3:10 to Yuma (2007)

A small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.

Director:

James Mangold

Writers:

Halsted Welles (screenplay), Michael Brandt (screenplay),

Stars:

Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Shaw	...	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 (as Shawn D. Howell)
Pat Ricotti	...	Jorgensen

Storyline

Rancher Dan Evans heads into Bisbee to clear up issues concerning the sale of his land when he witnesses the closing events of a stagecoach robbery led by famed outlaw Ben Wade. Shortly thereafter, Wade is captured by the law in Bisbee and Evans finds himself one of the escorts who will take Wade to the 3:10 to Yuma train in Contention for the reward of $200. Evans's effort to take Wade to the station is in part an effort to save his land but also part of an inner battle to determine whether he can be more than just a naive rancher in the eyes of his impetuous and gunslinging son William Evans. The transport to Contention is hazardous and filled with ambushes by Indians, pursuits by Wade's vengeful gang and Wade's own conniving and surreptitious demeanor that makes the ride all the more intense.

---

Plot Keywords:

rancher | outlaw | small western town | train | gang | 

---

Taglines:

Time waits for one man

---

Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Western

---

Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

LionsGate [United States] Official site [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Chinese

Release Date:

7 September 2007 (Canada)

Also Known As:

3:10 pour Yuma

Filming Locations:

Clifton, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£368,510 (UK) (14 September 2007)

Gross:

$53,574,088 (USA) (2 November 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, Tree Line Film, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In a deleted scene (included on the DVD), Ben Wade tells Byron McElroy, "I heard that your boss, Al Pinkerton, got an infection from biting his own tongue. And he died last month. Is that true?" Allan Pinkerton did die from an infected bite on his tongue, on July 1, 1884. This would place the events of the movie as occurring in August, 1884.

---

Goofs

In the train office, as Dan is talking to Ben in a reverse shot (focus on Ben), Dan's mouth moves but his dialogue isn't heard until after his mouth stops moving.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Alice Evans: [upon hearing Dan cock his rifle] Dan... Maybe it's the wind.

---

Crazy Credits

Russell Crowe's name is not used in the end credits when crediting his assistant, driver, stand-in, dialect coach, costumer, hair stylist and makeup artist; instead, his character's name, Ben Wade, is used.

---

Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Robin Hood/Letters to Juliet/Just Wright (2010)

User Reviews

Seven/Noon

"The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever." Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer

In 3:10 to Yuma, a few references to The Magnificent Seven and the idea of a train arriving at a specific time when good and bad guys converge, as in High Noon, made viewing this Glenn Ford remake from 1957 a pleasant one. And right I was but for even more good reasons.

Not since Unforgiven and The Quick and the Dead have I been as excited about seeing a Western in its heroic and revisionist forms. 3:10 to Yuma is a true Western in the American film tradition about the 19th-century American West: It has clear heroes and villains (and a mixture of those), wide prairies, dirty towns, fast guns, weak lawmen, cunning murderers, kids on the cusp, and women marginalized, just for starters.

Then ratchet up to the philosophical/post modern/post Eastwood reflections on the profession of being a gunman juxtaposed with being a responsible father, and you have an classic angst-filled clash where villain has a wee bit of heart and hero an equal measure of cowardice. Delightfully mix in a certifiable baddie in the Lee Van Cleef/Jack Palance tradition, Ben Foster (Alpha Dog) as Wade's amoral lieutenant Charlie Prince (as in "of darkness"). Best of all, it is nail-bitingly suspenseful and beautifully photographed.

In order to pickup some home-saving cash, poor crippled farmer Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is helping transport murderer Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to court via the 3:10 to Yuma from Bisbee, Arizona. Getting Wade to the station is no easy task, even for the several deputies, because Wade's evil gang is in hot pursuit and more importantly, Wade is psychologically working on them from within, alternately charming and brutal; just imagine his roguish smile behind an extremely fast gun and unscrupulous conscience.

It's hard to believe a studio could dump such a winner in the dog days of summer. I will say only that if you have even a modicum of respect for this genre, see 3:10 to Yuma and relive the golden days of straight-up shoot-em ups with rough-hewn characters, electric plot, and revisionist attitude about the romance of being an outlaw or a farmer. Get there on time because that movie train goes fast from the get go.