Available at Amazon.com
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 Shaw … Emmy Nelson
lan Tudyk … Doc Potter
Luce Rains … Marshal Weathers
Gretchen Mol … Alice Evans
Lennie Loftin … Glen Hollander
Rio Alexander … Campos
Johnny Whitworth … Tommy Darden
Shawn Howell … Jackson
Pat Ricotti … Jorgensen
Ramon Frank … Kinter
Deryle J. Lujan … Nez
James Augure … Nez
Brian Duffy … Sutherland
Jason Rodriguez … Tighe
Kevin Durand … Tucker
Chris Browning … Crawley
There’s a sense that as a genre the Western has been in a bit of a state of flux since Clint Eastwood said goodbye to the old west in 1992 with Unforgiven. Since then, it’s seemed as if film makers and studios haven’t really know what to do with Westerns, as with every successful try at the Horse Opera (Tombstone or Open Range), there’s always bound to be at least two failures (The Missing, Texas Rangers). In recent years, the best Western to be found in America wasn’t even in theaters, as HBO’s Deadwood would easily claim that title, while the Nick Cave scripted Australian Western, The Proposition would give movie-goers the best reason to see horses and six-guns on the big screen in the last decade.
Thankfully, 2007 changed all that with modern classics that may have brought genre back to forefront in terms of quality and respectability. Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was the type of dreamlike, reflective Western that could stand next to the likes of McCabe and Mrs. Miller or Jeremiah Johnson, breaking down Western myths and giving us some of the best performances of the year. Then, on the other end of the horizon rode in James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma. Instead breaking down myths, the movie embraces them; creating the best rip roaring, classic-style Western in decades. With two huge stars, slick, action packed directing, and bold storytelling turns, 3:10 to Yuma shows just how a fun Western can achieve greatness, doing so better than any since the days of Sergio Leone.
A remake of the 1957 film starring Glen Ford and Han Heflin, 3:10 now stars Russell Crowe as Ben Wade, a notorious outlaw captured by the authorities that has to be taken in by a small posse, lead this time by Dan Evans, played to the hilt with everyman quality by Christian Bale. Just as the original film was simply trying to take a spin on the formula of High Noon, James Mangold’s new version attempts to blend in as many elements from the Horse Opera as he can. The director is obviously a student and a lover of the genre, as evidenced by his flirtation of Western formulas in his film Copland, but here its as if he’s a child in a sandbox, throwing all his energy and creativity into constructing the best possible Western he could.
Just for example, take a look at the vigor at which Mangold orchestrates one of the movie’s opening gun battles, a stage coach robbery employing a small army of henchmen vs. a force of well-armed lawmen. Not content with your run of the mill type chase sequence, Mangold throws in a ton exciting ingredients for effect, such as a Gatling gun, and huge explosions, though neither seem to be gratuitous as you watch them on screen. While you’re taking in the action, it also distracts you from the fact that the sequence is basically there to not only throw you into the film, but also illustrate the cunning and ingenuity of Ben Wade.
In fact, this is a film that is constantly trying to not only tell you a story, but nearly every scene involves this evolution of these characters. At the beginning of the picture, we see the hardships faced by Dan Evans, and to an outsider he would seem to be a pretty pitiful sight. As we peel back the layers of the character though, we see a man that has had to make the tough decisions in order to possibly support his family, which includes knowing he must stand up to a notorious outlaw and try to bring him to justice.
For Christian Bale, this is a kind of thankless role. While Russell Crowe’s Ben Wade gets to have the movie star moments in the film, Bale’s Dan Evans never really breaks out of boundaries that we have for the character early on. That’s ok though, because instead the character seems to reach inward, pulling out more and more secrets that don’t necessarily make him heroic, but that end up making him more fully rounded than most heroes like this. At no point in this film is he ever an unstoppable killing machine, but then again that keeps Dan grounded and easier to identify with. Here’s a man that simply wants green grasses and his family love and respect him, only to do so he has to face the most horrible fight of his life. Thing is, he doesn’t do so stoically or without fear, he just does it best he can, showing the type of grit the common man really possesses.
The fun role though, goes to Russell Crowe with his Ben Wade. If there’s a template for the outlaw with a code of honor, this is definitely it. Crowe gets to have the most fun with the screenplay by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas; receiving the best quips and bits of action that the film has to offer. In no way is this a two dimensional role for the actor though, as with Evans, Wade too has many layers that we get to peel back slowly, from little touches, like his penchant for sketching to his back story about his constant Bible quoting. Crowe was born for roles like this, getting to show off his movie star looks, but also getting to employ the same soulful dramatic talents that made Gladiator and Master and Commander so memorable. By picture’s end, you’ve grown to love Ben Wade, and you see why these cutthroats and thieves would follow him into hell, probably taking you with them.
While the movie is probably too much fun to get any awards consideration this year, make no mistake; this is one of the finest films of 2007. 3:10 to Yuma is a film steeped in Western lore, but carried off with such energy as to make each formula seem new. From Wade’s gang seeming like the mirror universe version of The Magnificent Seven to epic gunfights not seen since the days of Sam Peckinpah, the movie has nearly everything a fan of the genre could want out of a Western of this type, even managing to pack plenty of surprises as well. While merely a crowd-pleasing adventure on its surface, few pictures this year could claim to be as satisfying or as emotionally potent.
The Video
If you’re worried about how the print will look on this disc, then you can stop right now. Lionsgate has put a terrific looking transfer on the disc that is really clean all the way through. All the colors on the disc pop and the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael sparkles. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
The Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on this disc is also excellent. The back channels get a workout here, as the sound design in the film gets highlighted nicely as the bullets seem to fly all around. Fans of Marco Beltrami’s incredible score will also get a kick out hearing it so beautifully rendered on this disc.
Audio Commentary by Director James Mangold – This is a really entertaining commentary track, as Mangold’s insights about the film are pretty interesting. I like how he breaks down a lot of scenes in the film, especially the scene in which Ben Wade gets captured. He talks about how the battle scenes in the film were difficult to put together, but so were scene like this one, in which he had several characters, all speaking at one time or another, that had to be coordinated together to make a viable and interesting sequence. I also liked how he talks about how he had to subtly bring in elements of Spaghetti Westerns, but try to make them natural, such as favoring closeups instead of huge wide shots. Overall, this is a really good track with a lot of interesting tidbits.
Destination Yuma – A great Featurette on the making of the film interviews much of the cast and crew about the film. A lot of them talk about the importance of the Western and why its still a vital genre to be examined. This goes into pretty great detail about the making of the film, especially a lot of the action scenes. We also get a lot of interviews with the cast and crew. You can tell there’s a lot of energy within the cast toward the project here, all of it coming across during the film.
An Epic Explored – Another good Featurette , this again talks exclusively about the Western and why its important and why people still like them. This mostly explains why the Western appeals to people, and why film makers still love making them.
Outlaws, Gangs and Posses – This extra has experts and historians talking about the era that the movie portrays and has them talking about why people love outlaws so much. Again this is pretty entertaining.
Deleted Scenes – You get seven deleted scenes on the disc, all of them pretty much finished quality. You can see why all were cut, but there are individual moments of great quality in these sequences.
Trailers
