3:10 to Yuma

Plot synopsis:
The legendary outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang have just robbed an armed stage coach carrying the Southern Pacific Railroads payroll. They kill everyone on-board except Pinkerton guard, Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda) whom Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), Wade's right hand man, shoots in the belly. A poor rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and his two sons, William (Logan Lerman) and Mark (Benjamin Petry), find McElroy and take him to Bisbee, Arizona to find a doctor.Ben Wade separates from his gang and goes to meet with lovely Emma Nelson (Vinessa Shaw) in a nearby saloon, but learning of his presence in town, the sheriff immediately surrounds the building. Dan distracts Ben Wade, who is captured without a shot being fired. Railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) asks for paid volunteers to join McElroy's posse to take Wade to the train station in the town of Contention three days away. The train is due at 3:10, and they must put Wade on the train's prison car bound for Yuma. Once Wade arrives in Yuma, he will receive a quick trial in Federal Court and be hanged. Dan Evans, desperately needing money to save his farm, agrees to help transport Wade to Contention but he must be paid $200. The other paid volunteers who join the posse are Tucker (Kevin Durand) and Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk), the town's veterinarian. Unfortunately for the posse, Charlie Prince sees what has happened to Wade, and he goes after the rest of the gang to help liberate Wade.Despite a deception to fool the gang, the odds move in their favour, and in the end it's Dan's desire to impress his sons that means getting him on the train becomes a personal battle of wills.In a hotel in Contention City, where the remains of the posse hide out, Wade continues to bargain for his freedom. Despite very tempting offers, Evans ignores his pleas. Wade's gang rides into town, and, after locating their boss, recruit as many of the townspeople as possible with an offer of $200 for the successful killing of any member of Evans' posse. The sheriff and his men, previously offering help to Evans, decide to surrender. They are gunned down, and Butterfield, terrified, offers Evans the $200 to just walk away. Evans, realizing the parallels between his current situation and the one in which the government paid for his leg lost in the Civil War, says, "It's funny, if you think about it - which I have been lately - is...they weren't paying me to walk away. They were paying me so they could walk away." Butterfield promises to see Evans' son home, but Evans want Butterfield to promise more than that. Butterfield is convinced to pay off Evans' debts, make sure his water flows, and that he will give $1000 dollars to his wife on Butterfield's return. Butterfield agrees, and he and William hold up in a room down the hall.When the time for action, Evans brings Wade outside and they run for the station. Wade's gang pursues them relentlessly, and they barely make it to the station in one piece. At the very moment that the protagonist Dan Evans is putting Ben Wade onto the prison train, Wade's gang shoots the rancher to death. Ben Wade takes his gun from his right-hand man Charlie Prince and, in an act of vengeance for the rancher who had earned his respect, murders every man of his gang. Ben Wade boards the prison train as a final act of symbolic tribute to the rancher who died getting him there, and whistles for his horse as the train drives into the distance.

Tags: violence, dark, murder

Review:
3:10 to Yuma is a true Western in the American film tradition about the 19th-century American West: It has clear heroes and villains (and a mixture of those), wide prairies, dirty towns, fast guns, weak lawmen, cunning murderers, kids on the cusp, and women marginalized, just for starters.Then ratchet up to the philosophical/post modern/post Eastwood reflections on the profession of being a gunman juxtaposed with being a responsible father, and you have an classic angst-filled clash where villain has a wee bit of heart and hero an equal measure of cowardice.
Best of all, it is nail-bitingly suspenseful and beautifully photographed.In order to pickup some home-saving cash, poor crippled farmer Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is helping transport murderer Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to court via the 3:10 to Yuma from Bisbee, Arizona.
