3:10 to Yuma

Plot synopsis:
A stagecoach makes its way across the scorched desert as we hear Frankie Laine sing the theme song that will be repeated in many guises throughout the film (even whistled by the villain). It's the Arizona Territory of the 1880s. The stagecoach is going from Contention City to Bisbee and is only a few miles from its destination. A group of men on horseback herd cattle to block the path of the stage. After it stops and the dust clears, we see that the men are a band of thieves, some with their guns drawn. The owner of the stage line, Mr. Butterfield (Robert Emhardt), is on board, and the target of the robbery is a gold shipment atop the stage. Small-time rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin) and his two young sons, Mark (Jerry Hartleben) and Mathew (Barry Curtis), are on horseback looking for their errant cattle. Dan hears the cattle over the ridge, and they ride over to where they can see the robbery in progress. Dan waits for the dust to settle, but the robbers spot him, and their leader, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), tells him to stay where he is--he'll get his cattle back in five minutes.As one of the robbers passes down the gold, the driver, Bill Moons (Boyd Stockman), draws his own gun and grabs the man as a shield. The gang leader draws and fires off two shots--one that kills his own man to clear the line of sight and one that kills Bill Moons. Mark asks his father if he isn't going to do something, but Dan sees there's nothing he can do without getting himself shot. He recognizes the robbers as Ben Wade and his gang. Wade has words with Mr. Butterfield and instructs him to return the driver's body to Contention City where he lived. "Where a man lives, that's where he should be buried." Wade then confiscates Dan's horses so he won't ride to the marshal. He says he'll turn them loose just this side of Bisbee. Taking the six horses from the stagecoach as well, Wade and his men depart. Dan and his boys go on foot to bring the cattle home, and Dan agrees to return with a horse for the stranded stage.At home, Dan's devoted wife Alice (Leora Dana) is shocked at her husband's lack of outrage over the crime. He explains there were twelve of them and there was nothing he could do. People have to watch a lot of terrible things: "You just seem to expect somethin' from me that I'm not." Dan is defeated and distracted by the three-year drought that threatens his ranch. He has cattle dying of thirst, and he doesn't have the $200 a neighboring rancher charges for six months' water right to a stream that runs through his land--one that doesn't run dry. Alice urges Dan to borrow the money in town, and he concedes, "I suppose I could try."At the saloon in Bisbee, Wade and his men, posing as cowhands, tell the pretty barmaid, Emmy (Felicia Farr), that they just witnessed the stage being robbed and its driver killed. The marshal (Ford Rainey) organizes a posse to ride out after the outlaws. Wade tells his men to scatter into the countryside, cross the border and meet that night in Nogales. His men ride out in one direction, and the posse rides out in the opposite direction, while Wade remains behind to romance Emmy.Dan and Butterfield see the spot along the trail where the gang buried their man. The posse rides up, and Butterfield tells them the perpetrators went into Bisbee. Dan describes them and identifies them as Ben Wade and his gang. The marshal realizes he was duped. Alex Potter (Henry Jones), the town drunk, catches up and reveals that one of the gang is still back at the saloon. Surmising it must be Wade himself, they all ride back to town to capture him.Dan approaches Wade in the saloon about being paid for the half a day's time he lost finding his cattle and bringing them home. Wade pays him two dollars for his time (the rate for a full day's work) and even adds two more for the boys' time: "I used their time too, didn't I?" Dan says it was tiring for the cattle, and Wade pays him two more for tired cattle. As Dan asks about two dollars extra "for makin' me nervous," the marshal sneaks up behind Wade and arrests him. Witnessing the arrest is Wade's main henchman, Charlie Prince (Richard Jaeckel), who doubled back to check on the boss. He rides out to notify the others. Aware that the outlaws will return to free their leader, the marshal wants to get Wade out of town quickly.The marshal tries to deputize Dan--"you're the best shot we got ... every man here is a deputy"--but Dan declines. He came into town on business, and he has dying cattle to take care of. Dan asks Mac (George Mitchell), posse member, proprietor of the saloon and small-time banker, for a $200 loan. Mac can't help him but