Whenever Hollywood remakes a movie, the litany of Creative Bankruptcy roars across the land. I don’t completely agree, I think the major studios are just run by risk-averse morons with MBAs incapable of passing Film History 101. 3:10 to Yuma has all those immediate concerns even though the original starring Glenn Ford isn’t as well-known; the studio is probably counting on the audience’s ignorance. To director Mangold’s credit, he did a decent job and did more than just raise the body count, gore and sympathy for the villain; the Dawn of the Dead remake’s tactic.
Ben Wade and his gang have been robbing stagecoaches carrying the Southern & Pacific Railroad’s payroll for months. Dan Evans is a struggling rancher who is about to lose his livelihood due to debts amassed during the dry season. Their paths cross in one of Wade’s brutal robberies but he is a killer with a sense of honor; he lets the Evans family live because they’re only witnesses and he used their escaped cattle to stop the stagecoach. Then Wade is captured in nearby Bisbee with Evans’ assistance, it’s more of an accident. S&P’s representative, Mr. Butterfield, insists on Wade being shipped to Yuma Prison for trial and sentencing. One slight complication, the S&P doesn’t run through Bisbee and the closest train stop is two days on horseback in Contention. So the surviving Pinkerton mercenary, McElroy, and Butterfield hire Evans, the town horse doctor and a local bully to escort the prisoner for $200 a piece.
Yuma is decent for a modernized Western. The violence isn’t excessive by today’s standards (maybe I’m just desensitized) but I think it’s amplified to pad for time. I found the last ten minutes implausible (no spoiler alert), especially with the ending. Wade is a killer and he says it best to Evans’ oldest son, “…I’m as rotten as Hell,” then pulls a lot of punches at other times. Not a good trait to have when leading a gang of murderers with his number two being Charlie Prince, the bigger sociopath. Then there’s Evans, motivated through standard Western clichés: the youngest son has Tuberculosis, the railroad is going to run through his land if he doesn’t get the money, he’s a Civil War vet-amputee and his oldest boy has no respect for him so this macho stunt will win it back.
Worth Seeing? A lukewarm yes but wait until it’s on cable or DVD. There’s nothing the theater experience adds to this flick for $6.25, what I paid at Alamo South Lamar during matinee pricing.