Directed by: James Mangold
Premise: Remake of the
1957 film. Troubled rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) agrees to
help local law enforcement escort outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to
train stop, sending Wade to Yuma penitentiary.
What Works: 3:10 to Yuma takes its
characters on a journey through the Western myth, encountering many of
the facets of the Western genre and critiquing them along the way. As
the posse takes Wade to the train stop, they encounter the ugly truths
of the Western frontier and this allows Evans and Wade to pontificate on
the nature of progress and the darker side of westward expansion. As
they do, the film is able to study the character of the two men,
especially Wade as he exposes the hypocrisy of law enforcement in a
lawless land where natives were wiped out by some of the very people
escorting him to the gallows. At the same time, Evans struggles to keep
his integrity in the face of Wade’s very convincing speeches. This
kind of self-conscious critique about the Western myths are nothing new
and were seen before in Unforgiven and The
Searchers, but 3:10 to Yuma is able to distinguish
itself among the post-Unforgiven Westerns by reversing the theme
of these other films. Where Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven and Ray Winstone’s character in The
Proposition find themselves tainted by their work with outlaws
and their morality is in tatters by the end, the push and pull between
Crowe and Bale’s characters entertains the possibility that a man
could maintain his integrity despite the hypocrisy and evil all around
him. Crowe and Bale capitalize on this and throughout the story, the
plot and situations allow for the characters to grow with Evans
struggling to maintain his sense of right and wrong and Wade struggling
to maintain this cynicism in the face of goodness. The film ultimately
comes out with a more optimistic message, although the optimism comes
with the cost of blood.
What Doesn’t: Some Western fans may find 3:10
to Yuma a bit too violent and a bit too derivative. Although the
film does go for some approaches, it is still a lot of the same material
that has been seen in other genre pictures, even though it does that
material very well.
Bottom Line: 3:10 to Yuma is not quite as good as Unforgiven or The Proposition, but the performances are so strong and it is so thoughtful about what it is doing that the film earns its place among the best of contemporary Westerns.