asks about the missus and the boys. Outside, the marshal asks for two volunteers to ride ahead with Dave Keene (Bill Hale). The marshal won't reveal the exact nature and risk of the assignment, and the others are also reluctant--they don't know if it'll be safe. He answers their concern: "Who knows what's safe? I know a man dropped dead from lookin' at his wife. My own grandmother fought the Indians for 60 years and then choked to death on lemon pie." Butterfield offers $200 to each man, and Dan, just arriving from the saloon, jumps at the opportunity. The marshal gives him a sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun to use. The only other taker is the inept Alex. The rest will follow with the prisoner in the coach. Dave Keene tells Dan: "Here's the plan. We're gonna transfer him at your house. ... It'll only take a minute."Butterfield's rescued stagecoach arrives, drawn by two replacement horses. Butterfield tells the passengers they'll have to stay the night, and Bill Moons's body is removed for shipment back to Contention City on another coach that evening. Two more horses are hitched up to make a "four-up"--this coach has been reserved for the first leg of Wade's journey. From a hill overlooking the trail, Charlie Prince and one of his cohorts watch the coach's progress. In a staged deception, the driver runs the right rear wheel off the edge of a small bridge into a ditch. The men with the coach struggle to free it. The marshal makes a show of enlisting help from the nearby ranch house (Dan's), thereby removing Wade and replacing him with imposter Dave Keene. The outlaws on the hill apparently fall for the ruse.Wade is then held at Dan's ranch. Alice serves a fine supper to the family and their "guest," and Dan thinks she shows a little too much interest in the prisoner's conversation--"all big-eyed and listenin' to him." Dan explains the rest of the plan to her. The two outlaws who were tricked by the transfer will have to round up their men first before catching up with the coach and discovering that their leader is not on it. By then it should be at least noon of the following day, and they won't have enough time to reach Contention City before the train to Yuma comes through. Meanwhile, Dan and Alex will escort Wade to Contention City and wait there to put him on the 3:10 to Yuma--out of his gang's reach. (The territorial prison is in Yuma.)After supper, Dan and Alex escort Wade under cover of darkness to Contention City, where they arrive at daybreak. Butterfield meets them at the edge of town by the train station. He says the plan to stay in a house by the station has changed--the owner's afraid--and all he could arrange was a room at the hotel. There's a drunk sleeping it off under a newspaper in the hotel lobby. Alex goes to keep watch at the edge of town while Dan guards Wade in the bridal suite upstairs in the front. Dan threatens to shoot if Wade tries to escape, but when Wade tries to jump him, Dan spares his life. Butterfield reads the Contention City Weekly in the lobby, getting up to ask the desk clerk (Guy Wilkerson)--also the hotel's bartender and proprietor--about the sleeping man: "Sure is some sleeper."The clock strikes eleven. Wade offers Dan $400 to let him escape--double what Butterfield is paying. An approaching drumbeat is heard. Out the window, they see Moons's funeral procession pass in the street below, prompting Wade to assert that he shot the driver in self-defense. The driver drew first, he says, conveniently leaving out that it was during the armed robbery already in progress.The man sleeping under the newspaper in the lobby wakes up--it's Charlie Prince. He sees the time (11:07), asks if any strangers have come into town ("not since you went to sleep, sir"), and goes outside. Wade offers to be Dan's silent partner with money--$7,000. The funeral procession returns and breaks up outside the hotel. The men enter for drinks. Moons's brother Bob (Sheridan Comerate) sees Butterfield and denounces him for not attending the funeral, throwing a drink in his face. Wade increases his offer to $10,000. There's a knock, and Butterfield says he's got a pot of coffee. Dan unlocks the door, and Bob barges in with his gun drawn. Butterfield explains: "I couldn't help it. He found out and pulled a gun. He's been drinking." Bent on revenge, Bob threatens to kill Wade--and Dan too if he tries to stop him. Dan protects Wade, but in the ensuing scuffle Bob's gun goes off, alerting Charlie Prince in the street below (on his horse now). Dan confiscates Bob's revolver. Butterfield asks, "What if somebody heard that shot?" Dan sees Charlie looking up from below and backs away from the window, but Wade and Charlie see each other and