3:10 TO YUMA

I love westerns. Grew up watching them with my Dad - a big John Wayne fan. My sister and I have watched every episode of The Big Valley that there is. Even though they're a bit more bloody these days, I always look forward to a good western!

3:10 TO YUMA stars Russell Crowe as the bad guy, and Christian Bale as the good guy. Bale plays "Dan", a struggling farmer, who is in danger of losing his farm to a banker who wants to sell it to make way for a railroad. His marriage is strained, his relationship with his oldest son is difficult, and his youngest son has chronic respiratory problems. Through a turn of events, he becomes instrumental in the arrest of outlaw "Ben Wade", played by Crowe. A posse is formed to transport Wade from Bisbee to Contention to put the outlaw on the train to the Yuma prison. Dan, in order to secure $200, joins the posse. So with the outlaw's gang close behind, they set out through Apache territory. During their journey, we learn a lot more about Dan and Wade. For example, Dan needs the money, but he also needs to prove to his family that he is man enough to handle this task, as well as save their farm. Wade frequently quotes the bible, and we learn that the ruthless outlaw knows it because he read it cover to cover at the train station where his mother abandoned him as a child. A lot of things happen on this trip through the wilderness - and they arrive at Yuma with less men than they had when they set out.

Russell Crowe has been in a lot of movies - and he is really a great actor. The roles he's played - Cinderella Man, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind - are really diverse and complicated characters! Other notable performances include Peter Fonda, who I hardly recognized at first, but who played a great - but quick - part. And Ben Foster...oooooh, I hated him. He was the second in command of Wade's outlaw gang. He was a great bad guy. He also played very hateable bad guys in Alpha Dog (which was a horrible true story - it haunted me for a while - I wish I'd never watched it), and Hostage. He kinda reminded me of Bruce Dern, who always played a great villain! And of course, Bale did an excellent job of playing Dan Evans - I could feel his inner turmoil as he fought for his dignity at being the man his family could respect.

The story was set in Southern, Arizona - which I always enjoy, as I grew up there! But when they showed the town of Bisbee, I thought, "Huh?" They showed a town in the middle of a plain. In actuality, the little town is nestled in the mountains. Which has nothing to do with the story told in the film, but I thought I'd throw that fact out anyway! (See, you learn things on my blog!)

3:10 TO YUMA was a great movie - (although the ending made me yell "NO!!! WHY??????")
If you can overlook some violence and bad language, I'd recommend it!