It could have been a classic Western, but I left the cinema feeling cheated

Rating: 7/10 (26 September 2007)

The semi-revival of the Western continues apace. (I say "semi-revival" because, although the genre is now doing better than during its nadir in the eighties, it seems unlikely that it will ever again occupy the central place in popular culture that it held during its heyday in the forties, fifties and sixties). I remember recently reading an article in which a critic expressed the view that the Western could not be revived because there were no younger actors who could convincingly play the heroic roles once taken by the likes of John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Clint Eastwood. My reaction was to disagree, and the first two names I thought of as potential modern Westerners were Russell Crowe and Brad Pitt. This film proves that I was right about Crowe; I look forward to Pitt's "The Assassination of Jesse James".
Although I have never seen the original 1957 version of "3.10 to Yuma", it was clear that the remake was made in the tradition of the genre's Golden Age. There was very little in this film that would have looked out of place in a Western from forty or fifty years ago. It has much in common with Anthony Mann's "The Naked Spur" and Fred Zinnemann's "High Noon", both from the early fifties. It shares with "The Naked Spur" the theme of a group of men escorting a prisoner (in both films named Ben) to stand trial; in both films the leading character has taken on this responsibility because he needs the money. The ending of "3.10" parallels that of "High Noon", with a lone man taking on a gang of bandits and a clock ticking down to the time when a train is expected in town.
The central character is Dan Evans, a struggling Arizona farmer who has been crippled since losing a leg in the Civil War. Evans joins a posse tasked with delivering Ben Wade, the leader of a notorious gang of outlaws, to the railroad station in Contention. Once there, Wade will be put on a train to Yuma prison, where he will be tried for robbery and murder and, if convicted, hanged. The title refers to the time when the train leaves Contention for Yuma. Evans undertakes this responsibility, not out of any abstract belief in justice or any hatred of Wade, but because he is heavily in debt. Each man in the posse will receive a reward of $200, put up by the Southern Pacific Railroad, who are anxious to see Wade hanged because he has robbed a mail coach carrying their payroll. Ironically, the railroad itself has caused many of Evans's problems, cutting off his water supply in the hope of acquiring his land cheaply. (Not all the villains in the film are outlaws).
Getting Wade to Contention, however, will not be easy. The posse have to contend with hostile Apaches and with Wade's gang who have sworn to rescue him. Wade, like his namesake Ben Vandergroat in "The Naked Spur" is a cunning individual who knows how to play upon his captors' weaknesses and create dissension within the group, seeking his chance to pick them off one by one.
The film is handsomely photographed, in the best Western tradition, and the acting is excellent, not only from Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in the leading roles of Evans and Wade but also from many of the supporting cast, especially Gretchen Mol as Evans's beautiful wife Alice, Logan Lerman as his teenage son William who follows the posse against his father's wishes, Ben Foster as Wade's sadistic henchman Charlie Prince and Peter Fonda as the brutal Pinkerton guard Byron McElroy.
The film, however, falls short of being one of the classic Westerns, largely because of the disappointing ending. Evans, by now the last surviving member of the posse, has to escort Wade alone to the train. He appears to have succeeded, after William starts a cattle stampede to prevent the gang from rescuing Wade, but at the last minute Prince gets through to the train and shoots Evans dead. Wade, however, then draws his gun and shoots Prince and the other gang members before getting back on the train; it is unclear if he is voluntarily going to his death, or if he has plans to escape.
The final act was clearly intended to act as a sort of redemption scene for Evans. Struggling to support his wife and children, he has lost his self-respect and believes that he has also lost the respect of his family. He has exaggerated his wartime heroism. His family believe that he lost his leg fighting for the North against the Confederates; in reality he never went into battle and lost his leg after being shot by his own side. He hopes to regain his self-respect by getting Wade onto the train, doing the right thing because it is the right thing, not because it will bring him gain. Unfortunately, the film-makers also attempted, clumsily, to make this act a redemption scene for Wade. There is throughout a sense of respect growing between Evans and Wade, and just before the final showdown William appeals to Wade's better nature, saying "You're not all bad". We are clearly intended to conclude that Wade's final actions have proved William right, but I found this part of the film psychologically implausible and difficult to take. Wade does not prove himself a good man by shooting dead his own comrades who, villains though they may be, have risked their lives in the attempt to save his. Wade's own previous record does not suggest that he has any moral right to set himself up as the gang's judge, jury and executioner. For all but the last few minutes this is a very good film, but I nevertheless left the cinema feeling cheated. 7/10.