There is a lonely train called the 3.10 to Yuma / The pounding of the wheels is more like a mournful sigh
There's a legend and there's a rumor / When you take the 3.10 to Yuma
You can see the ghosts of outlaws go ridin' by... / In the sky... / Way up high...
Now that we've got out of the way one of the most awful opening theme songs any Western has been cursed with (sung by Frankie Laine), let's talk about one of the best-crafted Westerns Hollywood ever made...a fine example of getting the job done superbly and without phony flash, burdensome moral lessons, extra hormones or intense "acting." 3:10 to Yuma is the real goods.
It's the short, unadorned story of Dan Evans (Van Heflin), a poor, stubborn rancher in the third year of a drought. He needs water. He needs money. His wife loves him and works as hard as he does. He worries how she's able to put up with all the misfortune. His two young sons look up to him but he'd like to leave them with a memory of him of more than just a hard-working failure. When they're out rounding up cattle the three witness a stagecoach holdup. The youngest boy wants his father to stop the holdup and capture the robbers. He knows with young certitude his father could do it all. Dan tells the boys to be quiet. As played by Van Heflin, we accept Dan's integrity and his earnest desire to do something for his family.
It's also the story of Ben Wade (Glenn Ford). He and his gang rob anything they can get money from. Wade makes it a point of pride that he kills a person only if there were no other way to protect his own safety. Ben Wade is intelligent. He's charming, tough, and knows how to get around a woman or get inside a man's head. As played by Glenn Ford, we're nearly captured by star charisma and likability. We know Ben Wade is a smart, sly villain, but we admire his confidence and smiling way of undermining another man's confidence.
Dan Evans, desperate for money, agrees for $200 to take the captured Ben Wade to Contention, where he'll put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma and the Yuma Territorial Prison. Ben Wade knows that his gang will sooner or later figure out that he's being taken to Contention to await the train. He even tells Evans how they'll find out. When they show up and rescue him, they'll kill Evans and anyone helping him.
This taut, simple story is told with economy and tension. There's no angst or "acting," no allusions to the director's favorite causes, no close-ups of the make-up artists' skill at creating blood clots. In fact, there's not much bloodshed or violence until Dan finally has to find a way to get Ben from the hotel in Contention to the train station, where the train is waiting, and where so is Ben Wade's gang.
Although there are some fine subsidiary performances, the movie is all about Evans and Wade. And that means that Heflin and Ford had to be at the top of their game to sustain this 92-minute movie. Dan Evans is a man much like Heflin's Dan Starrett in Shane. He's more resourceful than we might think, but mainly he's an honorable, earnest man who might be tempted by Ben Wade's coaxing tongue, but not for long. He wants the $200 for his family and because he knows he's doing the right thing. Unlike the 2007 remake, there's little question but that his wife loves him and that his two sons look up to him. Glenn Ford rarely played bad guys (watch him in Lust for Gold), but he makes an outstanding one here. His shooting of two men at the start of the movie, one of them a member of his gang, is fast and startling. But it's Ford's winning personality that makes Wade so attractive and so dangerous. Maybe sometimes, when he dallies with a tired, pretty barmaid, he even believes some of what he says.
A good deal of the movie is spent in a hotel room in Contention with Wade in handcuffs lying on the bed and Evans holding a shotgun, peering uneasily out the window looking for signs of Wade's gang. The interplay between Ford and Heflin - easy and underplayed - is a pleasure to watch. Ford shows how he can worm his way into Evans' mind, undermining his will and raising doubts. Heflin shows how tempting and frustrating just thinking about what Wade is saying must be. The final shootout is well-staged and violent; the conclusion is satisfying. There are no attempts by rich Hollywood directors and producers to bring Tinsel- town tragedy to a good story.
There are echoes of High Noon, which the craftsmanship of this movie and the performances of Ford and Heflin quickly dispel. There are a few clichés that are handled so respectfully, so matter-of-factly and so quickly that they are easy to forgive. The budget for 3:10 to Yuma (1957) was probably, even in 2007 dollars, less than Russell Crowe's salary alone in 3:10 to Yuma (2007). If you like movies and appreciate well-crafted stories, 3:10 to Yuma (1957) might find a place in your collection.