Christian Bale (Dan Evans) holds the screen as an honest rancher who volunteers for two hundred dollars to be part of a doomed group of guards to take the enigmatic bandit and killer Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to a train, the 3:10, leaving Bisbee, Arizona for Yuma prison to trialBeaten down by an old Civil War injury, and unable to protect his farm and his family from Wade's ruthless gang and humiliated by his teenage son (Logan Lerman) who makes no efforts to hide his disappointment in his impoverished father, and who doesn't try to hide the fact that he admires the charismatic criminal, Dan finds a great quantity of reasons to undertake the perilous trip to Contention City to fight back like a real man and regain his son's respect The story concentrates on Evans whose unknown destiny tries to paint to his son an unforgettable picture turning up poignant and endearing Wadeleader of a murderous band of robbershad great respect for Dan throughout the film and develops a kind of understanding and appreciation for him Their short scenes in the hotel room celebrate the virtues of two opposite men who stand up for what they believe stopping on issues in relation with family, dignity, virtue, and admirable integrity The best scenes are those in which Wade teases Dan: "Your conscience is sensitive, Dan. It's not my favorite part of you." Crowe's interpretation of a gifted cold-blooded smooth-talking bad man is one of the most compelling parts of the film Bale is splendid as the struggling, crippled rancher, misunderstood by his whole family The two actors comfortably inhabit this stunning western It is nice to see that there are still good westerns being made lately And James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of Delmer Daves' 1957 picture, is one of them It is a Western with realistic violence, great action sequences, breathtaking photography, and an inevitable final shoot-out.
He gives a sensitive, nuanced performance and holds his own against some powerhouse acting from Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.Russell is the perfect actor to play Ben Wade bringing a depth and humanity to a character who is established early on as a dangerous, ruthless outlaw.
When a sixgun fires a hundred bullets -- instead of only six -- it should be grounds for firing the director because it proves he doesn't know what he's doing.The original 3:10 to Yuma is an eloquent drama about persevering through hardship, being a good role model to your boys and a hero to your wife, and doing the right thing in the face of life-threatening danger while not giving into the temptation to take the easy way out.
Instead of telling a simple story we can relate to, this remake is an exercise in misandry (yes, that's a word, coined in the 1970s) that plays out like a spaghetti western made three decades to late, with ridiculous over-the-top action, sadistic violence, bombastic dialog, and vicious, whining, undignified characters who behave in unbelievable ways.
One of the most important qualities that makes a movie good or not is whether the story, characters and plots are believable and realistic based upon what we know of the story.Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are two phenomenal actors and I'm surprised they signed on for such a pathetic script.How many times did Russell Crowe almost get away?
Ben is just charming his way through the journey, Dan's son, William, is convinced that maybe Ben isn't all that bad, but Dan knows better and is willing to do anything to get Ben onto that train.3:10 to Yuma is one of the year's best, to be honest, I'm thinking about the films this past year, and I would probably rank this as the number one movie.
Whilst the original adaption of the Elmore Leonard story is a nice B-movie, the re-make is a D-script (if D at all ...) filmed with an A-budget and starring a totally miscast "hero" Russel Crowe.My God, what a turkey!
I didn't expect much, but what I got was even less than I could have expected.I know, yeah, a really good western is probably the toughest movie to make (and the last time Hollywood succeeded in doing so was OPEN RANGE and before that Eastwood did one of his best works with UNFORGIVEN), because the settings of the genre are limited and you can't have that much "big/expensive scenes" with explosions, car chases (smile), etc, so you have to rely to a reasonable/good story and some interesting characters, but both is totally lacking here.
In fact the makers of this re-make didn't trust the story at all and threw in all kinda over-the-top action-scenes, which just look much too implausible to be taken seriously.The character of Russel Crowe and especially one of his gang-members is despicable, but of course having a leading man like Russel Crowe (who gives the label "wooden acting" a new meaning), Hollywood can't show him as filthy criminal, but needs to build a hero out of him.
When LEONE had an evil character in his western, he established that right away, of course with a portion of cynicism, for example like in GOOD, BAD, UGLY (EASTWOOD being "good", Lee van Cleef being "bad"), but this 3:10 TO YUMA re-make does in fact take the good side of Wade indeed seriously.And to "balance" that, the movie does of course need somebody really "evil" (to establish how "good" Wade is in comparison) and introduces a silly-staring gang-member, who lets somebody burn inside a carriage.
cowboys of the old west would have and nothing in the movie other than bales character hoping for $200 reward explains why these guys would die off one at a time and ride through hostile Indian territory to get crowe to a train to take him straight to prison with no mention of a trial is just idiocy.
Just saw the sneak preview last night and was excited to see this remake.Very good to the plot and holds true throughout A definite must see movie for all you Western an Lovers out there and a genuine good performance by Russel Crowe as "Ben Wade" as well as Christian Bale an Dan Evans.I loved the original and this did it justice.Go and see 3:10 to Yuma and enjoy Grab a box of popcorn , sit back for a wild west ride.Peace Out!.
