan Lerman), and a bounty hunter named Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), who has a long standing feud with Ben. The trip doesn't go well. The trail is fraught with peril, including bloodthirsty Apaches and vigilante railroad workers. And, all the way, Ben's gang is in pursuit, led by the vicious Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), who wants nothing more than to see Ben free and those who captured him dying horrible deaths.
Two things of significance occur during 3:10 to Yuma, and both revolve around Dan. As a character, he doesn't change. Instead, he's the instigator of change in those around him. Dan is the same at the end as at the beginning: devoted to what is right. Justice is his master. He will not kill because it is expedient. He will not turn his back even though he stands to earn a fortune. Dan's obdurateness makes him a wall against which others crash and break. One of those is his son, who starts out the film viewing him with contempt but grows to respect him. The other is Ben who, suffering from something akin to Stockholm Syndrome, forms a grudging respect for the man who rejects his bribes and stays true to his course.
In some ways, it can be argued that Christian Bale has a thankless job. After all, there's nothing showy in playing a stubborn, rigorously just man. Bale, however, brings intensity to the role. On the other hand, Russell Crowe has the plum part as the villain who can be nasty one moment and charming the next. It's the kind of role Crowe plays so well. Ben's the bad guy, but it's hard not to like him. The real one to get the boos and hisses when he appears on screen is Ben Foster, who makes Charlie as freakish and dangerous as a five-headed snake. Not only is he venomous, but he kills for the pleasure of it. Veteran actor Peter Fonda provides a link to the Westerns of old - his dad, Henry, appeared in his share of them.
This isn't director Mangold's first genre effort, although it is his first Western. True to form, however, the action is secondary to character development and the highlighting of moral dilemmas. That's not to say the action isn't well choreographed. The 30-minute finale, which includes a tense stand-off with Ben's gang, is masterfully executed. It's perfectly paced, suspenseful, and ends in a way that's both appropriate and satisfying. Watching a movie like this, I can't help but wish that the Western would come back into favor again. We can use more productions like this.
If "3:10 to Yuma" feels familiar, and it does, it's not just because it's a remake of the classic 1957 western. Almost every plot point -- psycho gunslingers, savage Apaches, even doctors who say "that bullet has to come out" -- is a trope that has been a genre standard for decades.
But what's most impressive about this new version, starring Russell Crowe as a charismatic outlaw and Christian Bale as the downtrodden rancher who crosses his path, is that James Mangold directs it with such energy and passion that it's as if he didn't know it's all been done before.
Approaching this material with the enthusiasm of a famished man confronting his first square meal in days, Mangold has brought welcome intensity to the project, giving "3:10 to Yuma" a visceral, immediate quality that makes it realistic and mythic all at the same time.
The director, best known for the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," has been a fan of the Delmer Daves-directed original -- which began life as an Elmore Leonard short story and starred Glenn Ford as the outlaw and Van Heflin as the rancher -- for more than 20 years.
But that hasn't stopped Mangold (whose forte is modernizing traditional material) and screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas from reusing and crediting some of the dialogue from Halsted Welles' original script while simultaneously upping the ante in all areas.
So "3:10 to Yuma's" psychos are numerous and deeply psychotic, the action is kinetic, the conflicts and pressures on rancher Dan Evans are palpable. Though the original was considered a modern "adult" western half a century ago, its heart now beats a whole lot faster, and so does ours.
While that original was ballyhooed as "in the tradition of the screen's biggest outdoor dramas," a lot of it focused on the psychology of men waiting in the tiny town of Contention, wondering if the train to Yuma was going to be on time and what would happen when it got there. Mangold has chosen to open up the story and give himself the opportunity to shoot in the wide open spaces of New Mexico by adding, among other elements, those fierce Apaches and a sequence involving Chinese workers laying transcontinental railroad track.
Given that the director works especially well with actors -- both Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted" and Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line" won Oscars -- it's to be expected that Mangold gets strong performances from both his stars as well as his supporting cast.
It's Bale as rancher Evans we encounter first, coping with the woes of Job. In addition to being hobbled by a Civil War injury, Evans gets no respect from anyone in his life. His cattle are dying because of drought, his mortgage holder is trying to force him off the land, his wife, Alice (Gretchen Mol), is regretful, and Will, his surly 14-year-old son (Logan Lerman in a role considerably beefed up from the original), considers him as weak as green tea. When Alice says to him, "No one will think less of you," Evans snaps back, "No one can think less of me." Ouch.
