3:10 To Yuma
1957's 3:10 TO YUMA has been called a revisionist Western, and I guess I can see that. It shares a few things with pictures like HIGH NOON , depicting town citizens as human, often scared. Not always heroic. I guess that depends on your definition. In both movies, men with guns are recruited to help the protagonist stop a gang of criminals descending upon a town. As the hour grows nigh, the participants have second thoughts, citing that they have families to think of. You can see their point. Dan Evans also has a wife and two boys. His ranch is threatened by a long drought. But his ultimate purpose, like that of Marshall Will Kane, may be higher. Evans (Van Heflin) finds himself volunteering to escort Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), the leader of a gang he and his sons witnessed rob a stagecoach, on the titular train, bound for a prison. The fella who killed the driver. Wade is a well known bad dude, ruthless but charming. T...