The shocking extremes and the sharp contrasts make the movie showy, but disconnected from reality on many levels – from the questionable plot twists to the impossible in the real world characters.As a result, instead of a serious, solid western the 2007 remake ends up being a flashy gimmick with a strong artificial aftertaste and a severe lack of insight into human nature.
The 2007 version, on the other hand, has a disastrous ending that cancels out most of the groundwork that had been painstakingly laid throughout the movie.Overall, unlike the original "3:10 to Yuma", the 2007 remake focuses more on the action and adventure elements and on the gun battles than on the battle of wits and wills between the ordinary rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and the gang leader Ben Wade (Russell Crowe).In the 2007 version the characters of Ben Wade and his gang of outlaws are grotesquely overdone to the point of being a caricature, more appropriate for a horror or an action movie than for a western.
Watching both films and then drawing your own conclusions is perhaps the best way to determine the "winner".Here is what I think: the 2007 "3:10 to Yuma" is a watchable entertaining show with some good acting by Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, and others.
This one really disappointed me.Yes, the actors Christian Bale and Russel Crowe are magnificent, but the story has so many logical shortcomings and outlaw Ben Wade's (Crowe) actions at the end of the movie would never happen in real life (even if he had a twisted mind, which he really didn't show).
Crowe was excellent in films like Gladiator and American Gangster, Bale was great in Batman Begins and The Prestige, but none of the actors could rescue this movie I'm sad to say..
Some kind of Old West-style Stockholm Syndrome sets in and the rest....well, i don't want to blow the rest, but be careful not to give it any sort of thought.There is some excellent, and original (particularly impressive in this genre) action and this backed up by some interesting characters, but Crowe's characters' actions are so far-fetched, that the whole story collapses and will likely leave all, but the action crowd unsatisfied.This work was first published on realmoviereview.com.
The opening scene contained way to many close ups for my taste as well, but by the time the end credits rolled I was thinking it was even better than I had expected.If you've seen the original, things are pretty much the same except this one is a bit more violent and darker overall, and lets just say the ending isn't the same lolBut what a ending it is!There's good performances all around, though I'm not sure Ben Foster(is that his name) is as good as a lot of the reviews are claiming.
Set in the years immediately following the Civil War, "3:10 to Yuma" is a rip-snortin', old-fashioned Western whose characterizations and performances compensate for an occasionally muddled plot line and a tendency towards implausibility.Christian Bale stars as Dan Evans, a struggling rancher who, for a $200 fee, agrees to help escort a cold-blooded killer to the train that will take him to prison in Yuma, Arizona (at that time a territory, not a state).
Based on the short story by Elmore Leonard ( as well as the 1957 movie derived therefrom), "3:10 to Yuma" is a thoughtful Western drama that nicely balances its requisite shootouts and tough-guy posturing with just enough psychological insight to make the whole thing interesting and worthwhile.The two stars bring a great deal of intelligence and conviction to the roles they've been assigned to play.
The climax of the story may feel a trifle contrived and artificial - we really don't believe that Wade would do what he does at the end - but it isn't enough to spoil the overall effectiveness of the film.James Mangold ("Cop Land, "Walk the Line") has directed the movie with sufficient gusto and energy to counteract some of the verbosity of the screenplay.
Fortunately, the dialogue generally avoids platitudes and clichés - although the action itself is frequently confusing and often geographically inconsistent (i.e. characters who don't have horses seem to arrive at destinations almost as quickly as those who do).In addition to Bale and Crowe, Mangold has elicited excellent performances from Ben Foster as Wade's wiry but creepily bloodthirsty henchman, Charlie; Logan Lerman as Evans' too-big-for-his-britches older son, William; and screen legend Peter Fonda as the hard-bitten bounty hunter, Byron McElroy, who may finally have met his match in the wily Mr. Wade.On a final sour note, the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael is surprisingly dull, muddy and lifeless, an especial disappointment considering the gorgeous Southwestern landscape with which he was given to work.All in all, however, a very fine Western..
It's a shame that in a movie where the director was trying so desperately to make everyone "multifaceted" (to the point of unbelievability) that Prince would come off as so unremittingly evil in EVERY scene in which he appeared.I can't believe that people are comparing this mediocrity to the great old westerns, or to great modern ones ("Unforgiven", for example.) Maybe they're so hungry for the genre that anything with a guy on a horse looks good.