There's a legend and there's a rumor / When you take the 3.10 to Yuma
You can see the ghosts of outlaws go ridin' by... / In the sky... / Way up high...
Now that we've got out of the way one of the most awful opening theme songs any Western has been cursed with (sung by Frankie Laine), let's talk about one of the best-crafted Westerns Hollywood ever made...a fine example of getting the job done superbly and without phony flash, burdensome moral lessons, extra hormones or intense "acting." 3:10 to Yuma is the real goods.
It's the short, unadorned story of Dan Evans (Van Heflin), a poor, stubborn rancher in the third year of a drought. He needs water. He needs money. His wife loves him and works as hard as he does. He worries how she's able to put up with all the misfortune. His two young sons look up to him but he'd like to leave them with a memory of him of more than just a hard-working failure. When they're out rounding up cattle the three witness a stagecoach holdup. The youngest boy wants his father to stop the holdup and capture the robbers. He knows with young certitude his father could do it all. Dan tells the boys to be quiet. As played by Van Heflin, we accept Dan's integrity and his earnest desire to do something for his family.
It's also the story of Ben Wade (Glenn Ford). He and his gang rob anything they can get money from. Wade makes it a point of pride that he kills a person only if there were no other way to protect his own safety. Ben Wade is intelligent. He's charming, tough, and knows how to get around a woman or get inside a man's head. As played by Glenn Ford, we're nearly captured by star charisma and likability. We know Ben Wade is a smart, sly villain, but we admire his confidence and smiling way of undermining another man's confidence.
Dan Evans, desperate for money, agrees for $200 to take the captured Ben Wade to Contention, where he'll put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma and the Yuma Territorial Prison. Ben Wade knows that his gang will sooner or later figure out that he's being taken to Contention to await the train. He even tells Evans how they'll find out. When they show up and rescue him, they'll kill Evans and anyone helping him.
This taut, simple story is told with economy and tension. There's no angst or "acting," no allusions to the director's favorite causes, no close-ups of the make-up artists' skill at creating blood clots. In fact, there's not much bloodshed or violence until Dan finally has to find a way to get Ben from the hotel in Contention to the train station, where the train is waiting, and where so is Ben Wade's gang.
Although there are some fine subsidiary performances, the movie is all about Evans and Wade. And that means that Heflin and Ford had to be at the top of their game to sustain this 92-minute movie. Dan Evans is a man much like Heflin's Dan Starrett in Shane. He's more resourceful than we might think, but mainly he's an honorable, earnest man who might be tempted by Ben Wade's coaxing tongue, but not for long. He wants the $200 for his family and because he knows he's doing the right thing. Unlike the 2007 remake, there's little question but that his wife loves him and that his two sons look up to him. Glenn Ford rarely played bad guys (watch him in Lust for Gold), but he makes an outstanding one here. His shooting of two men at the start of the movie, one of them a member of his gang, is fast and startling. But it's Ford's winning personality that makes Wade so attractive and so dangerous. Maybe sometimes, when he dallies with a tired, pretty barmaid, he even believes some of what he says.
A good deal of the movie is spent in a hotel room in Contention with Wade in handcuffs lying on the bed and Evans holding a shotgun, peering uneasily out the window looking for signs of Wade's gang. The interplay between Ford and Heflin - easy and underplayed - is a pleasure to watch. Ford shows how he can worm his way into Evans' mind, undermining his will and raising doubts. Heflin shows how tempting and frustrating just thinking about what Wade is saying must be. The final shootout is well-staged and violent; the conclusion is satisfying. There are no attempts by rich Hollywood directors and producers to bring Tinsel- town tragedy to a good story.
There are echoes of High Noon, which the craftsmanship of this movie and the performances of Ford and Heflin quickly dispel. There are a few clichés that are handled so respectfully, so matter-of-factly and so quickly that they are easy to forgive. The budget for 3:10 to Yuma (1957) was probably, even in 2007 dollars, less than Russell Crowe's salary alone in 3:10 to Yuma (2007). If you like movies and appreciate well-crafted stories, 3:10 to Yuma (1957) might find a place in your collection.