3:10 to Yuma

Posted May 22, 2012 by Speed - 0 comments

Dan Evans is a small cattle rancher who’s not having his best day. Constant drought has made that he had to loan money in order to buy food for his animals as well as his family and when he can’t pay back in time, the man he loaned from has his barn put on fire. The next morning he and his sons go out to retrieve their cattle when they run into Ben Wade and his gang who have just robbed a coach from the railroads. As Wade respects the simple life of Evans, he decides only to take their horses and promises to leave them a bit further after which he and his gang leave for the town of Brisbee to divide the money they’ve stolen.

In Brisbee, Evans wants to confront Hollander but instead he faces Wade again who gets captured by the local sheriff. The local railroad authorities decide to have Wade put on the first train to Yuma where he’ll have to undergo trial but for that to happen Wade needs to be transported to Contention where the train will arrive in two days. Few men dare to accompany Wade out of fear that Wade’s gang will come to rescue him but with the promise that he’ll receive 200 dollars, Evans decides to volunteer for the job as it’s the quickest chance to pay the debts he owes and regain the respect of his family. However, it quickly becomes clear that getting Wade on the 3:10 to Yuma is going to be all but easy.

Sound and Vision:
There’s some minor edge enhancement present as well as some grain here and there but overall things look very nice. There’s plenty of detail present and compression artefacts are completely absent.

The DTS-HD track that’s present is warm and dynamic with good use of the surround speakers for ambiance and environment sounds. The focus is mainly on the front channels for dialogue but whenever action pops in, the viewer is put right in the middle of it. A very good audio track that perfectly fits the atmosphere.

Extras:
- Outlaws, Gangs And Posse
- From Sea To Shining Sea
- Destination Yuma
- An Epic Explored
- A Conversation With Elmore Leonard
- The Guns Of Yuma
- 3:10 To Score
- Behind The Scenes B-Roll
- Interviews With Cast & Crew
- Deleted Scenes
- Trailers

Despite the usual stuff from Dutch Filmworks being present (B-roll, promotional interviews, deleted scenes, trailers) we also get some interesting extras that go into depth on the Western genre, how the railroads impacted the Wild West, some information on the music of the movie and even an interview with the writer of the story, Elmore Leonard.

Conclusion:
3:10 to Yuma is based on the short story written by Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Be Cool) and is actually a remake of the original movie that was released in 1957. Back in the days it was seen a bit as a copy of High Noon due to the importance of the clock in the film but personally I find this remake to do quite a lot better. The balance and interaction between the characters of Christian Bale and Russell Crowe is what drives this film and it does it very well up until the end where things start to get a bit weird and tend to go a bit too far towards almost slapstick.

The acting of the main cast is excellent as we’re used from them and certainly one of the highlights of the movie. I’m sure that with a lesser cast the movie wouldn’t have been as good.

3:10 to Yuma is a pretty decent western that manages to almost get up to the level of Unforgiven except for the ending and shows that the Western-genre can still be interesting in movies.

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