3:10 TO YUMA

9/11/07

The western is the ‘genre that wouldn’t die’. Every time it seems that nothing more can be said by a man in a cowboy hat, along comes a ‘Dances With Wolves’, an ‘Unforgiven’, or a ‘Deadwood’ to prove everybody wrong. This year brings two major westerns to the big screen: 3:10 To Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James. Both are A-list, straight up genre exercises that threaten to re-ignite the western as a pertinent American film milieu. Both will probably fail; and I say this without glee because I happen to love westerns.

3:10 To Yuma is a remake of a Glenn Ford film from about ’57. I never saw the original, which means most people never saw it, which means it’s a perfect film to remake. (Unlike many film geeks, I’m all for remaking flawed or forgotten films.)  This seems like homerun material right out of the gate. James Mangold, coming off a fine Johnny Cash bio seems poised for a top-notch crowd-pleaser, assembles a dream cast. Hell, any film starring Russell Crowe is worth seeing. But Russell Crowe and Christian Bale… holy crap! It’s a must-see just to watch these guys share the screen. Put these two in a classic shoot-‘em-up, and how can you go wrong? Here’s how.

Bale plays Dan Evans, a crippled, down-on-his-luck rancher, who volunteers, for pay, to help escort a captured gang leader, Ben Wade to a train that will take him to Yuma prison.  Along for the ride is Dan’s teenage son who loathes his father, and obviously admires the charismatic Wade. Dan’s challenge is to deliver Wade alive, before Wade’s gang, led by the surprisingly effective Ben Foster, catch up with them, rescue their beloved leader; and kill everybody else. During the perilous journey, Dan and Wade develop a strange connection; the two men seem to really understand one another, though Wade is obviously manipulating Dan all the way. This relationship, in fact, is the heart of the film. And watching Bale and Crowe play their scenes together, one gets the feeling that you’re watching two of the finest screen actors in the business; it’s like listening to Miles Davis play with John Coltrane. Pure joy! For the first two acts of Yuma, the interaction between these two guys is so great, it’s well worth the price of admission. Then, it all collapses so fundamentally and spectacularly, that the whole thing just leaves a terrible taste in your mouth; like eating a delicious feast that gives you food poisoning.

What goes wrong?

Let me backtrack. All film genres go