If you haven't seen 3:10 to Yuma then may I make a gentle suggestion to stop reading this blog and go rent 3:10 to Yuma immediately. You won't regret it. In fact one could make a strong case that if you stop reading this blog and do anything else you won't regret it, but let's not hurt feeling here. Anyway, if you have seen the movie in question, then by all means continue reading.
I'll admit right off the bat that I know very little about Westerns. I haven't watched many, with a few notable exceptions being classics such as Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood, Dances With Wolves with Kevin Costner, and Wild Wild West with Will Smith. In looking at the top 50 Westerns on IMDB, Unforgiven and Dances With Wolves are the only two I've seen in their entirety. So my point is, I don't exactly know what makes for a good Western or a bad Western.
However, I do know what makes for a good movie and a bad movie. For example, I know that Wild Wild West is not a good movie, and that The Godfather is a good movie. (See, I told you I knew.) And as for 3:10 to Yuma, I happen to think it's one of the best movies since the turn of the century, and here is why...
Characters. That is why I watch movies. Yes, I enjoy movies with lots of explosions; yes I enjoy movies that are just plain dumb (the two tend to overlap). But when it comes to my favourite movies, I'm all about the characters, baby. That is why Heat is possibly my favourite movie of all time. Yes it has got action and tension and about 30 minutes of non-stop gun-firing madness, but at the heart of it all are two extremely interesting and intense characters. Much like 3:10 to Yuma.
On one side of the law you have Dan Evans (Christian Bale), and on the other you have Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). Initially, I was much more drawn to Wade, because he's undoubtedly the 'cooler' of the two. I mean he's the outlaw, the expert gun-slinger, the ruthless boss of a deadly posse. Dan, on the other hand, is a rancher. A one-legged rancher at that. Is there anything more uncool than a rancher who doesn't have the use of both his legs?
Not according to Dan's son William, anyway. He looks at his 'Pa' with a certain disdain and almost embarrassment, while he's in awe of the great Ben Wade. However, as the movie progresses, we (like William) start to see things a little differently.
If you take things a little deeper, this movie gives us an insight into what society thinks is 'cool', and what is actually cool (for want of a better word). Like I said, initially it was Russell Crowe's Ben Wade that I was drawn too. I mean he hooked up with a woman simply by calling her skinny. What more can you ask from a man? He demonstrated in spades all of the things that we as "surface" people latch on to so easily - charm, wit, confidence - but at the expense of what is deeper. As The Wolf once said "Just because you are a character, that doesn't mean you have character". Never a truer word spoken by a guy who helps to clean up dead bodies for a living.
While Ben Wade was a character, it was Dan that had all the character, and I think this made Ben Wade a little jealous, but also intrigued and respectful. Dan obviously didn't have to escort Wade to the train, but he did it anyway. We might believe that he only did it for the money, but by films end that is not the full story. Dan wanted to bring a criminal to justice. He didn't want someone as dangerous as Wade wandering the streets, or deserts or whatever.
He also did it for his son. He knew the way his eldest boy looked at him, and he wanted to prove to the kid that he wasn't a complete failure. While Dan was by no means the perfect man, his innate sense of integrity eventually won over Ben Wade, and more poignantly, his own son. William went from resenting everything his father stood for to having the utmost respect for him, which was really quite the transformation. And what's more, it was a plausible transformation. A transformation that made sense.
And as for Ben Wade...well, I think the end of the movie speaks for itself.
There are other little details I could go into, but I won't. I think on a personal level, this film gave me clearer sense of what it means to be a real man, as cheesy as that sounds. Because of the age we live in, I'm lead to believe that Ben Wade is the bar and it is my duty to try and reach it. He is the yardstick by which all men are measured, and if you don't quite make it, then I'm afraid you're just not cool and you'll have to try harder. Maybe gather some new pick up lines or something.
That whole notion is a myth however - a myth that this film dispenses with. The more we strive to be like Dan Evans, the better the men we become, and the more positive influence we have on society. And of course since I'm a Christian, the same characteristics that draw me to Dan are found in their completeness in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is a person of integrity, justice, and so forth. How often it is that we ignore these things and settle for something and someone so much less.
