3:10 to Yuma (1957)

3:10 to Yuma is not a movie about cowboys. It is a movie about the complexity of human nature, conscience, and the choices that define us.

This film follows down-on-his-luck rancher and family man Dan Evans as he is tasked with shepherding murderous outlaw Ben Wade, recently captured, onto the 3:10 train to Yuma, where he can be tried in court. Wade's posse is determined to free him, Wade himself is convinced he can bribe Evans to let him go, and the people he has wronged want revenge outside the justice system. And as all these motivations intertwine and erupt into a head, the 3:10 to Yuma chugs ever closer.

This one is interesting because none of the major characters undergo real changes in personality or motivation, but the film still succeeds in engaging you with everything that happens and making you think. Playful at strategic times, dark and thematic at others, 3:10 to Yuma is hard to nail down, not least because it's not cut-and-dried when it comes to who you want to root for. 

There's the honest rancher jeopardizing his life to do a good deed...which he does because of the cash reward offered. Then you have the thieving murderer who never loses his cool...but who also betrays flashes of humanity and honor. Also throw in the drunk seeking a clean slate without any real conviction...who is then robbed of the chance to redeem himself. 

And a question hangs over every character, every crossroads in the plot: What would you do?

My favorite moments in 3:10 to Yuma

Without caveat, the best part of 3:10 to Yuma is found in the hotel scenes. Dan Evans and Ben Wade find themselves in a hotel room in the aptly named Contention City, where the 3:10 to Yuma will stop.

So they sit. And they wait. Wade is handcuffed, Evans is sitting by the window, rifle in hand, watching for Wade's posse, who are confident they will free him before the train arrives. Every so often someone knocks on the door, bringing news, bringing threats, bringing bribes. 

But the best moments happen when it's just Wade and Evans alone in the room. Wade does most of the talking—he pokes, he prods, he needles, he tempts. He offers to buy Evans out of his commitment, taunts him about his wife, does his best to get under his skin. And so the tension grows. You can practically taste the salt of the sweat on their faces, feel the heat of the sun through the open window almost baking your own skin, the cool metal of the rifle slipping through your own hands.

And all the while, the train speeds closer and closer to Contention City, the moment of action looming ever nearer. 

It's good stuff.

In conclusion

This is such a good one. It is similar in structure and plot to Last Train from Gun Hill, a Kirk Douglas picture that came out two years later. It also bears similarities to High Noon, a Gary Cooper film that came out five years before 3:10 to Yuma, in terms of themes (the lone hero tempted to give up, the betrayal of those considered allies) and plot devices (the deadline of a train's arrival).

Still, 3:10 to Yuma, to my mind, stands out as its own achievement. Sinuously difficult to classify, almost tangible in its tension, this one is worth the watch in a way its 2007 remake, despite its positive evaluations, just can't live up to.

What else can I say? There are some movies you can watch ten times without any lasting impression in your mind. Then there are movies you only have to watch once, and they leave an indelible mark on your psyche. 3:10 to Yuma is one of those.