exchange smiles. Charlie gallops off to get the others; Alex sees him go.Wade claims the same thing would have happened in Benson or Huachuca--his men are in all the places they might have taken him. "We send one man ahead to each of those places--to wait, and watch." Wade wonders aloud if Bob will stay to help Dan put him on the train. He predicts that Butterfield will not, but Butterfield gives Dan his word: "I'll walk with you every step of the way to that station." Alex calls up that he saw a fellow ride out fast. Butterfield says they know and tells him to go back and keep watching. Dan tells Butterfield to get the sheriff and have him get as many deputies as he can, but Bob tells them the sheriff is out of town--he took a prisoner to Tucson. Bob refuses to get involved and bails out. (Wade's got a big, tough outfit--it's not a fair fight. He has to think of his mother--she just buried one son.) Butterfield goes to look for any five men to help.At 2:30 Butterfield returns and says he has five men in the lobby for a total of eight. Dan says not to let them start anything unless the outlaws come into the hotel. Wade rattles Dan by rambling on about Dan's wife: "I'd treat her a whole lot better than you do. ... I wouldn't make her work so hard. ... I bet she was a real beautiful girl before she met you."The gang rides into town at a full gallop. The five recruits are having drinks at the bar in the hotel lobby. Alex calls up from the street that they're coming and goes inside to help Butterfield and the recruits, who take cover behind the furnishings. When the riders reach the hotel, Wade asks Dan, "When shall I tell 'em you're gonna let me go?" Dan replies testily, "Tell them you'll write 'em a letter every day from Yuma." Wade calls down from the window: "Charlie, go buy the boys a drink. We'll be down soon." The outlaws spread out. Wade makes another pitch for Dan to let him go. Dan considers it for a moment: "Are you sure that no one would ever know?" But when Wade asks him why he's squeezing the watch--it "ain't gonna stop time"--Dan throws it across the room in a rage.The recruits counted seven riders. They didn't figure on a big shootout, and they disperse. Butterfield follows them into the street and offers them $50 each to stay, to no avail. The hotelier also retreats. Wade tells Dan again that Butterfield will walk out on him in the end: "He's gonna leave you all alone. Now what do you figure you're gonna die for, huh? Because Butterfield lost his gold shipment? Or because some fool driver got what he deserved?"Butterfield tells Alex he's going up to talk to Dan and tells him to watch from the street in front of the hotel. When Alex sees a sniper on the roof opposite, he draws his gun, but Charlie sneaks up from behind and forces him to drop it. Alex shouts, "Dan, the roof!" The sniper shoots twice at Dan in the hotel window but misses. Dan fires the revolver once with precision, and the sniper falls into the street below. Charlie shoots Alex in the back, and his partners drag Alex inside. Butterfield enters Dan's room (207), and Dan hears Alex cry out to him in his death throes. Dan says if there's one more shot he'll shoot Wade. Wade calls down, "Hey Charlie, you've got one more shot; make it good." Charlie replies, "Tell 'em we'll use it on the way to the station." Dan tells Butterfield to go see what they did to Alex. Butterfield steps out of the room and sees Alex's body hanging from the lobby chandelier. Panicked, he returns and releases Dan from his obligation.A thunderclap is heard as Alice drives her carriage up to the hotel. She enters, passes Alex's hanging corpse, and climbs the stairs. Dan hands off the shotgun to Butterfield and goes out to meet her. She runs to his arms and urges him not to be stubborn. She assures him she loves every minute of her life with him, even if it's a hard life. Butterfield says he'll pay the $200 anyway. Alice implores Dan not to go through with it: "I don't want a hero; I want you." But Dan is committed: "I've got to, that's all. ... If I didn't have to do it, I wouldn't. But I heard Alex scream. The town drunk gave his life because he believed that people should be able to live in decency and peace together. You think I can do less?"The clock strikes three. As they go down the stairs, Dan asks Butterfield to stay behind with Alice and drive her out of town as fast as he can once they get near the cattle pens. He tells Alice not to worry: "As soon as I get him to Yuma, I'll be right back." He escorts Wade out the back door, and we hear another thunderclap, then a third. Another sniper on the roof fires and misses. "Tell him one more shot and I'll cut you in two," Dan reiterates. Wade calls: "I told you