maybe Ben Wade's "not all bad", but this movie is

Rating: 2/10 (16 January 2008)

Let's ignore the fact that Crowe's beard looks like it received attention from a Norelco trimmer just before every shot; let's ignore Bale's 19th century prosthetic, which somehow allows him to leap across rooftops and sprint a slalom under fire. And, with some reservations, let's try and allow for an Apache night raid (not terribly historically accurate, according to most sources) by Indians who look more Sioux than Apache (feathers in their hair? this is a plains Indian thing, Mr Mangold.)
But what's utterly unacceptable is a line like "Because you're not all bad!" What's utterly unacceptable is the most dangerous killer alive getting guilted into putting himself at great risk of multiple GSWs, just so some gimpy rancher can look good in his kid's eyes. What's utterly unacceptable is James Mangold, who apparently knows what he knows about the Old West exclusively from watching (not very closely) some late-century movies, wasting two fine actors on this dumb circus. And as far as the extensive visual quotes from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - buddy, if you're gonna quote a Western, may I suggest that that ain't the one.
However, Crowe killing his whole gang in about one second is very cool, as is the throwing of Peter Fonda off a cliff. The single appropriate use of this Fonda in a movie is as a ridiculous parody of himself in "The Limey."
To all the benighted souls who hail this as "the greatest Western since Unforgiven": check out "The Proposition." That's a Western. Hell, it's more than that: it's a good movie. "3:10 to Yuma" merely solidifies the status of "Hombre" as the best Western use of Elmore Leonard source material.