3:10 TO YUMA (2007) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Dallas Roberts, Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk, Vinessa Shaw and Logan Lerman. Screenplay by Halstead Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas. Based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. Directed by James Mangold. Rated. R. Running time: 117 mins.


3:10 to Yuma is a solid Western that manfully tries to follow the genre’s traditions while catering to contemporary cinematic tastes.

A remake of a 1957 adult Western that was among several inspired by the success of High Noon, 3:10 to Yuma tells a simple story: An impoverished rancher agrees to escort a captured outlaw to a town where he will place him on a train to Yuma Prison.

Based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, the crux of the story is the interplay between rancher Dan Evans and outlaw Ben Wade.

The original version, which starred Oscar-winner Van Heflin as Evans and Glenn Ford — playing against his good guy image — as Wade, ran a taut 90 minutes.

The remake, directed by Walk the Line’s James Mangold, is stretched to just under two hours, and is padded with extraneous subplots that deflect from the main centerpiece, which is the psychological battle between the honest Evans and the ruthless, but charming, Wade.

In the original, Evans volunteers to take Wade to the train because he needs money to save his ranch — which is failing because of a drought.

The remake gives Evans some extra emotional baggage. He lost his foot during the Civil War, he has lost the respect of his teen-age son and he seems to have lost confidence in himself.

As portrayed by Christian Bale, Evans is an honorable man who, while not saying much, believes in right and wrong. He is an old-fashioned man of his word. Once he agrees to accompany Wade to the train, nothing will deter him.

Russell Crowe is Wade and, like Ford in the original, you grow to like him despite his murderous ways. His outlaw is a Bible-quoting, charismatic desperado who would rather talk his way out of a situation, but can kill without remorse if necessary.

An interesting aspect of both versions of the movie is that the leads could have switched roles without changing the tone of either movie.

As he displayed in American Psycho, Bale can play a charming killer and, as he demonstrated in Batman Begins, he can encapsulate a character’s dark side.

Crowe proved in A Beautiful Mind that he could play men with psychological handicaps, such as those affecting Evans.

To appease audiences’ addiction to action, Mangold has ramped up the violence.

The film contains an excessive amount of killings and explosions, some of it to the detriment of the story.

Which bring us to the movie’s biggest problem: The ending is totally unsatisfactory. Without giving away any spoilers, let’s just say the resolution is unnecessary and much more cynical than the original.

But that is understandable, because we live in cynical times in which moviegoers are more sophisticated and see shades of gray. They also scorn fairy tale-like happy endings as corny and unrealistic.

However, Mangold and his writers could have devised a more suitable finale that would still please the film’s target audience.

That said, 3:10 to Yuma, remains a sturdy outing that does not flag. It is exciting, suspenseful and entertaining.

Westerns have been as scarce as Chicago Cubs World Series rings. Perhaps, the acceptance of 3:10 to Yuma and the soon-to-be-released Brad Pitt vehicle about Jesse James will spark a resurgence of the genre.

If so, then 3:10 to Yuma has done its job well.

Bob Bloom is the film critic and DVD reviewer at the Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Ind.. and for the Gannett News Service. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bloomjc@yahoo.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal & Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com.