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Simply A Masterpiece

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Really well shot western about a Rancher and the bad guy he promises to put on a train to jail. Good chemistry in the acting, but it's a bit slow. A little tighter editing (which might have hurt the beautiful shots) would have helped.

RELEASED IN 1957 and directed by Delmer Daves, "3:10 to Yuma" is a Western about a struggling Arizona rancher, Dan Evans (Van Heflin), who has no choice but to hire-on as an escort of dangerous, but charismatic outlaw, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford). Wade proceeds to employ psychological manipulation in order to corrupt the righteous family man and escape.This is a quality psychological Western from the 50s, only held back by the B&W photography. The Arizona landscapes are spectacular but they're all for naught due to this flat B&W presentation. Nevertheless, the story & characters are great. The mind games Wade plays with Evans keeps things interesting. Felicia Farr, the hottie from Glenn Ford's excellent "Jubal" (1956) is on hand as a bartender who has a thang for bad boys. I'm not complaining about her role, but it's a tad unlikely that such a smoking hot woman would be alone for too long in the Old West where there were twenty times more men than women. Most old Western theme songs are hopelessly hokey, e.g. "North to Alaska" (1960) (a great Western), but the one here sung by Frankie Laine is very good. I like it when words that don't rhyme are made to rhyme in a song: "There's a legend and a ruma', when you take the 3:10 to Yuma."The 2007 remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in the Evans/Wade roles takes the template of this film and makes a superior Western with more action and deeper themes, not to mention IN COLOR.THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 32 minutes and was shot in Arizona (Old Tucson,, Contention City, Sedona, etc.) and the studio ranch in Burbank, California. WRITERS: Halsted Welles (screenplay) and Elmore Leonard (story). GRADE: B

Van Heflin is a hard-up small-time cattleman hired to take outlaw Glen Ford to the town of Contention and see that he boards the train to Yuma Territorial Prison, but never mind all that.Heflin's character carries one of those bland workable names like Dan Evans, but Glenn Ford, the prisoner, is called Ben Wade. My own scholarly research shows inarguably that no cowboy, outlaw, or gunslinger has ever carried the name of Wade, Clay, Matt, Yancey, or Ringo. As a matter of fact, the most common names among cowboys were Governeur, Montmorency, Noble. The details are in my manuscript, "Onomastics of the Post Civil War West", never published and never will be.Back to less important matters. It's a nicely structured narrative. Can the upright Heflin get the smirking Ford to Contention before Ford's gang of goons sees to his release? Heflin takes the job out of desperation. He needs the money badly because the draught is starving his stalwart wife and two brashly honest young sons. The viewer can relax as the clichés follow one another. The comic sidekick is murdered. Heflin's horde of enthusiastic supports drop out one by one as the odds against them become more clear.It's one of those westerns in which you have to admire the attentions of the studio barber and his team. Heflin: down at the hells rancher. Ford: gang leader on the lam. Yet -- even in choker close ups -- not a single whisker shows up, so that they look like Hollywood movie stars freshly groomed rather than dusty residents of the Wild West. It is, as I said, entertaining, enlivened by Ford's taunts and wisecracks. Some reviewers claim it's too slow. I would agree, but only in comparison to today's films, all of which resemble the inside of a whirling kaleidoscope.

3:10 to Yuma (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Tense and extremely well-acted Western about a farmer (Van Heflin) who finds himself in desperate need of cash so he volunteers to transport a notorious criminal (Glenn Ford) to a train station. 3:10 TO YUMA is one of the best known Westerns from this era and it's easy to see why. Sure, there are those old-school moments about the good guy versus the bad one but it has an added touch of psychological drama and this here is where the film really stands on its own. There's no doubt that there are many great scenes in the picture but things really start to pick up when Heflin and Ford are inside a hotel room where they do nothing but talk about what's going to happen when the farmer goes to transport him to the station. This is when the super editing kicks into high gear as the farmer slowly starts to become panicked over what he's gotten himself into. There are some really striking scenes in this picture including a very dramatic one dealing with the fate of one of the helpers, which I won't ruin here. Another great scene happens early on during a stagecoach robbery where we get to see how menacing the Ford character can be. This here is followed up with a scene where Ford comes onto a local woman. You'd think a scene like this would be out of place but it actually works just to show that this villain also has a charming side. The performances by the two leads are certainly wonderful. Heflin has never been better as the good-hearted farmer who needs to prove to himself that he can support his family no matter what it takes. The scenes where the farmer's tension starts to crack has the actor really shining. Ford, usually a good guy, does wonders being able to switch things up and that wonderful voice of his really adds to the psychological drama as he starts to torture the farmer. The film certainly borrows from HIGH NOON but that doesn't hurt things too much. The film is certainly a gem from the genre.