3:10 to Yuma

(2007)

Directed by

James Mangold

Review by Zach Saltz

The best westerns are the ones that deal less in terms of good guys versus bad guys or cowboys versus Indians (or, in broader terms, the concept of good versus evil) but are instead wistful portraits of the mythic tragic hero, doomed to reside in a virgin frontier as wide as the open eye can see, yet with no escape from the inner turmoil of his soul.  James Mangold’s masterful 3:10 to Yuma is precisely that kind of western: the type of story which uses good versus evil as a framing device for man versus nature (both internal and external) and the most ravenous feature of the unbridled wilderness implicit in the actions of the famished outlaw.

The film stars Christian Bale (who, after Rescue Dawn and The New World, is on an astonishing hot streak) as Dan Evans, a small-time Arizona rancher who resides in a life of domesticity as a result of losing his leg during battle in the Civil War.  He has lost any sort of rugged wildness he once had, and cannot afford to feed his wife and children (two sons who have no respect for him as a result of their destitution).  Behind on his bills, his barn is torched and his cattle are taken by savage bandits.  We are told that the choice was either feeding his family or paying bills, and this is perhaps noble, but nobility is hardly leaving one’s family in the path of heathens and outlaws.

What Mangold does here with the protagonist figure (played by Van Heflin in the original 1957 version) by is tricky and should be greatly applauded for it.  The Evans character, though he may be the hero of the story, is by no means a saint; “I’m tired of the way they look at me,” he bemoans to his wife about their sons.  ��I’m tired of the way you don’t.”  He is relatively weak, especially when compared to the antagonist of the story, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), a legendary outlaw who is caught and accompanied by Evans and others on the long trek to the nearest train station, where he will be shipped to the prison in Yuma.  Wade is shown as more loyal and competent than his counterpart; he is more familiar with the Bible than Evans, and when the group faces imminent danger at the hands of savage Apaches (who, though savage, are still far more fairly treated than the cinematic Native Americans of a generation ago), Wade fearlessly protects the very group that seeks to imprison him.  

Thus, as in Scorsese’s Cape Fear (another remake) it is the actions of the protagonist that are, at least for the early parts of the story, questionable while the antagonist is all-around more reliable.  Where Evans represents docility and reservation, Wade represents action and heroism.  Crowe plays Wade is sort of a dime-store philosopher who reads, draws, and perhaps slightly enjoys being in a company outside of thieves and outlaws void of imagination.  But make no mistake; Wade is a blood-thirsty murderer whose motives remain sketchy throughout the trek an  Is it because Wade truly does enjoy Evans’ company more than his outlaw brethren?  Does he secretly want to protect the innocence of Evans’ son, William (Logan Lerman), who accompanies his father on the journey (without permission of course, reminding us that teenagers in the wild west must have been rebellious, too)?  We never find out, which makes the story all the more appetizing.

Likewise, the execution of 3:10 to Yuma is virtually flawless.  The landscapes are stunningly shot, and the attention to detail -- in the costumes and interior sets -- is impeccable.  There are a great many night scenes in the film, dimly shot next to fires slowly burning out; the west in this picture is colder and less assured than the west we have seen in earlier entries to the genre.  But the most impressive feature of the movie is the bravura ten-minute shootout as Evans transports Wade to the train station in the midst of gunfire from all around; the ingenious ways the two maneuver around tiny corridors while avoiding bullets reminds us why there should be a choreography category at the Academy Awards.

3:10 to Yuma is exceptionally trendy in two fashions.  After this film and The Departed, remakes are now suddenly en vogue in Hollywood, as well as westerns; Brad Pitt and the Coen Brothers are releasing westerns within the next several weeks.  I desperately hope that the success of 3:10 to Yuma will revitalize a genre which is one of America’s great gifts to the medium of cinema -- able to encompass fear, regret, solitude, destruction, and rebirth within a single frame of a man on a horse riding off to nowhere in particular.  Where the original 3:10 to Yuma was a clunky Glenn Ford adventure into the heart of the wild west, this Mangold’s remake is an extraordinary journey into the depths of the ambivalent souls of lost men.

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