you had just one more shot. Next time you better make it good."The train whistle blows--right on time. Cattle come by, and Dan uses them as cover to cross the street. The gang members mount their horses and dash to the station. The train arrives. Dan unhitches a horse and uses it as cover to walk across the last open stretch to the station. The whistle blows again and spooks the horse--they run the rest of the way. The train starts to pull out, and Dan walks Wade to the moving train under cover of the steam shooting from the side of the locomotive. The gang emerges on the other side of the billowing steam--six of them. Charlie shouts for Wade to drop down to allow him a clear shot at Dan, but Wade doesn't do it. He unexpectedly complies with Dan's order to jump into the passing baggage car, the last car before the caboose, and they make the jump together. Wade: "Let's us get outta here." Dan: "Us? How do I know you'll jump?" Wade: "You'll have to trust me on this one. Jump!" The others run alongside after them, and Charlie shoots at Dan but misses. Dan shoots back twice with the revolver, hitting Charlie, who falls to the stony ground.Then Wade explains that he doesn't like owing anybody any favors, and Dan saved his life back at the hotel. "It's all right," he says, "I've broken out of Yuma before." Dan replies, "My job's finished when I get you there." The train passes Alice outside of town, where she's waiting in her carriage with Butterfield standing alongside. Dan waves to her and it begins to rain. Alice and Butterfield wave back through the deluge as we hear Frankie Laine sing a third and final verse of the theme song.

Tags: murder

Review:
Needing money fast, Evans gets thrown a financial lifeline when a reward is offered to escort a recently captured outlaw, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), on to the 3:10 train to Yuma prison.
But as Wade's gang closes in to free the shackled outlaw, and the clock starts to tick down, Evans finds himself torn between a sense of social duty and an easy option courtesy of Wade's mind game offer.Based on a story by Elmore Leonard, this is a tight and tense Western that harks to the wonderful High Noon five years earlier.
After a fatal gold robbery, infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) is captured in a small town, and a group of honest volunteers agree to transport him to Contention to board the 3:10 train to Yuma Prison.
It seems likely that this was partly a result of the film's low production budget  money spent on extras was probably considered money wasted  but the escalating sense of foreboding created by the chillingly empty streets is perfect, as though, indeed, everybody in town figures that "a storm is blowin' up."Both Glenn Ford and Van Heflin do a very good job considering the film's straightforward plot, and it is their believable characterisations that prove the picture's greatest asset.
Dan Evans (Van Heflin) and Alex Potter, the town drunk, agree to deliver Ben Wade (Glen Ford), to the State Penitentiary in Yuma.
When the charming outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) is captured after the heist of a stagecoach, the stage line owner Mr. Butterfield (Robert Emhardt) offers US$ 200,00 to the man that escorts the bandit to the city of Contention to take the 3:10 PM train to Yuma to be sent to trial.
When they find that Ben is trapped in a hotel room, they put the place under siege and Dan can not find any man to help him."3:10 to Yuma" is a classic western from a wonderful time when honor was an important value in a film and even outlaws could have a code of honor.
He may not carry himself or show the authority Gary Cooper does in High Noon but Van Heflin as a desperate farmer in need of rain displays the same steel in 3:10 to Yuma, a suspenseful western with a similar dynamic including a theme song.Ben Wade and his gang of outlaws botch a stage job that results in the death of the shotgun and his capture.
Ben Wade (Glenn Ford, who was Jonathan Kent in Superman which starred Christopher Reeves, and in the 3:10 update the character is played by Crowe) is one of the most notorious and wanted criminals in the Wild Wild West, and together with his gang, rob a stagecoach in the beginning of the movie, and in the process, kills the driver.
While getting his rocks off with a local barmaid Emmy (Felicia Farr), he gets arrested by the town sheriff with the help of poor rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin), and Evans gets offered 200 dollars as a volunteer to transport Wade to Contention City, in time for the 3:10 train to Yuma (hence the title).It's really a simple story about the dynamics and uneasy relations between the two men.
