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3:10 To Yuma: movie review
Russell Crowe, Great Story Are Good
Reasons to Remake Classic Western
BY MAGGIE SCOTT
Most of us grew up on Westerns and relished in particular those by John Ford and Howard Hawks. Iconographic images and characters of the genre’s masterpieces easily come to most film buff’s minds.
Pale imitations of the classics can expect mixed reception from devoted fans. And, if the new offering is a remake, all the more is expected. Such is the case with 3:10 to Yuma. There are essentially two reasons that make sense for this remake: Russell Crowe and a terrific story.
The original film was critically hailed and featured outstanding performances by Van Heflin and Glenn Ford. Crowe is a natural for the role of outlaw Ben Wade. A cool customer, living by a basic code based on a way of life often illegal and often murderous, he’s not looking for trouble as long as people don’t get in his way. Ben knows it’s not just a simple case of black hat vs. white hat.
As the story will illustrate, even the so-called “good guys” can be as destructive to orderly existence, and Ben knows this. He holds friends and foes alike to certain standards. Violating those standards invites swift reprisal. Is Ben all bad? What are his weak spots? A lost love? Moral outrage at the murder of innocents? A mother’s abandonment?
Opposite Ben is rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale). Dan, who suffered an injury in the Civil War that has left him with a “hitch” in his leg, is not so much a peace-lover as a man afraid of confrontation. That passivity could cost him his property. The railroad has designs on it. Dan’s refusal to stand up to a man harassing him to make good on a debt has cost Dan considerable respect from his wife (Gretchen Mol) and his older son Will, who bitterly declares he will never “walk in his father’s shoes.”
Although redeeming himself in his son’s eyes does not immediately come to Dan’s mind when his path crosses Ben’s, circumstances will thrust the opportunity upon him. Wanted for train and stage coach robberies (21, at last count), Ben has bounty hunters, federal marshals and Pinkerton’s agents all in pursuit.
Although he’s seen an example of Ben and his gang’s murderous handiwork, it isn’t righteousness that makes Dan decide to join those taking Ben to the train bound for Yuma Prison (from which Ben has escaped twice). Bounty money has stiffened Dan’s spine: “I’ve been standing on one leg for three years waiting for God to do me a favor, and He ain’t listening,” Dan reasons.
At first, to Dan it’s a last chance for the ranch and the survival of his family. Although he knows it’ll be no cakewalk bringing Ben to justice, he starts out thinking it’s achievable on the order of retrieving a wayward cow. Dan doesn’t really comprehend the magnitude of the risk he’s taking, because he hasn’t yet comprehended what he ultimately will have to lay on the line to live up to his word.
Formidable as Ben is with a gun; vicious as his sidekick Charlie (Ben Foster) is; outnumbered as Dan and the others become, the real test will not be one of skill or luck, but of pitting one mind against another. Of persevering against the twisted logic of a man intrigued and ultimately respectful of his opponent’s determination to prove his worth.
Crowe’s performance admirably succeeds in challenging the audience to see more than the brute in Ben; as the sadistic Charlie, Foster gives a razzle dazzle performance; and Bale provides a moving counterpoint of gravitas tinged with vulnerability and resolve. A Lionsgate release, rated R for strong violence. Opens tomorrow.
