3:10 To Yuma

Delmer Daves, USA 1957, 92 minutes

If you weren't too hot on the Western genre you might well mistake 3:10 to Yuma for that classic of cinema, High Noon. The film follows the High Noon formula closely, with the story (by Elmore Leonard) following a gang of outlaws as they try to hold up a stagecoach on a valuable run. The leader however is captured when he dallies too long with a lovely lady and as a result is held until the train of the title can take him off to Yuma for trial. Luckily, as in Ice Cold In Alex, there are no ambushes by killer washing machines to contend with (Alicia, we still miss you)!

This should not detract from the film itself, for 3:10 to Yuma is an excellent example of how to build a tightly plotted, well-acted drama. Glenn Ford excels in an unfamiliar role, as the quietly sinister gang leader. Van Heflin, as the impoverished local landowner who agrees to hold Ford until the train comes, also gives us a characterisation which elicits our sympathy and respect. Felicia Farr's brief role as the barmaid who causes Ford's guard to be dropped lights up the screen with an ole-time sensuality, yet also appears delicate and touchingly poignant.

3:10 To Yuma remains a muchoverlooked film in the genre, produced in a period when the time of the Great Westerns was coming to an end. As a precursor to the superior Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone or the post-modern antics of Clint Eastwood, it remains an important turning point in the history of the Western.

Review by Neil Chue Hong
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98