Outlaw legend Ben Wade (Crowe), a man who would as soon kill you as look at you, is, by contrast, at the top of his game. He robs stagecoaches at will (21 at last count), his word is law as far as his vicious gang of miscreants is concerned and he is much comforted by the biblical verse he is fond of quoting: "Every wicked man is right in his own heart."
Only the long arm of coincidence has the strength to connect these two men, but connect they do, and Evans' desperate need for money puts him on a posse of men, headed by gruff Pinkerton agent Byron McElroy (an expert, almost unrecognizable Peter Fonda), who are determined to get Wade to the town of Contention and on that aforementioned train to the federal penitentary in Yuma.
It's no stretch to see Crowe embracing the role of a cocky, seductive outlaw, the unlikely sophisticate who enjoys playing manipulative mind games with everyone in sight, but he does so with so much brio that his performance shines. The actor himself apparently feels the same way: In the film's closing credits, the name "Ben Wade" frequently appears where Crowe's would ordinarily be.
If Crowe is a treat all the way through, Bale's performance improves as the film progresses and his character toughens under pressure. A master of grim, humorless determination, Bale is one of the few actors equally believable as weak and downtrodden and heroic. Though the film's finale feels a trifle too worked over, its chase elements pump enough adrenaline to make up for it.
Finally, a word must be said about Ben Foster, whose portrait of psycho in chief Charlie Prince, resplendent in double-breasted leather jacket with brass buttons as Wade's No. 2, is one of "3:10 to Yuma's" signature elements. Foster's gleeful villainy owes more than a little to Lee Marvin in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," but everything about this energetic film owes something to somebody, and that turns out to be not a bad thing at all.
I'm a sucker for a sturdy clash-of-the-titans testosterone fest and "Yuma" is the real deal.
The titans in question are Hollywood heavyweights Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, facing off in a Wild West showdown that's fraught with tension from start to finish.
Bale is the drawn and emotionally quartered Dan Evans, a down-on-his-luck rancher/Union Army vet who's frantically trying to hang on to his ranch after a local bigwig threatens to repossess his drought-ravaged land for a railroad project.
Crowe makes nasty as Ben Wade, a ruthless outlaw who heads up a vicious gang of thieving no-goods bent on plundering and pilfering fortunes. Fate deals Evans a lucky hand when Wade lets his libido get the better of him in a post-raid attack and Evans is party to Wade's capture.
Frustrated at the beating his railroad has taken at the hands of the Wade Gang, Southern Pacific Railroad boss Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) wrangles volunteers to help escort his high-profile prisoner to the town of Contention, where he will board the 3:10 train bound for federal lockdown in Yuma.
Evans is the man for the job, for a much-needed $200 delivery fee, that is. He's a man on the verge, a heartbeat away from losing it all and willing to lay down his soul to salvage property and family.
Wade is true to form as a malicious scallywag with the gift of gab, a cocky SOB who hones in on Evans' vulnerability in an attempt to turn it to his advantage. For his part, Evans is so rock-bottom that his despair fuels a fire that can't or won't be quenched by Wade's calculating tactics.
Director James Mangold ("Walk the Line") puts a fresh spin on the ticking-clock concept so prevalent in such western classics as "High Noon." His take is more "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," plumbing the depths of character rather than focusing solely on a central narrative premise.
That premise shows wagon-loads of promise. But the core strength of "Yuma" lies in the psychological cat-and-mouse game between outlaws on the brink of destruction. Desperation meets western machismo as the seconds count down to destiny. The atmosphere caters to the male ego and the dark deliciousness inherent in its complexities.
Both leads exude intelligence, sexuality and varying shades of menace. Lenser Phedon Papamichael vibes an Old West sensibility that manages to look clean and accessible. Ben Foster chews up the scenery as psychotic Wade henchman Charlie Prince, and young Logan Lerman is extremely effective as Evans' teenage son William, who slowly gains back the respect he's lost for his floundering father.
Yes, it's a remake, based on the 1957 Delmer Daves classic starring Glenn Ford, but "Yuma" has a consciousness all its own. Let's hear a yippie-kay-ay!