So yeah, if you have already seen 3:10 to Yuma then watch it again, perhaps with new eyes. If you haven't, then rectify the situation immediately.
I'll admit right off the bat that I know very little about Westerns. I haven't watched many, with a few notable exceptions being classics such as Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood, Dances With Wolves with Kevin Costner, and Wild Wild West with Will Smith. In looking at the top 50 Westerns on IMDB, Unforgiven and Dances With Wolves are the only two I've seen in their entirety. So my point is, I don't exactly know what makes for a good Western or a bad Western.
However, I do know what makes for a good movie and a bad movie. For example, I know that Wild Wild West is not a good movie, and that The Godfather is a good movie. (See, I told you I knew.) And as for 3:10 to Yuma, I happen to think it's one of the best movies since the turn of the century, and here is why...
Characters. That is why I watch movies. Yes, I enjoy movies with lots of explosions; yes I enjoy movies that are just plain dumb (the two tend to overlap). But when it comes to my favourite movies, I'm all about the characters, baby. That is why Heat is possibly my favourite movie of all time. Yes it has got action and tension and about 30 minutes of non-stop gun-firing madness, but at the heart of it all are two extremely interesting and intense characters. Much like 3:10 to Yuma.
On one side of the law you have Dan Evans (Christian Bale), and on the other you have Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). Initially, I was much more drawn to Wade, because he's undoubtedly the 'cooler' of the two. I mean he's the outlaw, the expert gun-slinger, the ruthless boss of a deadly posse. Dan, on the other hand, is a rancher. A one-legged rancher at that. Is there anything more uncool than a rancher who doesn't have the use of both his legs?
Not according to Dan's son William, anyway. He looks at his 'Pa' with a certain disdain and almost embarrassment, while he's in awe of the great Ben Wade. However, as the movie progresses, we (like William) start to see things a little differently.
If you take things a little deeper, this movie gives us an insight into what society thinks is 'cool', and what is actually cool (for want of a better word). Like I said, initially it was Russell Crowe's Ben Wade that I was drawn too. I mean he hooked up with a woman simply by calling her skinny. What more can you ask from a man? He demonstrated in spades all of the things that we as "surface" people latch on to so easily - charm, wit, confidence - but at the expense of what is deeper. As The Wolf once said "Just because you are a character, that doesn't mean you have character". Never a truer word spoken by a guy who helps to clean up dead bodies for a living.
While Ben Wade was a character, it was Dan that had all the character, and I think this made Ben Wade a little jealous, but also intrigued and respectful. Dan obviously didn't have to escort Wade to the train, but he did it anyway. We might believe that he only did it for the money, but by films end that is not the full story. Dan wanted to bring a criminal to justice. He didn't want someone as dangerous as Wade wandering the streets, or deserts or whatever.
He also did it for his son. He knew the way his eldest boy looked at him, and he wanted to prove to the kid that he wasn't a complete failure. While Dan was by no means the perfect man, his innate sense of integrity eventually won over Ben Wade, and more poignantly, his own son. William went from resenting everything his father stood for to having the utmost respect for him, which was really quite the transformation. And what's more, it was a plausible transformation. A transformation that made sense.
And as for Ben Wade...well, I think the end of the movie speaks for itself.
There are other little details I could go into, but I won't. I think on a personal level, this film gave me clearer sense of what it means to be a real man, as cheesy as that sounds. Because of the age we live in, I'm lead to believe that Ben Wade is the bar and it is my duty to try and reach it. He is the yardstick by which all men are measured, and if you don't quite make it, then I'm afraid you're just not cool and you'll have to try harder. Maybe gather some new pick up lines or something.
That whole notion is a myth however - a myth that this film dispenses with. The more we strive to be like Dan Evans, the better the men we become, and the more positive influence we have on society. And of course since I'm a Christian, the same characteristics that draw me to Dan are found in their completeness in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is a person of integrity, justice, and so forth. How often it is that we ignore these things and settle for something and someone so much less.
So yeah, if you have already seen 3:10 to Yuma then watch it again, perhaps with new eyes. If you haven't, then rectify the situation immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment