3:10 to Yuma
So Anthony and I went to see 3:10 to Yuma. If it was Kid Colt or Jonah Hex in comic book form, Zane Grey or John Wayne, the Western is one of my favorite genres. Even if it's a bit limited, I don't care. All I knew was that we had a new major motion picture Western. Cool.
I'll come clean right off, I'm not big on movies. For instance, I had never been to the new Carmike Cinema in Corvallis, and it's been open years. But Ebert had done a good review of the new 3:10 to Yuma. So I was ready.
The thing is, it just wasn't very good. Ebert describes the relationship between the bad guy they had to take to the train to go to jail, and the desperate rancher who needed the $200 to get the water rights for his ranch--who basically is on a suicide mission as follows: Locked in the hotel room, surrounded by death for one or the other, the two men begin to talk. Without revealing anything of the plot, let me speculate that each senses he has found the first man he has met in years who is his equal in conversation.
What a load of bunk. Frankly, I didn't see what Ebert saw in the relationship. I've come to the conclusion he reads way too much into this stuff. My brother calls him a shrill for the industry. And I agree. We decided to rent the original 3:10 to Yuma, and I found the relationship in the original much more believable.
I simply didn't see the outlaw in the new movie running through a hail of bullets at the end for some down on his luck rancher. My buddies and I in high school used to have a saying when watching an action adventure flick or saaay... the Dukes of Hazzard-- It could happen. It was our tongue in cheek way of saying, sure... the car could launch off the ramp and land just right. It was possible.
But the end of the new 3:10 to Yuma simply was not believable. And it certainly didn't restore the wounded heart of the Western and rescue it from the morass of pointless violence. Excuse me while I hurl. (I've got to stop reading Ebert.) There was plenty of pointless violence. And I'm not sure the Western needed rescuing. It was just time for another big budget Western.
Entertained? Yes.
Disappointed? Yep.
Typical testosterone flick? Its a WESTERN! What did you really expect? ;b