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| - Joy and I finally got to see this at a Sunday matinee. I think this was one of those perfect movies. It had just enough action, but it also spent a great deal of time getting to know the characters. Beyond that, it gave us a performance that made Russell Crowe *likeable*, even though he was mostly villainous throughout the movie. Really well done.
- A posse has captured the outlaw Ben (Russell Crowe) and is taking him into town. They stop to camp for the night, and Ben tells posse member Dan (Christian Bale), "I gotta take a piss." Dan leads him out near a cactus and Ben begins to audibly relieve himself on the ground, but then Dan spots a sniper and there is an exchange of gunfire. Nothing is shown of the peeing as the camera stays on Ben's face.
- 3:10 to Yuma is a 2007 western film directed by James Mangold and produced by Cathy Konrad, and stars Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles, with supporting performances by Logan Lerman, Peter Fonda, and Ben Foster. It is a remake of the 1957 film of the same name, making it the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard's short story Three-Ten to Yuma.
- Determined Homesteader Dan Evans is going to lose his farm. A bad drought worsened by his creditor redirecting the river that ran through his farm makes it nigh impossible to pay his dues, let alone afford his ill son's medication. His luck is about to change though, but for better or worse is hard to tell. Not far away, stage coach robber Ben Wade is pulling off another successful heist against a bank coach. Dan and his sons are witness to it, and manage to walk away alive and with Wade generously compensating the loss of some cattle during the heist. Dan and his sons rescue one of the pinkertons (law men) that survived and take him to town.
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| abstract
| - Joy and I finally got to see this at a Sunday matinee. I think this was one of those perfect movies. It had just enough action, but it also spent a great deal of time getting to know the characters. Beyond that, it gave us a performance that made Russell Crowe *likeable*, even though he was mostly villainous throughout the movie. Really well done.
- A posse has captured the outlaw Ben (Russell Crowe) and is taking him into town. They stop to camp for the night, and Ben tells posse member Dan (Christian Bale), "I gotta take a piss." Dan leads him out near a cactus and Ben begins to audibly relieve himself on the ground, but then Dan spots a sniper and there is an exchange of gunfire. Nothing is shown of the peeing as the camera stays on Ben's face.
- 3:10 to Yuma is a 2007 western film directed by James Mangold and produced by Cathy Konrad, and stars Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles, with supporting performances by Logan Lerman, Peter Fonda, and Ben Foster. It is a remake of the 1957 film of the same name, making it the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard's short story Three-Ten to Yuma.
- Determined Homesteader Dan Evans is going to lose his farm. A bad drought worsened by his creditor redirecting the river that ran through his farm makes it nigh impossible to pay his dues, let alone afford his ill son's medication. His luck is about to change though, but for better or worse is hard to tell. Not far away, stage coach robber Ben Wade is pulling off another successful heist against a bank coach. Dan and his sons are witness to it, and manage to walk away alive and with Wade generously compensating the loss of some cattle during the heist. Dan and his sons rescue one of the pinkertons (law men) that survived and take him to town. Wade goes to the nearby town to rest before regrouping and setting off again, but the local sheriff sets an ambush and they capture him. This was the easy part however. Since the sheriff needs volunteers to escort Wade to Yuma for a trial, Dan volunteers in order to get the money to pay for his farm. The way to Yuma will be filled with dangers, not just from Wade's gang, led by deadly Dragon Charlie Prince, but also Indians, old enemies of Wade who are out to kill him, and perhaps most dangerously, Magnificent Bastard Wade himself. This film is a remake of a 1957 film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, which was in turn a film adaptation of a short story of the same name by Elmore Leonard (his first ever published work, in fact). The 2007 film can be considered a Reconstruction of soapy Westerns, and along with Appaloosa depict realistic life in the old west. Has perhaps one of the best musical scores of the year 2007. For those curious, the original film shares many tropes in common with the remake. However, due to the remake being an Adaptation Expansion instead of a straight-up remake, there are few tropes the original has that the remake does not (unless noted).
* Actor Allusion: Maybe not deliberately, but anyone who's seen Serenity is going to find the death of Alan Tudyk's character awfully reminiscent of Wash's.
* And viewers of Lost may be reminded by Tucker's demise of evil mercenary Martin Keamy's death.
* Adaptation Expansion: Textbook example, the remake reuses a lot of dialogue with many scenes being virtually identical, so much in fact that the writer of the original has a co-writer credit even though he died a long time ago. But the remake also adds a lot of content expanding on several characters, adding more and fleshing out the journey.
* Though it should be noted that the original ends with Dan surviving.
* Affably Evil: Ben Wade, who is dangerously charming.
* The Alcoholic: Potter in the original
* Ambiguously Gay: Charlie "Princess." Definitely not helped by his shrill voice, immaculate dress sense, the way he struts and cat walks, the fact that he wears eye liner, and his incredibly obvious gay crush on his boss.
* Anyone Can Die
* Badass Longcoat: Granted, Charlie's coat isn't very long, but he is most definetly Badass. Plus, it's white leather!
* Breaking Out the Boss
* Cardboard Prison: After volunteering to help Dan do everything possible to get him on the train that will take him to Yuma prison, Ben Wade makes a little confession: he's already escaped from Yuma. Twice.
