Released: 7 September 2007
Director: James Mangold
Cast: Russell Crowe ( Ben Wade ) Christian Bale ( Dan Evans ) Logan Lerman ( William Evans ) Dallas Roberts ( Grayson Butterfield ) Ben Foster ( Charlie Prince ) Peter Fonda ( Byron McElroy ) Alan Tudyk ( Doc Potter ) Gretchen Mol ( Alice Evans )
Rancher Dan Evans heads into Bisbee to clear up issues concerning the sake of his land when he witnesses the closing events of a stagecoach robbery led by famed outlaw Ben Wade. Shortly thereafter, Wade is captured by the law in Bisbee and Evans finds himself one of the escorts who will take Wade to the 3:10 to Yuma train in Contention for the reward of $200. Evans’s effort to take Wade to the station is in part an effort to save his land but also part of an inner battle to determine whether he can be more than just a naive rancher in the eyes of his impetuous and gunslinging son William Evans. The transport to Contention is hazardous and filled with ambushes by Indians, pursuits by Wade’s vengeful gang and Wade’s own conniving and surreptitious demeanor that makes the ride all the more intense.
So I’ll be honest with you. There’s 3 main reasons I wanted to watch this film:
Yeah. Uh huh. So not being a huge fan of westerns I thought I’d give it a try anyway. I was absolutely stunned. This film had me hooked from the very start. The performances were absolutely outstanding. Say what you like about Russell Crowe, but there’s no denying he’s a fantastic actor. His Ben Wade, is mesmerising and Crowe owns every scene he appears in. Christian Bale also gives a great performance, and excellent support comes from Ben Foster as Wade’s right hand man - pure evil - and young jailbait upcoming actor Logan Lerman as Bales older son.
In a film based strongly on morals, it would have been easy to make this a simple ” Goodies and Baddies ” movie but 3:10 To Yuma is so much more. Incredible action scenes, rich storytelling and a shock ending make this more than worthy of your time. Highly recommended
And if you think its shit? There’s this to fap over
