It's about time for a good Western.
How It Rates: ***1/2
Starring: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale
Rated: R
Red Flags: Graphic Gunslinging, Some Language
3:10 To Yuma fits neatly into that line of thought-provoking Westerns that started with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. It offers some slice of concience hyphenated by gunslinging, although Westerns by definition are morality plays pitting good guys against bad guys. All that's really changed is the nuance.
This remake of the 1957 Glenn Ford film opens with Bale as Dan Evans, a struggling Arizona cattle rancher with a leg lost to the Civil War. He stumbles upon an armored stagecoach robbery led by notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe). Wade is that enigma of a classic bad guy, somebody who enjoys sketching and reading the Bible, a person who's too smart to be wasting his life in villainy. Wade's gang is in the dictionary next to "ruthless," killing the armed guards, shooting a Pinkerton in the gut, and taking the money. However, it's not in Wade's nature to kill Evans, especially in front of his sons, so he takes their horses instead. Evans gets the wounded Pinkerton guard back to a vet in Bisbee -- which at this time is a freckle of the town Arizonans would grow to love. After alerting the law, Wade is captured inside a saloon without his gang or a fight.
The Southern Pacific Railroad, whose payroll the Wade gang lifted, intends to take him on a long ride to a town named Contention, and put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma, presumably for a quick trial and a hanging. But they need more men and good shots. Evans offers to help transport Wade for $200, money he needs to save his farm. The journey to Contention tests both men's wills, exposing what scruples they have like cards on the table.
3:10 To Yuma is essentially a psycho-Western, albeit one with a couple of great gunfights. The picture reminds me a lot of 2003's Open Range, still one of the best and most underrated Westerns ever. That film gave us beautiful cinematography and punchy dialogue. This one gives us more grit and insight. Trying to describe it here is futile. Just see it for yourself.
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