* Cold Sniper: The "Mexican sharpshooter" in Wade's gang.
* Corrupt Corporate Executive: Averted, Butterfield the banker isn't going to win any personality contests, but he was hardly a Pointy-Haired Boss or willing to force Dan to fight suicidal odds in the end.
* Chinese Laborer
* Death Glare: Ben Wade gives several in the movie. The most impressive one is probably the one given to his whole gang after Charlie shoots Dan. The second Charlie sees the look he starts reaching for his guns. It doesn't do him any good.
* Determinator
* Determined Homesteader: Dan Evans.
* Dirty Coward: Near the end of the movie, Dan reveals that the real reason why he lost his leg is because during the American Civil War, he was caught in friendly fire while trying to flee from the battle. Everything he does to get Ben on the train to Yuma is to give his kids a dad they can be proud of. Ben is impressed enough to help him for the rest of the movie.
* The Dragon: Charlie Prince.
* Dwindling Party: The posse escorting Wade, whose members are killed off one-by-one as the journey goes on.
* Electric Torture: A minor character whose brother was killed by Ben Wade does a version of this to Wade.
* Enemy Mine: Wade helps his captors more than once when a common enemy shows up.
* Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The Trope Namer.
* Even Evil Has Standards: Ben Wade is a thief and murderer, but he believes in paying back favors, treating the dead with respect, and using non-violent methods when possible.
* Fastest Gun in the West: Ben Wade.
* Flat Character Ben Wade accuses Byron McElroy of being one.
* For Doom the Bell Tolls: In the trailers and during the movie's climax.
* Friendly Enemy: Towards the end Wade all but fights at Dan's side, out of respect and admiration. Of course, he had escaped Yuma prison several times already.
* Gatling Good: The stage coach had one, not that it stopped Wade's gang.
* Gay Cowboy: Charlie to Wade, the subtext practically screaming Ambiguously Gay. Charlie is even once insulted as "Charlie Princess".
* Given that he's a criminal version of that trope, he also counts as a Gayngster.
* Handicapped Badass: It's easy to forget Dan does all his stunts while wearing a prosthetic leg.
* Handy Cuffs: You'd think after the first time Wade killed a member of the party with his hands cuffed in front of him, someone would cuff them behind his back.
* Fridge Brilliance actually, circumstances require that he be able to sit a horse on rough terrain, something he can't do with his hands behind his back.
* The Hero Dies
* Holy Hitman: Ben Wade seems to either not believe in God or dislike Him, but he can exchange Bible quotes with the best of them. This is due to his Parental Abandonment: Wade's mother gave a young Wade a Bible, sat him down, and told him she was going off to get train tickets to take them out of town and to keep reading until she got back. Three days later, he had finished from cover to back, and she never came back.
* Injun Country
* Jerkass: One of the members of the posse burned down Dan' barn at the behest of his creditor and goes out of his way to be an asshole to Ben Wade. McElroy also qualifies due to his nastiness towards other characters, his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of a shackled Ben Wade, and his Offstage Villainy, which includes massacring an Indian village.
* Kill'Em All: The entire group trying to get Wade onto the train (except Dan's son and Butterfield), and the entirety of Ben's posse.
* Live Action Escort Mission
* Morality Pet: Zig-zagged. William tries to invoke this, telling Wade he isn't all bad. Wade casually tells William that he "wouldn't last five minutes leading an outfit like that if [he] wasn't as rotten as hell." He then kills every member in his posse when they kill Dan and gets on the train willingly, with the knowledge that he can escape from Yuma, having done so twice before. He's a complex guy.
* Nice Hat: Wade is very fond of his hat.
* No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When Wade manages to kill one member of the posse while everyone is asleep, Byron McElroy responds by beating the handcuffed Wade (who is also lying down on the ground) over and over with the butt of his rifle. This goes on even when the other members of the posse tell him to stop. Eventually, he has to be physically restrained from continuing the beating.
* Not That Kind of Doctor: Doc is actually a horse doctor. His surgery still manages to save McElroy.
* Parental Abandonment: Ben Wade suffered from this as a child.
* Politically-Incorrect Villain: One of the members of the main posse massacred Apache in the past, and he makes a (literally) fatal mistake when he insults Ben Wade's mother. There's also the corrupt leader of the construction camp who considers his Chinese Laborers to be animals and somehow comes across as worse than Ben and his gang.
* Pinkerton Detective: McElroy.
* Rancher: Dan Evans.
* Title Theme Tune: "There is a lonely train called the 3:10 to Yuma..."
* Too Dumb to Live: Being a Jerkass to a Magnificent Bastard is a very bad idea.
* Unwilling Suspension
* Vehicle Title
* Villain Exit Stage Left: Wade has apparently escaped multiple times before.
* Weapon Stomp: The stagecoach driver crawls for his shotgun but just as he gets to it, Charlie Prince steps on it.
* Wicked Cultured: Wade has read the entirety of the Bible, and is a skilled drawer of both wildlife and humans.
* You Remind Me of X: A villainish version is done, as Wade tells Dan that William Evans (Dan's older son) reminds him of Wade in order to provoke Dan.
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