'3:10 to Yuma' -
The rebirth of the western

By: Locas Gorham
Features Editor

The western has been a dying genre in the film industry for quite a while now, but here’s hoping the third time’s a charm. Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” gave the Western a new face, and Kevin Costner’s “Open Range” followed in its footsteps, but “3:10 to Yuma” may be the tipping point. It abandons the hyper-violent style that has dominated the modern western and returns to the true roots of the western –character-driven morality tales. 

Following his critically-lauded film, 2005’s “Walk the Line,” James Mangold’s newest film invites us back into a Wild West which Johnny Cash only sang about. “3:10 to Yuma” follows the story of struggling rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) as he resolves to deliver perennial outlaw and all-around bad guy, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), to the 3:10 to Yuma in the nearby city of Contention. The general plot may be similar to the 1957 original, but in this decidedly character-driven remake, starring two of today’s greatest actors, that is all that is similar.

Evans is accompanied by bounty hunter, Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda); veterinarian-turned-surgeon, Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk); railroad tycoon, Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts); and his thug/hired gun, Tucker (Kevin Durand).  Everyone has some motivation for joining the trip. McElroy joins the envoy in order to see his mortal enemy Wade put away; Potter accompanies as his doctor; Butterfield comes to protect his railroad (which Wade just stole from); Tucker comes as the muscle; and Evans leads them both in order to collect the $200 dollar reward which could resurrect his dying ranch and to prove to his son William (Logan Lerman) that he isn’t a coward.

The bad news? Wade’s loyal gang, led by masochist Charlie Prince (Ben Foster, in another performance of terrifying ferocity), is on their heels, ready to kill anyone and everyone that gets in their path. Things become more real when young William joins the group, although whether it is to join his father or to admire Wade is questionable. 

Bale spends most of the movie stagnate as Evans, but still manages to deliver his standard, powerful performance as his character evolves in the last quarter of the film. Crowe, on the other hand, owns the movie, deliciously teasing us with the question of “How bad is he?”  However, it is the interplay and (dare I say it of two men?) the chemistry these two actors have which elevate “3:10 to Yuma” to classic western status. (For a look at a great dialogue-driven scene in which what isn’t being said is exactly what’s important, look no further than the abandoned hotel discourse between Crowe and Bale.)

 Other standouts are Ben Foster as the loyal, evil and sexually-ambiguous Charlie Prince, a perfectly capable leader who would follow Wade to the bowels of Hell, and Peter Fonda as Byron McElroy, a good ‘ol boy who might not be so good.

With 2007 seeming to be the make-or-break year of the western (with “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” starring Brad Pitt and the Coen Brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” already generating early rave reviews), “3:10 to Yuma” eliminates one question mark. Will the western resurface in coming years? If “3:10 to Yuma” can’t single-handedly do it, I, for one, am hoping the others can.