Released in 2007, James Mangold's bristling remake of Glenn Ford's classic western stars Christian Bale (pictured, left) and Russell Crowe (pictured, right).
Flat-broke cattle rancher Dan Evans (Bale) sees a chance to make a few bucks when notorious criminal Ben Wade (Crowe) is captured after a stagecoach robbery near Bisbee, Arizona. If Dan can get the trigger-happy outlaw onto the train to Yuma prison without incident, he'll get $200 for his family. But Wade's gang aren't about to give up their leader without a fight, and it's a long way to the station.
Walk The Line director Mangold brings a new edge to Elmore Leonard's short story, which was first adapted for the big screen in 1957 by Delmer Daves. Forty years on, Crowe and Bale take over from Glenn Ford and Van Heflin as the crook and luckless cowboy, thrown together by fate and destined to change each other's lives.
Both turn in notable performances, with Crowe in particular impressing as the ruthless killer who finds his heart in the film's dying scenes. Co-star Ben Foster is also worth a nod: last seen beating angelic wings in X-Men: The Last Stand, he swaps his heavenly aura for black-hearted psychosis, playing Wade's crazy henchman Charlie Prince with a murderous zeal not seen since Natural Born Killers.
A fine addition to the western genre, it's intense, explosive and skilfully delivered.
3.10 to Yuma is a Film programme that first aired in 2007 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