Since the earliest days of the medium, film history has been littered with villains that were more fun to play (and, as a result, more fun to watch) than their more likable (and, dare I say it, more boring) protagonists. Take Darth Vader in �Star Wars�; Hannibal Lecter in �The Silence of the Lambs�; Alonzo Harris in �Training Day�; Hans Gruber in �Die Hard�; Harry Lime in �The Third Man.�
Then there's Ben Wade in �3:10 to Yuma.� Despite being terrifically played in the 1957 original by Glenn Ford, Wade still wasn't exactly the first name that came to mind when compiling that long list of unforgettable baddies. But that's likely to change with this worthy remake, thanks to Russell Crowe's brilliant performance as the outlaw who can effortlessly switch from being magnetic and charming to rotten and vicious at the drop of a hat.
Fortunately, Christian Bale is just as impressive as good-guy Dan Evans, the physically and emotionally beaten farmer who vows to bring Wade to justice in an effort to redeem himself in the eyes of his family. But there's a lot more where that came from in �3:10 to Yuma� -- an extremely well made, spectacularly entertaining Western that represents director James Mangold's strongest film to date (topping even 2005's acclaimed �Walk the Line�).
When his Arizona farm is ravaged by a devastating drought, former Army Union sharpshooter Dan Evans finds himself strapped for cash. In order to pay off his debts, he sells his services to escort the notorious outlaw Ben Wade across the desert plains to Contention, where he will then board the 3:10 prison train bound for Yuma and await trial in that town's Federal Court.
But the three-day journey winds up being more perilous than expected for Evans and his posse, which include a weathered bounty hunter (Peter Fonda), a meek veterinarian (Alan Tudyk) and Evans' own young son (Logan Lerman). Not only is Wade's ruthless gang right behind them, but Wade continually tries to charm his captors into lowering their guard just long enough for him to break free. But Evans will have none of it -- he'll do whatever it takes to deliver his man on time, even if it's the last thing he ever does.
If the 1957 version written by Halsted Welles and directed by Delmer Daves greatly expands upon the �High Noon�-inspired short story written by Elmore Leonard, then this latest remake goes even further. By adding a good 30 minutes onto the original film's 92-minute running time, director Mangold and screenwriters Derek Haas and Michael Brandt open the film up to allow for even more character development and a gripping, thrilling sense of adventure.
And it pays off on every level. Giving Evans a physical disability raises the stakes for him to complete his mission, while having his son tag along for the ride allows him to do it for more selfless reasons. But more effective is the kinship that develops between Evans and Wade. Despite being on opposite ends of the moral spectrum, they soon grow to respect each other, leading to a spectacular finale where you wind up rooting for both men as their train rolls in.
It's easy to see why Mangold was drawn to the material, since the story of a lone, honest, physically impaired man trying to do what's right in a corrupt environment most closely resembles his own earlier movie, 1997's �Copland.� But �3:10 to Yuma� is more rewarding on a number of levels, though it is interesting to note that both lead actors in this gritty tale of the Old West aren't even Americans -- Bale hails from Wales, while Crowe (in another Western after 1995's �The Quick and the Dead�) was born in New Zealand.
It's also worth noting that �3:10 to Yuma� boasts not one, but two villains that are fun to watch. In addition to Ben Wade, there's Charlie Prince, the loyal second-in-command of Wade's gang who lacks the charm, intelligence and sympathy of his leader. And in a performance that's even scarier than the thug he played in �Alpha Dog,� Ben Foster steals virtually every scene he is in. Talk about icing on the cake, no wonder �3:10 to Yuma� is one of the year's best movies.
James Mangold�s film, �3:10 to Yuma,� is a remake of a classic 1957 movie starring Van Heflin and Glenn Ford. Much has changed in 50 years. The original movie portrays the outlaw band as ruthless killers, the authorities hunting them as cowards, and the lone farmer as a brave man striving to win the approval of his wife.
In what Mangold calls in one interview his �reinterpreted� version of the movie, the outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) is a Bible-quoting killer; Bryan McElroy (Peter Fonda), the bounty hunter hunting them, is a Bible-quoting killer; while Dan Evans the farmer (Christian Bale) is a killer whose primary virtue appears to be that he kills without quoting the Bible.
In Mangold�s moral universe, it�s not killing that�s evil; it�s hypocrisy. Evans� only concern is getting enough money to buy the water rights to relieve his cattle and crops of the drought. If he has to kill a few outlaws in the process, what�s wrong with that? As long as he doesn�t quote the Bible, the audience will know who the good guy is.
