CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 09/07/07

A Train Worth Catching

By david michael Wharton

A genre often decried as dead gets a rousing resurrection courtesy of a basic but powerful storyline and two brilliantly realized lead characters in a Wild West where all the hats are gray.

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Screenplay by Halsted Welles and Michael Brandt & Derek Haas
Based on the short story by Elmore Leonard

Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a man close to losing everything. The Civil War took his leg, his creditors are days from taking his land, and his family's respect for him is slipping away. When fate crosses Dan's path with legendary gunslinger and bandit Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), the rancher finds a chance to save his farm and redeem himself in his son's eyes. For a fistful of dollars, Dan volunteers to put Wade on the train that will take him to justice and the hanging noose. Along the way, Dan must face not only Wade's vindictive gang, but a battle of wills with the criminal, and doubts about the strength of his own character.

A remake of the 1957 film of the same name, 3:10 to Yuma is an interesting hybrid. Neither a complete throwback to the grand horse-opera tradition of the Western, nor molded after gritty deconstructionist films like Unforgiven, Yuma presents larger-than-life outlaws and daring stagecoach robberies filtered through a modern, cynical view of the mythological Old West. On the surface, Wade could ride in the world of the Lone Ranger or the Rifleman—he's a wicked man with a lightning-fast trigger-finger and no cumbersome moral framework. But his reputation comes as much from his quick mind as his quick draw—he's likely to outwit you before you realize he's trying (and leave the violence to his psychotic second-in-command, Ben Foster's wild-eyed Charlie Prince). When Dan's son Will (Logan Lerman) tells Wade he's not all bad, Wade replies, "Yes I am." Much of the final act rests on determining whether that statement is true.

While Yuma gets in its FDA-mandated gunfights and robberies, the script is far more interested in the colliding philosophies of Dan and Wade. Dan tells his son that he's taking Wade to the train because it's the right thing to do, but his moral compass is far less a motivation than his purse strings. Meanwhile Wade, even though he's in shackles, is free in ways Dan is not. His confidence and aloofness is born of his assurance that he never fails to find his way out of a tight situation, usually ending up in a better place than where he started. He targets Dan as the weak link in his escort, but when his attempts to manipulate Dan fail, he finds himself intrigued. The ace up Wade's sleeve is Dan's son, whose disappointment in his father heightens his fascination with the charismatic outlaw. When Wade plays this card, it's one of the few times we see Dan lose control. He can see the respect for Wade in his son's eyes, a respect sorely lacking when the boy meets his gaze. It's that realization that he may be losing his son that forces Dan to reevaluate why he's doing what he's doing, and just what he's willing to sacrifice for the sake of his boy.

Unfortunately, the film falters when Wade's motivations become somewhat murky in the final act. While some of his decisions can be justified by the mutual understanding that's grown between and Dan himself, there are moments where a third, smarter option might be more in keeping with Wade's cunning nature. Still, if emotional resonance wins over hard-and-fast logic, that's a small failing in light of the complex, thoughtful ride we've taken to the climax.

3:10 to Yuma's most compelling scenes are not the climactic gun battles, but the quiet scenes around a campfire or in a motel room, in which one man determined to finish what he started is pitted against another determined to talk his way to freedom. By giving us a tapestry of desperate men, difficult choices, and larger-than-life Western excitement, 3:10 to Yuma represents a fine return for a genre that's not dead yet.

3:10 to Yuma
Lions Gate Films
Rated R; 120 min.

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David Michael Wharton is the managing editor of CS Weekly. He recently teamed up with several other reporters to try and find his car keys, but NATO has since intervened.

3:10 to Yuma courtesy Lions Gate Films

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