3:10 to Yuma - mini-review

I finally watched this excellent film on DVD last night. I used to have a major thing for Russell Crowe from his Gladiator days, but he lost his luster with me a bit after the whole phone throwing incident. One can't deny, however, that he is an excellent actor, and this is one of his best roles. He's perfect in a Western, although we can all forget the horrible Quick and the Dead with Sharon Stone. Yes, I did sit all the way through that travesty back in the day that I would watch anything Russell did. Well, we can all thank Sharon Stone for one thing, she brought Russell Crowe to American audiences for the first time, and to the attention of Hollywood.

This is the kind of matchup dreams are made of -- two of the most excellent intense actors of our time, Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, mano a mano in the same movie. Christian Bale plays a down on his luck rancher, a veteran of the Civil War missing a leg who has lost the respect of his teenage son and his wife. Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, robber and leader of a band of cutthroats, but he's not a simple man -- he draws and seems to relish having an intelligent conversation with Christian Bale's character.

Christian Bale's rancher is deep in debt and through a series of fateful events, he ends up taking Crowe's Ben Wade with a group of men as prisoner to the 3:10 train to Yuma to his trial and certain hanging. Peter Fonda plays a crusty old Pinkerton detective, and it was fun seeing him in this movie. Bale's son tags along to Yuma, and Ben Wade realizes it's because of the boy's hero worship of him. The son gets to see Wade in action when the party is attacked by Apaaches along the way. The son's worship of outlaws like Wade from dime novels is part of the reason that Bale's character took this job taking Wade as a prisoner to justice, and he is trying to redeem himself in his son's eyes.

At the end of the journey, the two men are alone in a hotel room within earshot of the train whistle. Outside they are surrounded by men who either want to rescue Wade or kill him. The two actors have a fascinating conversation in that room where they reveal secrets to each other. Christian Bale reveals that he has never been a hero, and his leg was shot off by one of his own men. "Try telling your son that!" Wade tells about how he was abandoned by his mother. They reach a level of respect for each other as they dash out to meet that 3:10 train. I won't spoil the ending, but Crowe's character is not a simple killer, and he seems to surprise even himself. This is a film that is staying with me, and I keep thinking about it, which I didn't expect from a Western. It harkens back to the old Westerns which were morality plays. I have never seen the original film from the 50's, but from the reviews I've read, this film surpasses the first one with these two superior actors. I give 3:10 to Yuma four stars. Simply excellent, and two of the best parts ever for these two actors. In another year, they would have been nominated for Oscars for this film, in my opinion.