When you think about it, which I have been lately, is they weren't paying me to walk away. They were paying me so they could walk away. 3:10 to Yuma is directed by James Mangold and co-adapted to screenplay by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas. A remake of Delmer Daves' 1957 film of the same name, it's based on a story written by Elmore Leonard. It stars Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Ben Foster and Logan Lerman. Music is by Marco Beltrami and cinematography by Phedon Papamichael. After the capture of notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe), a posse is put together to escort him to the town of Contention from where he will be put on the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. Joining this posse is broke rancher Dan Evans (Bale), disabled in the Civil War, Dan is struggling to keep hold of his land and to support his family. Seen as a flop in the eyes of his eldest son William (Lerman), Dan sees this opportunity as a way out of his problems. But with Wade an intelligent foe, and the outlaw boss' gang on their trail, Evans and the posse will do well to make it to Contention alive... Daves' original film is a fine effort, very much pulsing with psychological beats and cloaked in claustrophobic atmospherics. Backed up by two excellent Western performers in Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, there is many a Western fan who cherish it and never felt it was a genre piece ripe for a r…

The price of redemption -- READ THIS if you had problems with the ending This remake involves the capture of a notorious outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), who is then escorted to the town of Contention to await the train to Yuma, where he'll be hanged. A desperate rancher, Dan Evans (Christian Bale), hires on for the escort job because he needs the $200 for his family to survive. Wade plays psychological games the entire time trying to corrupt Evans, but things turn out differently. The cast is outstanding (which also features the beautiful Gretchen Mol and Peter Fonda), the New Mexican locations are great and the score ranks with the all-time best. Most importantly the picture is engaging throughout its 2 hour runtime, not to mention the story gives the viewer a lot to chew on. The first hour of the film is realistic but what turned me off during my initial viewing was the second hour's mounting implausibilities. Thankfully, most of these can be explained. One issue is when a man burns to death locked in a wagon carriage. The quibble is that he doesn't scream enough in fiery torment. But watch the scene and you'll clearly hear him yelling in the background. Evan's loss of a limp at the climax is more of an issue, although this can be explained by an adrenaline rush. One problem I had was that Ben Wade (Crowe) came off as super-human. There was seemingly nothing he couldn'…

This is the best Western of the 21st Century so far (for mine, just edging out Django Unchained). Building on the classic movie from 1957, James Mangold's remake adds in much needed scenes to fill plot holes and build nuanced characters that were sorely lacking in the original. Our hero now, is a man struggling to keep his farm and the respect of his family whilst the "antagonist" (I stretch the use of the word here) is almost tired of his way of life and his "family." Adding in the concept of children to these two was smart thinking on the part of the writers and this really deepens Bale and Crowe's characters. Speaking of which, both give perfectly nuanced performances here and you can watch their characters grow in response to each other as the movie progresses. Both "sons" (Lerman and Foster) fit into their roles of the naive teen becoming a man, and the unhinged "son" idolising his "father" respectively. The rest of the cast have been perfectly chosen. The cinematography is stunning at times, but unlike most Westerns, this does emphasize the country - it is more of a silent character here. But when it is shown, it is just gorgeous...seriously, I hadnt seen snow in Westerns until this - but it just looks brilliant. The score drips with the memories of older, more famous Westerns, but Beltrami makes this one unique. Sound design is also great, even using the…

Most of the time I hate remakes....but I give a big pass to most Western and War movie remakes. Mainly that's because, until M*A*S*H early war movies had soldiers that looked like they stepped out of the shower and put on a freshly laundered uniform...you know, instead of the realities of life in combat zones. And the same goes with Westerns, the cowpokes may be riding the range...yet they look like they had the time to shower, shave, style their hair, and press their clothes. None of that really sat right with me...at all. The remake righted that wrong. And it did it without killing the wonderful Elmore Leonard story the movie was based on and let's be honest, he really has the best ideas for crime and western stories the world has ever seen.