In fact, the characters are all corrupt, even Evans takes money in a cause that he knows requires him to kill to earn it. In that decision, he is no different than the bounty hunter, except that the script portrays him as a good man doing bad things for reasons beyond his control. The morality that such a secular worldview expresses is a bankrupt one. If determinism of one kind or another excuses killing, than why shouldn�t Wade be excused for killing because he was abandoned by his mother or McElroy for killing because his environment bred hate? In other words, there is no moral standard in the movie which decides which of the three characters is �better,� just an arbitrary, political preference for a non-Christian character.
The movie self-consciously attacks Christianity, but it teaches nothing because there is nothing that Mangold believes in that he can communicate. For example, there can be no commentary about honor or truth in a movie in which both honor and truth are shown to be hollow principles. The government lies, the Bible lies, and lawmen are cowards, hypocrites, and killers. In such a universe, with such a worldview, what can a propagandistic director like Mangold teach us except to hate the �haters��the �Christians�?
Indeed, the Bible plays a major role in the movie. Wade quotes and names verses from Proverbs 13:3 (�He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin�) and from Proverbs 21:2 (�All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart�). He relates the story of how he was abandoned by his mother when he was eight years. She told him she was coming right back and gave him a Bible to read. For three days he read it, and when he finished it he realized his mother wasn�t returning. I can only surmise that the moral of that tendentious bit of storytelling is that children shouldn�t trust mothers who carry Bibles.
The anti-Christian speeches are over the top. For instance, in the fourth self-conscious reference to Christianity, Wade recounts a slaughter of Indian men, women, and children which begins with killing, proceeds to scalping, and anti-climactically concludes with children crying. This tale is supposed to convince the audience what a horrible man McElroy is, and Wade concludes it by saying: �I guess Byron imagined that Jesus wouldn�t mind. I guess Jesus don�t like the Apache.�
Now, what is one to do with such a stunning display of ignorance of the Christian faith or of the character of Jesus? Unlike Islam and the Koran, which specifically instruct believers to kill non-believers, the New Testament teaches that Christians are to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek when struck, and to give whatever a needy person asks for�all actions modeled by Jesus. Such gross propaganda should disgust Christians, but a few of the Christian students I sat with merely laughed. For them it was too ludicrous to take seriously. In the fifth reference to Christianity, Wade asks McElroy �Did you ever read another book besides the Bible?� McElroy�s predictable answer is �Nope.� The moral there, for audience members too dense to interpret character, is what else can one expect of a mass murderer except that he must be a murderer because he read the Bible?
Perhaps the most ridiculous images in the movie are the three distinct camera shots of Wade�s handgun which has a silver crucifix medallion on the handle. As if that weren�t enough to convey his heavy-breathing message, Mangold made sure to have the characters refer to it as the �hand of God� which contains a �curse on it� (i.e. Jesus).
Finally, in a moment of crisis, Evans says to his wife: �I�ve been standing on one leg for three damned years waiting for God to do me a favor, and he ain�t listening!� That is the movie�s summa: God, if he exists, is indifferent to our sufferings. This isn�t a Christian belief, but somehow it�s supposed to reflect on Christianity? If you don�t believe in God, you can�t blame him for human cruelty; blame humans. If you do believe in God, then you can only know him from the Bible which, the complexity of the Old Testament aside, clearly shows in the New Testament that God is a God of love.
It seems to me that Christians have a simple but stark choice. Either we continue to patronize entertainment which specifically attacks our faith or we don�t. The basis on which we make our decision will reveal the rule by which we live. Do we side with the aesthetic beauty of Mammon, the glittering god of this world, or do we make decisions based on moral principles and a genuine love for God?
Either way we must subscribe to one side or the other. Jesus made it clear that we can�t love both and must �hate� one in such a way as to exclude either God or the grosser fruit of the world from our lives. What Aristotle calls �the ruling principle� of our lives is true in a Christian sense as well, as Paul so poignantly describes in Romans 7 or Augustine painfully describes in his autobiographical chapter on stealing pears. This is not a matter of Sunday school morality but a true philosophical dilemma.
Those Christians who justify seeing any amount of violence, of sexuality, or of anti-Christian polemics by parroting the cheap excuse that �all truth is God�s truth� are missing the point in a huge way. The Christian life is not about justification and the freedom we are granted under the cross; apparently for some people, limitless dispensation of grace. The point of the Christian life is sanctification or, to put it another way, maturity: �Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God� (Hebrews 6:1). The object of the Christian faith is not to believe in Jesus and live like the devil; it�s to believe in Jesus Christ so that we may live like he lived.
