Catch the "3:10 To Yuma": a Movie Review

Christian Bale may be my favorite modern film star. There is just something about him that seems to signify quality in a movie. I guess I have been a fan since he starred in the much-maligned "Empire of the Sun" as a young boy. Even in movies where the material seems questionable and there are serious flaws, his performance often stands out as something to behold. You have`to admire a performer that can play Batman with all of its silliness and then play a very understated role like the one he plays in the western "3:10 to Yuma."

This`is a remake, as you may already have known. The original starred Glenn Ford as the stagecoach robber and bad-man Ben Wade. It was made in the 1950s and, as far`as westerns go, it's a pretty good movie. I watched it recently. I could understand the comparisons I had read between that movie and "High Noon." Both movies are about people destined to come up against great odds and face them almost totally alone. Both movies involve being somewhere at a certain time and clocks play a very important role throughout.

In this version Ben Wade is played by the always-dynamic Russell Crowe. Crowe's personal life and temper gets so much press, that it is easy to forget was a remarkable actor he is. The man is intense. This is probably why he tends to throw phones at people when he gets mad. He takes everything he does, from the movie roles to making phone calls,very seriously.

Bale plays a rancher named Dan. He was wounded in the Civil War and lost much of one of his legs. He has an artificial leg and he gets around on it very well. However, this ranch is failing. The man who owns the property has dammed up the river that used to run through the land. He owes money because he has had to choose between making payments and paying for medicine for his youngest son. His older son thinks of him as a failure and spends his time reading the dime novels that make glorious fiction out of the villainous deeds of Ben Wade.