I'm not a great fan of Western B-movies, which this obviously is, but intrigued by its recent big-budget remake (which I haven't seen) I was more than pleased in the end to make the acquaintance of the 1957 black and white original.Borrowing a little here and there from two more-celebrated genre predecessors earlier in the decade, "Shane" and "High Noon", nevertheless this movie shakes itself free of these connotations and delivers a very watchable and creditable suspenser.Well directed by old-hand Delmer Daves, it boasts an interesting mixture of perspective shots - I especially liked the close-as-this shot of bad-guy Glenn Ford playing up to the lonely barmaid and a goodly number of high-point viewpoints, convincing dialogue and a winning combination of slow and fast pacing as the fateful 3.10 deadline approaches.
The cowboys here all look like honest to goodness plainsmen, dust kicking up off their heels and horses' hooves and the realism is continued in the I would imagine carefully chosen faces of the fearing marshal and his cobbled-together posse, well contrasted with the calm-as-you-like, confident features of the law-breakers, namely Ford and his gang.The acting is very good all the way down the cast, not only high profilers Ford & Heflin, but certainly taking in Heflin's worrisome but ultimately stand-by-her-man wife, the marshal who puts duty above dread, the hapless town-drunk who none the less shows bravery above and beyond the call of duty and even the lovesick barmaid, her part over by the first quarter as the action moves away from her bar.Perhaps her part and burgeoning relationship with the renegade Ford could have been made more of (her sole raison d'etre it seems, is to be the somewhat unconvincing reason as to why Ford recklessly stays on in town) and the ending is a little too pat, with an unlikely bonding between Heflin & Ford saving the former's bacon at the end, a little hard to swallow considering Ford's Faustian goading throughout, but this psychological western gets you to its station in quick time and in good order, like any good train journey should..
Fantastic looking black and white photography adds a lot of atmosphere to this suspenseful western noir about peaceful, cash-strapped rancher Van Heflin's battle of wits Glenn Ford, a slippery outlaw reminiscent of the snake from the garden of Eden.Heflin is one of the great long-forgotten actors.
Some of the acting early on in the picture (i.e. Evans's kids) are a little atypical for the genre.But when the going gets good, 3:10 to Yuma is taut and terrific entertainment, led on by Ford and Heflin delivering subtle and convincing performances.
This 1957 version is without the modern special FX- like mood color, slow-motion or fast-forwarding action sequences, explosions, blood spatter, sound etc.However, the essence of the film- bad man vs good man, being strong in your values, knowing your priorities, and the willingness to fight to the finish for it- is aptly conveyed.The actors did a commendable job as their screen chemistry worked to make them appear effortless in their role.
I have to say that this film is brilliant and so is glenn ford, i own the film on video and i watch it often and i also love the theme song by frankie laine which i also have.the film itself is very good and i recommend any one who likes westerns and hasn't seen the film watch it, you don't know what your missing..
It's no surprise the acting was good with the recently-departed Glenn Ford in the lead, a man who almost always gave a great performance, plus Van Heflin and Felicia Farr.
Based on the Elmore Leonard short story it is a film rich in great direction and performances abound, the movie inevitably comes ahead and spends 1/3 of its running time in a single room, where two men epitomizing good and evil stand just a few feet from each other, in a psychological showdown.3:10 to Yuma boils down to a story of justice.
Ben Wade(Glen Ford) and his gang are robbing a stagecoach while Dan Evans (Van Heflin) and his two sons watch helplessly.
When Wade's gang does show up, Evans is given an out to let Wade go and keep the money however he stays true to his word and tries to reach that train.What stands out most in 3:10 to Yuma is the acting, and the actor that stands out the most is Glen Ford.
That is not to say however that Van Heflin's performance as a man with strong ties to his morals is not good, it just can't stand out next to Glen Ford's.The direction by Delmar Daves is great as well.
Then it introduces the protagonist, Dan Evans (played Van Heflin), and the whole timing and purpose of the story begins to lose momentum.All the establishing shots are simply brilliant, but the actors are by turns wooden, clueless, or clichéd, and only the town drunk seems to have any motivation or personality.
