310 To Yuma

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2007)

3:10 To Yuma is a remake of a film of the same name made in 1957 and based upon a short story by Elmore Leonard. The film is set in the old west and is about a rancher named Dan Evans who agrees to escort a captured outlaw named Ben Wade to the next town to be taken on a train to the Yuma jail. Dan is a good man with honest intentions and good principles and he is also short on money and wants to support his family, so he agrees to go along with a group of other people to take Ben to the train station. Along the way they encounter difficulty with members of Ben's gang trying to prevent them from getting to the train station and getting Ben there proves to be a more difficult task then they had planned. I haven't seen a lot of westerns before, I mean I have seen some, but not enough to make me an expert of the genre, but if they are done well I do like them and I did like this remake of 3:10 To Yuma. Keep in mind I have never seen the original, so I can't compare the two films, so I' am rating this film purely on my unbiased viewing of it. Technically the film was very well made with good direction, editing, costumes and the film looked exactly like the old west and the attention to details with the costumes and sets were well done. Also this film was different from a lot of other westerns I have seen in the way that I found there was a lot more depth and personality in these characters and there was more to this film than simply action scenes and shootouts, which was another thing I admired about it. Granted when there was an action scene or shootout they were done with good editing and stunt men and it ended up being very entertaining. Probably my favourite part of the film was getting to know both Dan and Ben and what makes Dan a good man and why he is so devoted to his family and being a good citizen and why Ben is an outlaw and why everything he does leads to violence or something evil. At one point in the film the characters do talk to each other regarding something similar to this and in a way you almost get the feeling that Ben admires Dan and has some respect for him and perhaps wishes he wasn't so late in life as to not have a chance to change his whole life around. So in between the action I found some good comparisons between characters and because the acting by the two main leads were so impressive it was pulled off very well. For being a more intelligent and different western which I admired and because of being well made technically and good performances I recommend the remake of 3:10 To Yuma to fans of westerns and even to people like myself who haven't seen many, but might want to give them a try and here is a good place to start.