The movie is well-directed, well-acted, beautifully filmed, and effectively mocks Jesus, the Christian faith, and throws in a heavy dosage of anti-Southern bigotry. It always amazes me that people who purport to be �tolerant� when given a chance to express themselves manage to articulate such an unbridled hatred for Southerners and Christians. Are Southerners and Christians really the problem in the world? You wouldn�t know about Islamic terrorism if you depended on Hollywood for your world view.
Avoid this movie, and for the price of just a little more than a single ticket you can purchase the original from Amazon if you�re interested in the story and not in giving the devil his due.
At the bloody end of �3:10 to Yuma,� virtually all the surviving characters, not to mention a variety of strangers, get shot at point-blank range. It�s almost as if the stage were being cleared for some subsequent installment of what we�ve just been watching�the eternal conflict of good and evil in the Old West. There haven�t been many big-screen Westerns recently, but the form has lost none of its slightly absurd solemnity. It hasn�t lost its physical beauty, either, or its fervent seriousness about honor and courage. �3:10 to Yuma� is a remake of a 1957 Western directed by Delmer Daves, and this version�directed by James Mangold and written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, who amplified Elmore Leonard�s 1953 story and Halsted Welles�s script for the original�is faster, more cynical, and more brutal than the first. The setting is the Arizona territory after the Civil War, a wilderness with towns so ragged and insubstantial that they seem merely scratched onto the surface of the desert. Vengeful Apaches keep travellers awake at night, and Chinese coolies, working for the Southern Pacific Railroad, lay track across the mountains. Nothing resembling a social structure exists; individual character, for good or for ill, is all there is. In minor roles, the actors loom up at a saloon window or sit heavily on horseback, and each anonymous face, carved by terrible food, rotten liquor, and bad sex, makes an overwhelming impression of loneliness and discomfort. Peter Fonda, who is always described by publicists as an �icon,� shows up as a corrupt and violent bounty hunter�a thug with authority�and gives an amazingly fierce performance. In this movie, Fonda really is iconic. �3:10 to Yuma� may be familiar, but, at its best, it has a rapt quality, even an aura of wonder.
The hero, Dan Evans (Christian Bale), is a Civil War veteran with a stump for a foot; he has come out from Massachusetts with his family, and holds a few acres of parched ground, but he finds himself stranded in a moral wasteland. His barn gets burned down by a powerful man who wants him to clear off, and, in the hills near his property, he runs into the notorious outlaw and murderer Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). When they meet again in town, in a dark saloon, a bizarre thing happens: Wade finds the virtuous Dan so interesting that he lets his guard down. Pinkertons working for the railroad enter the building and capture him, and Dan, dead broke, becomes part of a group being paid good money to convey the famous killer across the desert and deposit him in a train heading for prison. During the journey, Wade murders two of his captors, and he makes a prolonged attempt to reason or bully Dan into letting him go. The stolid rancher has a moral core that provokes him�he can�t fathom it and wants to destroy it.
Most of this might have been little more than a heavyweight conceit were it not for Russell Crowe. Within minutes of his first appearance, he convinces you that Ben Wade is the most intelligent man in the territory. Wade is accompanied by a band of killers, including a dandified acolyte in buckskins (the gifted Ben Foster) who is fanatically loyal to him, and Crowe separates himself from Foster and the other actors, creating a quiet private space in which he can play. This cultivated gangster likes to observe other people; he draws pictures of anyone who interests him and quotes Biblical verse�he�s an aesthete and an ironist�and Crowe, dominating every situation with a violent lunge or a vicious remark, gives a fascinating, self-amused performance (I was reminded of Marlon Brando at his most perverse). Crowe is an acting genius, and the filmmakers build him up�they create a chaotic milieu in which Wade�s nihilism comes off as a particularly nasty form of survivor�s wisdom. In the Arizona territory, there�s no law to speak of; the Southern Pacific corrupts everyone, buying whatever �justice� it needs to conduct its business. Dan turns out to be the only one foolish enough to finish the job and bring the bad guy to prison. His defense of a civilization that doesn�t yet exist is an expression of personal honor, and it�s so ornery and irrational that it moves even Ben Wade.
