Movie Review

3:10 to Yuma

A Movie Review by Susan Frome

In the same way that The Ultimatum was a modern spy movie, 3:10 to Yuma is a modernized western using new technical tactics. In both of them the strong uses of photography, cameras, music, editing, and so forth are used magnificently. So we now have good movies which can be made in new technical ways. 3:10 to Yuma is a beautifully made film. When you add very good actors, you really have something memorable to watch. Not only memorable, but truly exciting and much more. “Yuma” is a remake of a Western made in 1957 by director Delmar Daves based on a 1953 Short Story by Elmore Leonard with a script by Halsted Welles. People who may have seen the original will recognize the great difference between the old and the new movie-making style.

Somehow, we knew at the beginning that this could possibly be a sit-back-and-enjoy-it film but we soon learned that in the new style there is more violence and brutality. As there is in the spy movie.

The film opens with the Evans family out on their farm in Arizona territory. Dan Evans (Christian Bale) awakes to find his barn on fire and his wife and children up and running. The older boy is fighting to save the horses from the flames. When all is done the father and the sons go off to find their horses and the culprits who work for the land-use company who threatened to burn their house next time. Returning home, Dan and his boys run into a stagecoach robbery going on down below. Before they know it, they are confronted by Ben Wade, the infamous leader and outlaw killer (Russell Crowe).

In almost all Westerns, the stagecoach has to be overtaken and seized by the outlaws and the strongbox blown open. But here the scene is tremendous; we see great close-ups, billowing clouds, fast movement of the coach and horses, the Gatlin gun sputtering as it seems to roll off the tipping coach as it hits the dust. Ben Wades’ henchmen have triumphed again.

Meanwhile Ben has confronted Dan and his sons and allowed them to keep their cattle but takes their horses which the gang needs temporarily. At the same time, Dan’s older son is disgruntled over his father’s apparent cowardice. It soon becomes clear that cold, quiet, nasty Ben is becoming interested in Dan. He sees that this rugged, tired sunburned farmer who lost a leg in the Civil War has a feeling of truth and honesty about him—in fact a classic morality. Dan is angry and broken but still ready to fight for his rights and against the wrongs perpetrated against him. Steadily this becomes a story about “moral authority”—Dan’s or Ben’s.

Soon the sheriff, doctor, hired Pinkerton agents, townsmen and Dan in consort are able to overthrow Ben; his gang wasn’t on the spot so he got caught in a simple confrontation. It is decided that they all take him to the Yuma station to catch the 3;10 train two days from now. They are sending him straight to a prison where he will be tried and hanged.

Dan is put in charge. So here we are set up for a journey of hardships and danger—a race to see if Dan’s small group can win against Ben’s tough gang who will be right behind them.

The second in command of the gang, a crazed-looking slight, smallish man, whose eyes are too close together with a piercing stare, is delighted to take over. He is a top gunslinger who is as fast as movie-making tricks can make him. His name is Charlie (Ben Foster). One should take the movie’s advice and get away as fast as you can. Charlie would not know the meaning of the word “moral.” All this causes us to end up with moral questions concerning Dan, Ben and Charlie because each lives by his own laws and believes those laws are “right.” There is also the question of Dan’s eldest son finally coming around and giving his father some overdue respect.

In a stealthy attack by Apaches at night in Dan’s camp, Ben has to be freed in order to help fight off the Indians. Ben and Dan fight well together and, in fact, end up admiring each other almost like comrades. As they travel together, they share their stories, adventures, histories and discuss their beliefs. It is hard to trust Ben, even though Russell Crowe makes his character interesting, charming and amenable; one can see Dan letting down his guard but not for long.
They continue on to Yuma, though they face other dangers such as a situation involving a coolie railroad gang which turns out to be even worse than the Indians.

The final Yuma scenes move quickly and in thrilling ways. Charlie and the gang have arrived and have things pretty much in hand -- for a while. Not to give anything away, I will just refer to the magnificent train scene itself. Before we see it coming, huge rolling black clouds of smoke come toward us filling the screen, a dark shadow of the engine slides along the platform alongside us, and then the marvelous locomotive moves in, spitting and fuming to a stop. The current technical devices are used so well here as we appreciate all they can do.

The composer Marco Beltrami has done such a fine job that the music feels part of the movie—they live and breathe together. There is a romantic Western sound but it’s blended into a ticking and clicking primitive wildness which touches and frightens us as well.

3:10 to Yuma is a prime example of making an old-fashioned movie style into a modern film using all the tools of modern technology. Here’s the catch though: a lot of mediocre and bad movies also use modern technology, so the technology is obviously not enough. The magical part is the human factor as always.

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