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3:10 to Yuma (2007)

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AG/DC Jan 20 2008 06:55 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 24 2008 01:52 PM

A 19th century western rancher with snakebit luck tries to turn it around by mustering the courage to escort a notorious outlaw to a train bound for Yuma prison, with the outlaw's gang hot on their tail. Some years back, a bout of insomnia led me to turn on the TV and spy the original, which I found thoroughly delightful. With little of the action of this one, most of the plot unfolded in a hotel room --- as the outlaw played psychological games --- alternately offering bribes to the upright rancher and trying to shake him by laying out the moral ambiguity of his predicament. I liked it a lot --- maybe what Hitchcock might do if he directed a budget western. This one... I'll discuss in a subsequent post.

AG/DC Jan 21 2008 10:40 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 24 2008 01:51 PM

Well, what I'm saying is that there is too much stylized action here. While the morality play is going on between the two leads, some gratuitious stupidity is happening with the outlaw's lieutanant who leads the gang in pursuit of them. While the villian seduces men and women everywhere he goes with a honey-dripping tongue, and the hero is shown up by a son who is quicker-witted and quicker-drawing than his pa, the movie touches on the themes of the original --- that heroism is clumsy in the performance, but noble in the endurance, and the banality of evil --- and puts just enough sexiness onto it to kind of ruin it. It's not The Unforgiven. Few things are. But even in its tacked-on action scenes, funky editing robs you of an understanding of the topography of the battlefield.

Vic Sage Jan 24 2008 01:16 PM

loved the original the remake... not so much.

AG/DC Jan 24 2008 01:52 PM

Well, that's me in brevity there. They took some dialogue pretty much right out of the original also.

Frayed Knot Mar 02 2008 08:14 AM

Never saw the original ... but I hope it asks me to buy fewer ridiculous situations and decisions by the characters than the end of this version did. I was staying at the Marriott With Jesus and John Wayne I was waiting for a chariot They were waiting for a train The sky was full of carrion "I'll take the mazuma" Said Jesus to Marion "That's the 3:10 to Yuma My ride's here..." -- Warren Zevon

Vic Sage Mar 03 2008 09:56 AM

Frayed Knot wrote: Never saw the original ... but I hope it asks me to buy fewer ridiculous situations and decisions by the characters than the end of this version did. fewer, yes. but still some. Yet certainly worth watching.

sharpie Mar 10 2008 09:01 AM

Saw this over the weekend. Never did see the original. Great premise, so-so execution. Watchable.

AG/DC Mar 10 2008 09:07 AM

Good title song.