James Mangold�s movies include �Cop Land� (1997), �Girl, Interrupted� (1999), and �Walk the Line� (2005), and this is by far his most sustained and evocative work. A scene in which Wade�s gang robs a stagecoach has a convulsive violence that makes it one of the best versions of this generic episode ever filmed. Mangold draws out the tensions between the actors�between Crowe and Fonda, for instance�and when the violence explodes it�s startling. There are a few choppy moments�an Indian attack at night is more suggested than staged�and I wish Mangold had resisted digital enhancement in a scene in which Wade and Dan blow up a railway tunnel (the moment looks fake). But much of this Western is tense and intricately wrought, and I found myself settling into its stern logic and its physical splendor with a grateful sigh. The old rituals are so far removed from our glib media world that they seem as solid as the hills and boulders of Arizona itself.
WESTERNS, which have been headed for Boot Hill for 30 years, get a reprieve with "3:10 to Yuma," an extremely well-acted and well-directed remake of a 1957 oater based on a short story by the then-obscure Elmore Leonard. Russell Crowe and Christian Bale capably step into Glenn Ford and Van Heflin's old roles in what used to be called a psychological Western back in the day, when "3:10" was often compared to "High Noon" because of its focus on fulfilling a civic responsibility on a ticking-clock schedule.
In this handsomely produced remake, poor, one-legged farmer Dan (Bale) has accepted a $200 bounty to help deliver stagecoach robber Ben (Crowe), whom he has helped to capture.
All he has to do is take Ben to Contention City to catch that train to Yuma for a date with the hangman.
The journey to the train will take two days, and riding shotgun with Dan are wounded, leathery bounty hunter (Peter Fonda, excellent), a veterinarian (Alan Tudyk) and the somewhat shady railroad official (Dallas Roberts) who has hired Dan.
But even handcuffed, Ben is a dangerous customer. Charming and devious, he taunts Dan about the loss of his leg as a Union soldier during the Civil War and repeatedly offers to pay Dan far more money to let him go.
Ben ambushes and kills two of Dan's fellow guards, and things get even more complicated for Dan when his teenage son Will (Logan Lerman), who regards dad as ineffectual, shows up to help.
Meanwhile, Dan's party is being stalked by Ben's psychopathic and flashily dressed No. 2, Charlie Prince - whose nickname, "Princess," more than hints at the roots of his devotion.
The role is played with great flamboyance by Ben Foster, who manages to steal scenes left and right from Crowe and Bale - no easy feat.
Working under the direction of James Mangold ("Walk the Line"), Crowe gives a smooth, relaxed performance that's perfectly offset by Bale's intensity.
Gretchen Mol, though, is miscast as Dan's long-suffering wife, while Vinessa Shaw doesn't have much to do as a barmaid who entertains Ben (a role played by Felicia Farr in the original). And Luke Wilson has a rather pointless cameo as a railroad employee.
There was relatively little violence in the original film. But when Dan finally meets up with Ben's gang, this version has a body count that borders on the ludicrous - and a climax that strains credulity.
That said, "3:10 to Yuma" is still by far the better of this month's two Western releases, much more entertaining than "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" with Brad Pitt.
3:10 to Yuma, the second adaptation of a fifties Elmore Leonard short story (from back when he wrote oaters), has two things going for it. The first is simply its genre�and the nostalgia many of us feel for Westerns in which heroes struggle to cling to their ideals in a craven society. The second is Russell Crowe, normally an actor who disappears so far into his characters you�d swear his DNA has been altered. As Ben Wade, gang leader and murderer, he gives an ironic performance, but Crowe�s irony is more intense than other actors� obsession. He turns the idea of having so few emotions�of being beyond caring�into a bloody joke. He upstages everyone with his laughing eyes.
Leonard�s story was basically two men�deputy and outlaw�in a hotel room waiting for a train to prison while the bad guy�s gang amasses in the street below, poised to save him from hanging. It still is, although the film, directed by James Mangold, carts in everyone from the family of the hero (Christian Bale) to an evil rancher (he wants the hero�s farm) to prostitutes to Chinese railroad builders to a Pinkerton man played by Peter Fonda�the onetime counterculture hero channeling, very amusingly, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. The editing is tense and there�s mucho splatter but the climax is unforgivable for reasons I can�t spell out�and owes something to a recent picture I can�t name. As spoilers go, it would be a hanging offense.