A down-on-his-luck rancher (Christian Bale) attempts to restore some honor to his name, regain the respect of his young sons, and put some money in his pocket by escorting a murderous criminal (Russell Crowe) to the 3:10 train to Yuma prison in James Mangold's update of the 1950's Western of the same name based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.Westerns are a hard sell these days.
Likewise the supporting cast is hit or miss with Logan Lerman showing some decent range as Bale's eldest son while Ben Foster fails miserably at being method as the insane sharp-shooter hellbent on rescuing Crowe from the gallows.The film's saving graces are director Mangold's traditionalist leanings in pacing and Western iconography and the lead performances from Bale and Crowe--two great actors who sometimes resort to scenery-chewing and are shockingly subdued and nuanced here in their multiple physical and mental face-offs.
I do not understand why the need for the delay, contrary to the belief that it is a Western movie which might be an unpopular genre to go into, and of course, I can only recall a handful which made it to cinemas here in recent times - Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp - the last 2 being movies about the legendary lawman and the shootout at OK Corral.Some 50 years ago, audiences were introduced to the duo of impoverished rancher Dan Evans (then played by Van Heflin) and the number one outlaw of the land, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford).
Although the final showdown might be the only thing worth waiting for in this overrated and detached yarn, 3:10 to Yuma manages, in it's own goofy modernized way, to pay tribute to American film's favorite pastime- I can only attribute our country's love for the genre as to why the movie simply was not received as mediocre.Director James Mangold holds a lot of the blame for failing to build up the inevitable showdown through clumsy, unintuitive direction and a distinct lack of authenticity pervading nearly all sets and performances.
I personally did not feel as if this was a movie that would butcher Ford's "3:10 to Yuma." It was in the hands of "Walk the Line's" James Mangold, Academy Award winner Russel Crowe and Christian Bale, the most talented actor in Hollywood.
And giving enough breathing room for actors like Crowe and Bale allow for them to do what they do best.In this near-classic feature that works as a very respecting throwback to tragic tales of doomed men in the guise of typical Hollywood product, while working finitely as a pure action movie for today's audiences, 3:10 to Yuma is taut, precise and superlative as a "guy" flick..
The movie tells the story of outlaw Ben Wade (Russel Crowe) and his gang; and the story of Dan Evans (Christian Bale), the man who took him to the train that would send him to prison.
I enjoyed this film until the ending.Great performance by Christian bale and Russel.Crowe is especially dashing in the film as a truly bad man who we want to believe to ultimately be good.
The whole plot/sreenplay has little credibility if you think about how much shooting there is, who gets shot and who does not and when and why.Only ++s are for cinematography and sound quality.Maybe Mr. Crowe, one of my favorite current actors just wanted to be in an American "Western" like he saw Unforgiven and said "I gotta do one of those." Or more likely the offer to play Ben Wade in this old classic remake was too lucrative to turn down.I have no idea why Crowe made this movie..
Above all it's the fine acting, mainly from the charismatic Russell Crowe as the leader of the gang and Christian Bale as the rancher Dan Evans who is determined to get him on that train, but also from various support performances including the veteran Peter Fonda as a bounty hunter endlessly on Wade's trail and Ben Foster as Wade's psychopathic second-in-command.The very final sequence is too light-hearted for the 122 minutes that have preceded it but, that apart, this is a fine western that manages to combine both exciting action and character delineation in a work that will further enhance the reputation of director James Mangold who did so well with "Walk The Line"..
Although there are better westerns to be found, this one has got its merits because of its great story and reasonably good acting by Russel Crowe and Christian Bale..
When Dan Evans (Christian Bale), a salt-of-the-Earth sharecropper just trying to eek out a decent living for his family, volunteers his services to make sure the seedy criminal Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) catches the 3:10 train to Yuma, the journey turns out to reveal much more about each character.
There was nothing really memorable in the movie for me I just liked the confrontation between Bale and Russell Crowe but that's pretty much the only thing I enjoyed about the film.
It is not the best that I have seen of this genre but with a pretty good story and Crowe and Bale having good performances this a decently enjoyable film that I could watch again..
An excellent movie with four excellent characters ; Christian Bale, Russel Crowe, Ben Foster and the young Logan Lerman !
This character, played solidly by Christian Bale, has one of the best setups I've seen recently - a guy who is ripe for change in his life.Change comes in the form of Ben Wade (Russel Crowe), a dashing rogue just like the kind Dan's son reads about.