Van Heflin is a hard-up small-time cattleman hired to take outlaw Glen Ford to the town of Contention and see that he boards the train to Yuma Territorial Prison, but never mind all that.Heflin's character carries one of those bland workable names like Dan Evans, but Glenn Ford, the prisoner, is called Ben Wade.
Director Delmer Daves goes for some good shots to make this something more than a run of the mill western.Glenn Ford is the leader of the outlaw pack, when he smirks he looks a bit like a shark.
He sees the possibility of financial redemption when a volunteer is needed to take the stagecoach robber Glenn Ford to the train (guess what time the train arrives).Although low-budget, there are several factors which raise this film above B-movie level: the acting is of course very good, the direction weaves a simple narrative, the photography is unobtrusive yet manages to heighten the tension with angles and close-ups, and the script converts a good story into a edge-of-the-chair thriller.One need not be a fan of "westerns" to enjoy this thoroughly engrossing encounter with the genre.
In it, the honest farmer Dan Evans (Van Heflin) fearing that he might lose his farm due to the amount of debts decides to take the enormous risk of escorting a dangerous bandit, the charming and manipulating Ben Wade (Glenn Ford, at the top of his game).
Struggling rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin) and his sons encounter Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) and his gang in a stagecoach holdup.
The good guys aren't all good, and the bad guys aren't all bad, a theme which was carried into the 2007 remake, and really the undercurrent that made both films so interesting.Though Van Heflin's role as the protagonist seems typecast, similar to his role in "Shane", his performance contains far more depth and range than the usual stereotypical role of the poor dirt-farmer standing up for the little guy.I hope that the recent attention given to this buried treasure resulting from the success of the newer film helps propel the original "3:10" to it's proper place as one of the best western films of all time.
In my opinion, this is both Ford's and Heflin's best performances, along with some surprisingly strong performances by it's familiar supporting character actors who played a great part in making this film a real gem that should transcend the ages..
3:10 TO YUMA is a well crafted psychological western with the emphasis on the tense relationship between bad guy GLENN FORD, a killer and a thief, and upstanding good man VAN HEFLIN, struggling to keep his ranch going during a drought and putting food on the table for his wife and two kids.The focus is really on whether or not Ford can smoothtalk his way out of his predicament, handcuffed and ready to be taken off to jail on the 3:10 to Yuma if Heflin gets his way.
Director Delmer Daves gets the most suspense out of the film's last ten minutes, when you don't know what to expect in the way of a satisfying conclusion.However, there are some script problems with the ending that didn't satisfy me as to the motivations of Glenn Ford's character, as well as Van Heflin's solid citizen.
The acting is excellent, especially Van Heflin, playing pretty much the same role he did in "Shane." This is not to fault Glenn Ford, veteran character actor Henry Jones, and, in a small part, Felicity Farr.
Delmer Daves directs this intense story of Dan Evans(Van Heflin)a hard working farmer in the need of money and or a good long hard rain.
Glenn Ford depicts a strange character, he is supposed to be a villain but undergoes a lot of important changes that make you sympathize with him; Van Heflin is at what he does best, westerns, his unforgettable role in Shane is now enhanced by the character here, a man that is above everything for a thing so simple and sometimes so hard to do, the call of duty ..
Heflin's Dan Evans aids the people of his small town in return for $200 when he helps escort Glenn Ford's Ben Wade out of town so that he can be put aboard the 3:10 to Yuma.
I suspect Daves has been overlooked because his westerns, unlike Buddy Boetticher's Ranown series (e.g. The Tall T, {1957}), lack thematic continuity.However that may be, 3:10 builds more than it's share of suspense, as hardscrabble rancher Evans (Heflin) struggles to get smooth-talking outlaw Wade (Ford) onto the train to Yuma and the trial that awaits him.
Not great - far too many implausibilities in the plot, especially the ending - but reasonably entertaining nevertheless.It is the constant battle, moral and mental, between outlaw Ben Wade (played by Glenn Ford) and his captor Dan Evans (played by Van Heflin) that make this movie interesting.
