I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Having shied away from westerns in the past (except for the spaghetti variety) it means I can come to a film like this afresh. And what a joy it is. From the very opening with the big sky and the tumbling landscape to the very end with clouds of steam from a trundling train, this is a beautiful experience. Based upon a story by a young Elmore Leonard, this is a solid tale, well told with dramatic and affecting photography and realistic and affecting dialogue. So many wondrous shots, children crowded behind a window and perfectly framed, ominous shadows across the bar-room floor anticipating the approach of the bad men. But are they that bad? For a film in which we basically have a ticking clock, ever anticipating the end, it is astonishing how complex the characters are revealed. The faultless Glenn Ford seduces the beautiful Felicia Farr and the magic moment as she prepares to give herself to the baddest man in town is the sparkling of her fluttering eyes. Her desires may run counter to the interests of the town and his may cause him unnecessary delay but hey they are only human. I won't give a way the ending but suffice to say it is at once predictable and astonishing. A smile, a laugh and a tear. A suitable ending for a film of many delightful contradictions and issues of human frailty. Brilliant.

Here is a movie that seems to be a simple tale, but is really about character development and growth. Yet still it's full of tension and suspense.The film starts out with a sudden and unnecessary murder. On the surface, killer Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) doesn't betray a bit of conscience. But his trigger finger has prevented him from consummating an encounter with a lovely saloon maid (Felicia Farr). Wade comes to realize that his choices in life are adding up to a big, fat zero. The way he's heading, he'll never have a wife and kids like Dan Evans (Van Hefflin), the poor shlub who's risking his life to haul him in to the law. Neither man sees it coming, but each influences the other powerfully.Evans has turned bounty hunter because he needs the money. Wade seems to deeply appreciate women, and man, does he miss taking a woman to bed! The chemistry between Emmy and Wade is palpable and intense."What's a woman for if you don't treat her right?" Ford purrs to his would-be lady love.At points along the way, Wade is taunting, shaming, and threatening to the seemingly not-so-swift Evans, who politely answers all his questions until Wade mutters, "I'll bet (your wife) was a real beautiful woman before she met you." At a certain point, it's as if Evans keeps on keeping on not for the money anymore but for his own need to grow up and just stop taking crap. It's his own growing a backbone that captures Wade's attention and spurs his own self-sacrificing turnaround -- even though it leads straight to the gallows. Like a better-known western, "Shane," that has a lot more going on than initially meets the eye, "3:10 to Yuma" captures the struggle between bullies of the world and plain old folks who just want to live their lives -- folks who'd rather not fight, but will do battle if there's no other way.I heartily recommend this film to anyone with an interest in psychological development and spiritual redemption.Don't overlook the brief funeral scene, with its solitary dog atop a plain wooden coffin. There's poetry here, amid the dust, craggy rocks, cacti, and big open sky.Based on a story by Elmore Leonard, this film far transcends its ordinary surroundings.

He may not carry himself or show the authority Gary Cooper does in High Noon but Van Heflin as a desperate farmer in need of rain displays the same steel in 3:10 to Yuma, a suspenseful western with a similar dynamic including a theme song.Ben Wade and his gang of outlaws botch a stage job that results in the death of the shotgun and his capture. The problem is there is no law around to bring Wade to the authorities in Yuma. Ranch farmer Dan Evans facing the loss of his crop and property assumes the responsibility of doing it with the promise of a pay day. The problem is Wade's boys are still around trying to spring him. After sneaking him to another town with a train station he holds up with Wade in a hotel saloon hoping to enlist some support from town folk. Solidly edited director Delmer Daves and cameraman Charles Lawton Jr. achieve a very claustrophobic atmosphere for a western by keeping it off the streets and opting to shrink the drama down to the hotel bar and a room with a view in which Lawton capitalizes on with disconcerting angles and fractured imagery and establish a disorienting tension. Catching the train in the film's climax offers up some other outstanding craftsmanship on those mentioned above.As in Shane, Heflin's unassuming looks and demeanor work superbly to his advantage as a Joe nondescript filled with incertitude but with a determination to dig down and see it through. Wade is a charming snake coolly underplayed by Ford who has an excellent chemistry with Heflin sharing a convincing rapport. Beyond its obvious theme 3:10 to Yuma is an interesting looking original.

The western meets noir in this intelligent minor classic. A psychological drama that is much more about the battle of souls and the slippery nature of good and evil than about gunplay and chase scenes. Led by a great performance by Glenn Ford, going way against type as a low key, but highly charismatic, even sexy bad guy, who its hard to hate. And he's almost matched by a jittery Van Heflin as a down-on-his-luck rancher who agrees to bring the very dangerous Ford to the titular train to be taken to prison, Heflin doesn't take the job out of any great moral belief, but just because he desperately needs the $200 to have some shot of keeping his cattle alive and his family fed. Beautifully shot, keeping the open feel of the south-west for the first act, the real climax of the film is a 30 minute set piece in a hotel room as Ford tries to gently, almost comically, bribe and woo Heflin into letting him go, promising far more money than the $200 Heflin is being paid. And we see just how tempting that offer is to Heflin, and how confusing doing the "right" thing can be. A truly tense film. Whatever its flaws or dated touches fade beneath its great images, sly dialogue, forceful direction, complex characters, and 1st rate acting.