Critics love to unfairly compare movie remakes to their source material, whether that material be literature or movies made in the recent and not-so-recent past. 3:10 to Yuma probably won�t have to deal with that on most fronts since the original, released in 1957, has barely been seen in the past four decades by anyone but the die-hard Western fans who recognize it for the classic it should have been. One could say that this made it a perfect candidate to be updated; unfortunately, director James Mangold took the definition of �remake� a bit too far. The story of a poor rancher (Christian Bale) who must escort a vicious murderer (Russell Crowe) to a prison train is reminiscent of the original (which, in its own way, liberally cribbed from its source material), Elmore Leonard�s 1953 short story, but the pacing and dialogue goes beyond �reminiscent� and into �identical.� In other words, Mangold tried to make the exact same movie, but with the inexplicable addition of more character development for Bale�s rancher and two extra action sequences in the middle. The result is a preposterous piece of soulless thievery that the understandably ignorant will enjoy.
It's been 50 years since the release of the first movie called �3:10 to Yuma� and a lot has changed. Films about the Old West were king back then. Now, they are nearly forgotten. The last good one before this was Kevin Kostner's 2003 film, �Open Range.� Like that film, this new version of �3:10 to Yuma� has some oblique references to the Civil War, and how men are wounded by war. In both instances, these references could apply to the Iraq War, which has more than its share of physically and psychological wounded.
The hero of the story, Dan Evans (played by Christian Bale of �Batman Begins�) is a struggling Arizona rancher who lost a leg in the Civil War. He is about to be evicted from his property. An unscrupulous businessman has run off his cattle, cut off his water supply and burned his barn. He and his sons are out rounding up the strays when they see a stagecoach robbery by the gang of the notorious outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe of �Cinderella Man�). Evans' oldest son, William, (Logan Lerman of �Hoot�) is fascinated by the outlaw and disappointed in his father. Later, when Wade is captured, Evans volunteers to guard Wade on his journey to prison in Yuma, Arizona. He hopes to save his ranch with the $200 (almost the exact same amount he got in compensation for the loss of his leg) he will get for the job. He also hopes to earn the respect of his family.
On the way to Yuma, the posse stops overnight at Evans' ranch. Wade turns on the charm when he talks to Evan's pretty wife, Alice (Gretchen Mol of �The Notorious Betty Page�) and William. The road to Yuma is deadly, as Wade's gang attacks the captors, hoping to free Wade. They also face attacks from renegade Apaches and a renegade posse, who wants to execute Wade before he goes to trial. With trickery and determination, the group guarding the prisoner continues toward Yuma, but they are being picked off one by one. Wade himself attacks and kills two of his captors. As the terrible journey continues, Wade and Evans develop respect for one another. They both have their own code of honor. William Evan, like Luke Skywalker addressing Darth Vader, tells Wade that he sees good in him. Wade denies it, but maybe there is. Wade is not a typical outlaw. He is smart, a keen observer of people, manipulative and has an artist's temperament. He carries a sketch pad wherever he goes. At the same time, he is a sociopath, and he kills without remorse. He is no animal, but admits that his gang of killers are animals.
Wade admires Evans because of his devotion to his family. Wade's own family deserted him. It is as if Wade wishes he could live his life over with Evans as his father. He would have been a better man. Evans is willing to do anything to insure a good future for his family, and that is something that Wade respects. One final revelation by Evans changes the end of the story, which is very atypical for a western. I saw the original film years ago, and I don't remember how the two films are different, but I suspect Wade is more of an anti-hero in this new version than he was in the old version. Westerns are never entirely about the old west. That is the beauty of Westerns. They can be used to reflect on any contemporary issue, and this one certainly does that.
The cast is excellent, although Bale has a bit too much edge to him to play a rock-solid decent guy the way Van Heflin did in the original (and in �Shane�). His limp seems to come and go, too. Also excellent in a supporting role is Ben Foster (�X-Men: The Last Stand�) who plays Wade's loyal right hand man, Charlie Prince, a vicious killer. Also good is a nearly unrecognizable Peter Fonda (�Wild Hogs�), who plays the Sam Elliot-type role as the tough old lawman. This movie is a bit slow and talky, but it has plenty of action, too. It could have been shortened a bit, but otherwise is a fine movie. There were some problems with a few details, too, like the posse not putting out the fire at night when they are attacked by Apaches. The fire made them easy targets, but it was also the only lighting for the scene. This is one of those films that stays with you. It is not easily forgotten. The story is haunting. I kept thinking about it for days after seeing it. That is why it rates a B+. It also scored number one in terms of box office ticket sales in its first weekend of release. That hasn't happened in a long time. Welcome back Western, nice to see you back on top again.