BY JASON BLAIR
WELLNESS CENTERED DENTISTRY
Russell Crowe as Ben Wade
and Christian Bale as Dan Evans
in 3:10 to Yuma
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“Because the Mouth Bone is Connected to the Body Bone”
Train in Vain
Christian Bale looks for redemption
3:10 TO YUMA:
Directed by James Mangold.
Written by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek
Haas. Cinematography, Phedon Papamichael. Music,
Marco Beltrami. Starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale,
Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster and Peter Fonda. Lions Gate
Films, 2007. R. 117 minutes. 44421
Y
THEY’VE MADE OUR WORLD THEIR BATTLEGROUND
MOVIES 17
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ou know the Hollywood Western is
in flux when the best cowboy pic-
tures of recent memory are
Shanghai Noon and Brokeback Mountain.
The former is an overlooked screwball com-
edy containing Owen Wilson’s niftiest work
post-Bottle Rocket; the latter, a stirring but
unfairly politicized drama in which Heath
Ledger closets his male affection and throws
away the key. Not exactly John Ford country.
These two films, like Unforgiven before
them, subvert the false mythology of the
Western genre — namely, that men who aim
to kill each other can be divided into “good”
or “bad” — by showing us flawed men in
various states of disrepair. These men won’t
be coming to your rescue any time soon.
These men would make Shane spit.
Into this changing landscape rides 3:10
to Yuma, a traditional Western and remake
of the 1957 classic. Both films are based
upon the Elmore Leonard dime novel, tak-
ing essentially the same premise: A dirt-
poor rancher agrees to help transport a mur-
derous gunslinger to a train bound for Yuma
prison. In the current version, rancher Dan
Evans (Christian Bale) takes the job as an
act of redemption. He stands to make $200,
but Evans has debts beyond his beleaguered
homestead: He was an inglorious soldier in
the Civil War, getting his foot shot off by
his own regiment. Evans is the type of luck-
less, practical fellow who gets shot dead in
other Westerns, but in 3:10 to Yuma he
arouses the interest of Ben Wade (Russell
Crowe), the captive under his care. Wade,
like the villains of Cormac McCarthy, is an
erudite, philosophical killer, reciting scrip-
ture as easily as the pious but with a deeply
forked tongue. Indeed, Wade’s gun is called
the Hand of God; he kills more men while
shackled in custody than he does prior to
his capture.
Crowe and Bale give 3:10 to Yuma an
urgency and power that few other actors
could provide. Rarely have I been so certain
that two lead actors were so perfectly suit-
ed to their roles. (This film was in develop-
ment for years while the likes of Tom
Cruise and Eric Bana were attached. All
along the producers wanted Crowe and
Bale.) Crowe plays Wade with a deadly
calm. There’s a slipperiness and ease to his
performance that makes his relative obscu-
rity — he’s made four films since A
Beautiful Mind in 2001 — seem unfortu-
nate. Opposite Crowe, Bale’s Evans is
morally firm but physically shaky. Bale is
all stubbornness and perseverance. On at
least two occasions, both spontaneous con-
fessions, he’ll likely move you to tears.
Mention should also be made of Ben Foster
(Six Feet Under) who plays Wade’s second-
in-command, Charlie Prince, with a
twitchy, zany confidence. I luxuriated in the
weird, dark humor of this film, and Foster is
a frequent source of this darkness.
Unfortunately, 3:10 derails in its third
act. One by one, Wade’s captors are burned,
shot or stabbed until only Evans and his old-
est son William (Logan Lerman) — who
joins them en route against his father’s
wishes — remain of the original party.
Before the climactic battle, the film lays its
cards on the table: Bale, vastly outnumbered
by Wade’s men, can walk away with his life
or regain his honor by dying. What follows
is an odd pact between Evans and Wade
that, even if you consider it plausible, leads
to an outcome that is simply unjustifiable.
The film, just when clarity is called for,
stops making sense. It’s a shame, because
for most of the journey, this train was full
steam ahead.
ew
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