3:10 To Yuma

I heard a few months ago that Gladiator (Crowe) and Batman (Bale) were starring in a western together called 3:10 To Yuma. They are both two of my favorite actors right now. If I heard they were starring in a film, even if it sounded bad, I might say “Hmmm It could be worth seeing.” For some reason that title sounded familiar.

I went home that night and searched my TiVo and found it on my Westerns Channel. One of the million channels that I pay $89 for every month. That brings me to my rant for the week. Why don’t cable companies let you choose what channels you watch and they can charge you. It can be a base rate for 25 channels and you can pay extra for the pay channels like Showtime and HBO. If you want 25-50 channels you can pay more for that. I think that’s a great idea. I would have half of the channels that I have now. Now if you don’t have cable or satellite you can’t get any channel. Why aren’t more people upset about this?

Anyway I watched the 1957 original Yuma and it was really good, surprisingly good. My roommate said that if the remake was anything close to the original it would be a hit. You know what, he was right.

Yuma picks up with struggling farmer Dan Evans (Bale) crosses paths with notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe). Desperate for money Evans agrees to help transport Wade to the town of Contention and put him on the 3:10 to Yuma Prison where he will be hanged (hence the name of the movie).

They really sell the fact that Wade is a ruthless killer. As you watch the movie you realize that Wade isn’t the only one to be worried about. His outfit is on the way to bust their leader out before he’s put on that train. They are lead by his second in command Charlie Prince (Ben Foster. I almost didn’t recognize him but he played Angel in X-Men 3). Prince is a reckless gunslinger who will shoot anything in sight. He’s a very colorful and one of the more memorable characters in Yuma. So much that in my Fantasy Football League a friend changed his team name to Charlie Prince, and another friend is determined to start a bike club called “The Outfit”.

There are some differences between the original and the updated version of the story. Most notably the ending of the movie, but it still has the same feel to it. Some of the scenes are taken straight from the 1957 version and are done well. This version has way more gunfights and is a lot more graphic, but never gets off track. The characters remain the same and even the characters they added fit in very well. They did a great job adapting this film. You figure it’s been 50 years so something has to change. Showing a struggling farmer in 1957 is different than in 2007. This movie showed how it affected his family and the relationship with his wife and kids.

My suggestion: The best movie of the fall so far. Great remake and a fun story to tell. It’s one of those stories you’d hear as a kid. Bale and Crowe both deliver in this film. I think I may go see it again.

My Grade: 3.3 – Way to start off the Fall. A few tweaks here and there and you may have gotten an A.