Russell Crowe and Christian Bale Star in a Morality Tale
In 1953 Elmore Leonard published a short story set in the Old West about a decent man getting a notorious outlaw on a train that would take him to prison. Leonard's short story then served as the source material for the film 3:10 to Yuma (1957) starring Glenn Ford as the outlaw and Van Heflin as the decent man. The year 2007 saw the theatrical release of a remake of 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe in Glenn Ford's role and Christian Bale in Van Heflin's. James Mangold (Walk the Line) directed the remake using a storytelling style tailored to the sensibilities of 21st-century audiences.
Russell Crowe gives another in a series of strong performances, this time as Ben Wade, the larger-than-life leader of a gang of savages. Christian Bale is superb as Dan Evans, an Everyman who is simply trying to provide for his family and earn the respect of his teenage son. But the movie features fine ensemble work with splendid performances by supporting actors, including Ben Foster as Wade's psychopathic, fiercely loyal chief henchman and Peter Fonda as a bounty hunter.
But Mangold's film achieves its power by creating a fictional world that helps us see more clearly the real world we find ourselves living in today. The movie depicts a world of economic injustice where events are driven by business interests, such as railroads, financial institutions and real estate investors. Pinkertons play the role of ruthless mercenaries in this society's war on crime, and the movie makes it understandable that ordinary folks could perceive outlaws as romantic figures to be admired.
Three Featurettes and Seven Deleted Scenes
The 3:10 to Yuma DVD contains three featurettes with a total run time of 40 minutes. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the 13-minute "Outlaws, Gangs and Posses," in which five experts on the Old West talk about this era in American history. They describe how Civil War guerilla units spawned the gangs that robbed banks, stagecoaches and trains. The business interests hired Pinkertons to protect their assets, but the experts say the behavior of the Pinkertons was often more criminal than that of the outlaws.
The DVD also provides a 21-minute making-of documentary titled "Destination: Yuma." Many members of the cast and crew participate, and there's footage showing filming at the New Mexico locations that stood in for the story's Arizona setting. The production values are high, and this featurette gives us some idea of the elaborate sets and the large number of costumes required. Also, we are shown how the stagecoach was flipped and told how the scene using the steam engine was done.
Another featurette is the six-minute "An Epic Explored," in which Mangold explains the mythological qualities of his film.Finally, there are seven deleted scenes with a total runtime of eight minutes. However, none of these seems particularly consequential.
Director's Commentary
The 3:10 to Yuma DVD provides a worthwhile feature-length commentary by director James Mangold. He says he first saw the 1957 version of the story when he was 17 years old, and it's always had power over him ever since. Later, as a student at Cal Arts, he analyzed the original film for a class. He claims his movie Cop Land (1997) is a modernized version of the story. For his remake of 3:10 to Yuma, he retained the basic structure of the 1957 original, but he points out many significant differences, including the ending.
Mangold views his version of the film as essentially a buddy movie involving a struggling rancher (Bale) and a supercriminal (Crowe). He doesn't regard his film as a historical drama; instead it's an American myth set in a world that is slightly dreamlike and fantastical.
He says the movie was shot in 53 days, almost entirely around the Santa Fe area. However, he admits that it got too cold in New Mexico, and they returned to L.A. for a week of shooting at that old Hollywood standby, the Bronson Caves.
DVD Details
Below I have listed the details for the DVD containing 3:10 to Yuma.
Release Date: January 8, 2008
Feature Film Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Violence and Some Language
Widescreen (2.40:1), Color
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Spanish Subtitles
Audio Commentary by Director James Mangold
Destination: Yuma (21 min.)
Outlaws, Gangs and Posses (13 min.)
An Epic Explored (6 min.)
Deleted Scenes (7 scenes with total runtime = 8 min.)
