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3:10 to Yuma is one of the great westerns. Glenn Ford with his sly smile played a gunfighter who was to be taken to meet a prison train. Van Heflin played the farmer who got paid to get the gunfighter to the train. No one else had the courage to do it. Intimidation can go just so far. There was adroit psychological play between the two men as they assess each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The late Frankie Laine had a hit song from this film, and today’s soundtrack by Marco Beltrami utilizes aspects of the earlier film.

This production company just about gets it right. First of all, the film was done in New Mexico and not Canada. Second, the lead actors were familiar with horses, and third, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale (still looking gaunt as in “Rescue Dawn”) analyze each other just fine. The surprise is in up-and-coming actors, such as Ben Foster who plays Crowe’s wild-eyed, psychotic sidekick, Charlie Prince. This guy is wound up tighter than a two-dollar watch. The other actor is Logan Lerman, who plays Bale’s teenage son. Here is a kid who tries to hide the fact that he admires the gunfighter. I believe I spotted Luke Wilson in a cameo role. Cinematography by Phedon Papamichael is wonderful.

The story has Scripture-spouting Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang robbing a stagecoach. This isn’t the first time the gang has robbed this company, so the coach is armed with a Gatling gun. Doesn’t matter, as sheer force wears the stagecoach and crew down. One man is left alive, a bounty hunter named McElroy (played by an unrecognizable Peter Fonda) to tell the tale and perpetuate the myth of the outlaw Ben Wade. However, the robbery is spotted by Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and his sons, who are rounding up cattle. Wade takes their horses, but lets them live. As we learn, Dan needs the cattle to pay debts and is in a water feud with a neighboring rancher. The gang goes to town where Wade stays behind to romance a bar maid (Vinessa Shaw.) He’s captured and the law decides to send him to prison via the 3:10 to Yuma. The sheriff doesn't anticipate the violence of Wade’s men as they try to rescue their boss. Men from the town back away from the challenge and soon, it is left to Dan Evans and Pinkerton men to take Wade to the train. Evans badly needs the $200 offered him. Wade charms everyone he meets from the bar maid to Dan’s wife to Dan’s son. From here on, it is psychological play between Wade and Evans and they slowly discover their backgrounds. Secretive plans must be made to hide Wade from his relentless gang, plus the men run into other obstacles such as a railroad crew. The train is coming to the west and progress is just behind.

The last half of 3:10 to Yuma is different than the first film, but in its own right, is OK. I’ve complained about Crowe’s line delivery, for with his low-pitched voice it was hard to understand him. Not to worry here, for being soft-spoken fits the gunfighter and the dialogue is received by the audience. His eyes go from soft to rock-hard and you can sense the menace here. He moves like a cat. Not so with Bale’s character, who, though he can shoot, is a family man. Alan Tudyk (“Death at a Funeral”) may be hard to recognize at first, and he plays an animal doctor who has to be a human surgeon. Unfortunately, Gretchen Mol as Dan’s wife is largely wasted, except for her eyes, which Wade comments on.

For fans who long for a western, here it is. Though the story may be disjointed at times, Christian Bale’s teeth go from gleaming to yellow and back, plus Ben Wade’s horse is straight out of The Durango Kid, there is enough going for it to perhaps persuade studio’s that westerns can make a profit today. Where else can you see Charlie Prince ride into town wearing a tailored white leather jacket or see a black pistol with a cross on it?

Copyright 2007 Marie Asner