3.10 To Yuma - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
CLASSIC western thriller 3:10 To Yuma is being released in cinemas nationwide on September 14, 2007, exactly 50 years after the BAFTA-nominated original directed by Glenn Ford and Van Heflin.
Based on Elmore Leonard’s short story 3:10 To Yuma is directed by Oscar winner James Mangold (of Walk The Line and Copland fame) and produced by Cathy Konrad. It stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.
Set in Arizona in the late 1800s, the film follows the fortunes of infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe), leader of a vicious gang of thieves and murderers who plague the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Bale), struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the “3:10 to Yuma”, a train that will take the killer to trial.
On the path to deliverance, Evans and Wade, each from very different worlds, begin to earn each other’s respect. But, with Wade’s outfit in hot pursuit the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey towards each man’s destiny.
3.10 To Yuma is being viewed with interest by many Hollywood big-wigs as the latest chance to revive the Western. It’s been a long-mooted project, having once attracted the attention of Tom Cruise and Eric Bana as co-leads.
But once Cruise dropped out of the project, it was only revived once Crowe got on board. He was always Mangold’s first choice for the role of Wade and, according to IMDB, preferred Bale as his co-star.
Bale, for his part, recently repaid the compliment by referring to Crowe as “a great guy” in the new edition of Total Film magazine. The two certainly seem to possess a deep mutual respect for each other’s talents that seems to have translated into a strong chemistry on-screen (if the promising trailer is anything to judge by).
Shooting of the film wasn’t without problems, though – but they were more of the natural kind. The film is supposed to be set in a drought plagued town – but the weekend before filming was due to wrap, a freak storm dumped almost two feet of snow on the set, forcing labourers to have to shovel it away from the buildings and balconies. What’s more, 89 dump trucks’ worth of soil had to be redistributed to maintain the desired effect.
In spite of such mishaps, the film still looks set to be a hot prospect when it arrives in UK cinemas this September. As Western fans, we can’t wait.