A western worth watching

9/3/07

3:10 to Yuma
Directed by James Mangold

This western, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, is a remake of a 1957 film of the same name. There's a very good guy, played by Christian Bale, an injured Civil War veteran struggling, and failing, to keep his ranch going and his wife and two sons fed. There's also a very bad guy, a murdering, stagecoach-robbing outlaw, played by Russell Crowe. The very good guy, desperate for money, signs on to deliver the very bad guy to the town of Contention (great name or what?) to be put on the 3:10 train headed for Yuma and prison. For this job, the very good guy is to get $200. Needless to say, things do not go smoothly. There is blood and shooting and things blowing up and much talk, as the very bad guy is intelligent and articulate as well as a vicious killer.

This is one of those westerns that's about the big issues of justice and right and wrong and heroism and honor. That could be really hard to take, but it all works in 3:10 to Yuma, because the acting is excellent and characters are interesting. Russell Crowe takes over the movie when he's on screen, and that is as it should be. Christian Bale, in a less showy role, is strong too. With these guys, there is no shortage of intensity on the screen. The rest of the cast supports them well, particularly Ben Foster as one of the baddie's henchmen, and Peter Fonda, as a bounty hunter. TVOR swears she saw Luke Wilson at one point, but he wasn't credited, so she may be hallucinating.

For those of us raised on Bonanza and Wagon Train, it's a pleasure to see a western several decades later that's actually interesting. The look, the action, the script, the acting...it's a contemporary take on a genre piece, and very well done.