2007 Ranked
Non-2018 First Time Watches Ranked
Directors Ranked: James Mangold

Film #45 of my 100 Degrees, 100 Movies Challenge

Common actor from previous film: Russell Crowe

PREVIOUS FILM: L.A. Confidential
NEXT FILM: Robin Hood

"Kid, I wouldn't last five minutes leading an outfit like that if I wasn't as rotten as hell."

3:10 To Yuma was another masterclass in character building and I loved it. The story itself is very simple; get the bad guy to the 3:10 train heading to Yuma prison. But it's the depth and motivations of the characters involved, as well as the dialogue, that makes this so captivating.

Obviously the characters played by Crowe (Ben Wade) and Bale (Dan Evans) are the deepest and most fleshed out, but William Evans (played by Logan Lerman), Charlie Prince (played by Ben Foster) and Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda) all did really well as well. They all had these backstories that were hinted at but never fully revealed; William seemed to love the idea of being an outlaw, Charlie showed an undying loyalty to Ben Wade but it was never revealed as to what "he did for them", and, despite having minimal screentime, Fonda's bounty hunter was revealed to have a rich history with Ben Wade and with the story Crowe told about him, his morality was brought into question. There was even a small hint of a backstory for Dan Evans' wife, played by Gretchen Mol, in her interactions with Ben Wade. The dialogue and the way these characters are written is just fantastic!

My only real complaints I have are the pacing (the first two acts are very slow. While I enjoyed them, it could've been spread out a bit better) and some storyline issues, but the latter was minor. I also kinda wanted some more fleshing out for Alan Tudyk's character because he was likable, but I just didn't know enough about him.