Not great - far too many implausibilities in the plot, especially the ending - but reasonably entertaining nevertheless.It is the constant battle, moral and mental, between outlaw Ben Wade (played by Glenn Ford) and his captor Dan Evans (played by Van Heflin) that make this movie interesting.
3:10 to Yuma (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Tense and extremely well-acted Western about a farmer (Van Heflin) who finds himself in desperate need of cash so he volunteers to transport a notorious criminal (Glenn Ford) to a train station.
Small-time rancher Dan Evans is persuaded to take Wade in secret to the nearest town with a railway station to await the train to the court at Yuma.Howard Hawks apparently did not like the hidden messages he saw in this film and "High Noon".
Peaceful farmer Dan (Van Heflin) stumbles across a wagon robbery in which infamous thief and murderer Ben Wade (played by the great Glenn Ford) shoot and murders an innocent man, so Dan flees with his two sons.
When Dan is offered a substantial amount of money to transport Wade to the train station where he can catch the 3:10 to Yuma to face trial, he must come up with a plan to avoid being killed by the soon to be returning gang.Joining a long list a classic revisionist westerns alongside John Ford's My Darling Clementine and Fred Zinnemann's High Noon, the west isn't used as a primary focus for the story, but instead western elements are used to assist a different type of story.
Classic Western, one of the best of its kind but which doesn't seem to have been given its due: terse script (adapted from a story by Elmore Leonard), excellent handling by an expert in the genre (this is undoubtedly his finest offering), wonderful atmosphere and outstanding performances by leads Glenn Ford (atypically cast as the bad guy) and Van Heflin (basically amounting to an extension of his role in SHANE [1953]).In many ways, it's reminiscent of HIGH NOON (1952): the time factor (heralding the impending arrival of a train), the hotel setting (which occupies about the entire second half), the hero being left alone - at the crucial moment - to face the heavies, not forgetting the evocative title track (sung here by Frankie Laine).
Heflin, playing a character similar to his role in "Shane," is a rancher who captures outlaw Ford and must wait for a train to deliver him to the authorities in Yuma and collect a reward.
RELEASED IN 1957 and directed by Delmer Daves, "3:10 to Yuma" is a Western about a struggling Arizona rancher, Dan Evans (Van Heflin), who has no choice but to hire-on as an escort of dangerous, but charismatic outlaw, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford).
I like it when words that don't rhyme are made to rhyme in a song: "There's a legend and a ruma', when you take the 3:10 to Yuma."The 2007 remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in the Evans/Wade roles takes the template of this film and makes a superior Western with more action and deeper themes, not to mention IN COLOR.THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 32 minutes and was shot in Arizona (Old Tucson,, Contention City, Sedona, etc.) and the studio ranch in Burbank, California.
Delmer Daves directed this western tale that stars Van Heflin as rancher Dan Evans, who is going through tough times because of an extended drought.
With stark monochrome cinematography by the great Charles Lawton Jr. the picture was arguably the best directorial effort to come from master craftsman Delmer Daves.Glenn Ford heads a superb cast as notorious outlaw Ben Wade who, with his gang, holds up the Butterfield stagecoach, kills the guard and relieves it of its strongbox contents.
Small-time rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin at his best) gets caught up almost accidentally in helping to transport dangerous outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford, also at his best, absolutely magnetic) to a station to catch the train that arrives at the title hour.
Van Heflin is Dan Evans, a rancher whose family is threatened by drought, and who is asked to bring notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) to Yuma to stand trial, for a sum that will undoubtedly help his financial problems.
Van Heflin plays a small rancher who undertakes for money he needs desperately the task of putting reckless gang leader Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) in the train that will put him behind bars in Yuma's prison after a stagecoach robbery.
Dan Evans (Van Heflin) is a simple farmer with a sense of justice who is hired to transport Wade to Yuma in secret and under threat from Fords gang of thieves.
The tense, suspenseful Western is spoiler by its forced ending, where bandit leader Glenn Ford suddenly gives up his gang's rescue and jumps on the train with Van Heflin.