3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Russell Crowe is notorious outlaw Ben Wade and a rich stage headed to Bisbee will make holdup number 22 for his gang.

Christian Bale is down-on-his-luck rancher Dan Evans. He’s headed to Bisbee, too, for a much different reason.

He lost a leg when he was shot by a fellow Union soldier during a retreat in the Civil War.

Now he’s trying to make a living out West with two growing boys and a pretty wife named Alice, and it isn’t going very well.

The railroad wants his land and its henchmen have just burned down his barn.

He’s behind on his bank loan and willing to pawn his wife’s broach to buy them a bit more time before they’re kicked off their land.

He’s with his sons, rounding up his herd after the barn burning, when they witness the ruthless Ben Wade gang in action, robbing the stage and killing most of the guards.

Ben spots Dan and his boys, too, but let’s them live. He does take their horses so they can’t scurry off to town and summon help too quickly.

Once in town, Wade allows himself to get sidetracked by a saloon girl. And that leads to his capture.

But the Pinkertons want help taking Wade to Contention so he can be put aboard the stage to Yuma prison.

Dan agrees to help guard the prisoner. After all, the job pays $200 he sorely needs.

The Pinkertons have a devious plan for throwing Wade’s gang off track should they try to free their leader. But Wade’s pretty devious, too, and the small group guarding him keeps getting whittled down.

Pretty soon, that group is joined by Dan’s son William. And it’s becoming clear that the $200 Dan’s being paid won’t come easy.

Review:

Nice reworking of the 1957 film starring Van Heflin and Glenn Ford. Of course, director James Mangold has to ratchet up the action to suit the tastes of modern film-goers.

So we have a stage equipped with a Gatling gun, an explosion, a couple of fires and a whole lot more blood-letting in the film’s climax than in the original.

But we also get very solid performances from Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Bale’s Dan Evans is a man out to prove himself.

He doesn’t like the way his sons look at him; he doesn’t like the way his wife doesn’t look at him. He needs to prove to them and himself that’s he’s not just a stubborn failure.

As Ben Wade, Crowe gives us a smooth-talking devil who can sweep women off their feet and make men question whether “right” is worth dying for. But, in an instant, he can turn into as cold-blooded a killer as you’ll find anywhere.

Speaking of cold-blooded killers, his chief lieutenant Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) is just as bad, perhaps worse.

The film’s biggest problem: an implausible ending. I won’t spoil it, but let’s just say it doesn’t follow the script of the original.

Directed by:
James Mangold

Cast:
Russell Crowe … Ben Wade
Christian Bale … Dan Evans
Logan Lerman … William Evans
Dallas Roberts … Grayson Butterfield
Ben Foster … Charlie Prince
Peter Fonda … Byron McElroy
Vinessa Small … Emma Nelson
Alan Tudyk … Doc Potter
Luce Rains … Marshal Weathers
Gretchen Mol … Alice Evans
Lennie Loftin … Glen Hollander
Rio Alexander … Campos
Johnny Whitworth … Darden
Shawn Howell … Jackson
Pat Ricotti … Jorgensen

Runtime: 122 min.

Memorable lines:

Charlie Prince, as he finishes off the stage guards: “Morning, Pinkerton. My name’s Charlie Prince. Reckon you’ve heard of me.”
Byron McElroy: “Well, I heard of a balled-up whore named Charlie Princess. That you, missy?”
Charlie shoots him in the gut: “I hate Pinkertons.”

Ben Wade, talking about having to take the life of one of his own men: “Proverbs 13:3 – He that keep-eth his mouth, keep-eth his life. He that opens his lips too wide shall bring on his own destruction.”
Charlie Prince: “Amen.”
Wade: “Tommy was weak. Tommy was stupid. Tommy is dead.”
Prince: “I’ll drink to that.”

McElroy, noticing all the veterinary information hanging on the wall of the man who just pulled a bullet out of his gut: “What the f— kind of doctor are you anyway?”
Doc: “Well, it’s nice to have a conversation with a patient for a change.”

Land agent to Dan Evans: “Railroad’s coming in. Land’s worth more with you off it.”

Ben Wade, after paying Dan for two cows killed in the stage holdup and for his time spent rounding them up: “Anything else you want to be paid for, Dan?”
Dan Evans: “You could give me five bucks extra.”
Wade: “And what would that be for?”
Evans: “Making me nervous.”

Dan Evans to Alice: “I’ve been standing on one leg for three damn years waiting for God to do me a favor. And he ain’t listening.”

Ben Wade after killing McElroy, who’s just insulted his parentage: “Even bad men love their mommas.”

Ben Wade to William: “Kid, I wouldn’t last five minutes leading an outfit like that if I wasn’t rotten as hell.”

Luce Rains as Marshal Weathers, lawman in Bisbee, the town where Ben Wade is captured in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Vinessa Shaw as saloon girl Emma Nelson, posing for a drawing for Ben Wade in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Sean Hennnigan as Marshal WIll Doane, arrived to help take Ben Wade to the train in Contention in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Kevin Durand as Tucker, the railroad man who joins the trip to Contention in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Alan Tudyk as Doc Porter, one of the men on the trip to Contention in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Ben Foster as Charlie Prince, wondering if there’s another stage guard needing to be finished off in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)