Quel treno per Yuma

Usually I do try to watch original movies before I go ahead and watch remakes. In this case I was not aware of the original when I watched the remake. So hard to say how I would have viewed the remake, with that in mind. But I don't think I'd have liked it less. While this is the original, the remake did get quite a star cast as well. Maybe Glenn Ford is the one element that is the best in both movies ... still they both are good and whichever you feel is better in your view, so be it.

And yes Glenn Ford is so good at being bad, it actually makes you root for him. At least it is true for me. He seems to have some moral compass left ... or some form of humanity. But maybe I'm wrong and he is just deceiving. Whatever the case, he is the star of the movie in so many different ways. If you like western movies with a touch of High Noon to them (a real classic if there ever was one), this will float your boat.

I normally don't comment on movies others have already commented on, but this one's been really bother me because no one really noted just how outstanding the cinematic compositions are. They're eye-poppingly gorgeous and remind me of a western Citizen Kane. In some scenes the Deep Focus technique (lots of hot light so that the background is in sharp focus) is outstanding. The artistry is almost out of place in this exciting but preposterously noirish western. There doesn't seem to be anything else in Lawton's repertoire (maybe parts of Two Rode Together?) as good, but director Daves' respect for good pictorials is evident in most of his efforts. It's a great collaboration, and a pretty good picture that's not as great as the sum of its parts. *** Most of the other comments rightly comment on Glenn Ford's cool acting. Isn't it time for him to get a Lifetime from AFI?

When the charming outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) is captured after the heist of a stagecoach, the stage line owner Mr. Butterfield (Robert Emhardt) offers US$ 200,00 to the man that escorts the bandit to the city of Contention to take the 3:10 PM train to Yuma to be sent to trial. The rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin) is broken and needs the money to save his cattle and support his family and accepts the assignment. During their journey, Dan saves the life of Ben when a vigilante tries to execute the criminal. Meanwhile Ben's gang split to find where Ben is and then rescues their boss. When they find that Ben is trapped in a hotel room, they put the place under siege and Dan can not find any man to help him.

"3:10 to Yuma" is a classic western from a wonderful time when honor was an important value in a film and even outlaws could have a code of honor. In the present days, it would be hard to believe why Dan Evans is incorruptible and does not accept Ben's bribe. Glenn Ford performs a charismatic outlaw and the moral duel with Van Heflin's character is fantastic. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Galante e Sanguinário" ("Gallant and Bloodthirsty")

Long before it was re-made, I treasured this modest gem of a western.

From the first notes of its mournful, affecting theme to to the poignant finale it draws you in and keeps you riveted as the tension mounts. It accomplishes this by keeping to the Aristotelian unities: a single theme about a single protagonist on a single day. Yes, there is an obvious parallel to **High Noon**.

Though cast as a villain for the only time in his career, Glen Ford's natural likability shines through in the role of gang boss Ben Wade. Van Heflin's Dan Evans is Everyman--no hero but spurred to heroism by desperate circumstances and devotion to family. In contrast to Heflin's homeliness is the godlike physical perfection of the young Richard Jaeckel as the outlaw gang's second-in-command, smart, dangerous, utterly amoral yet loyal unto death to his boss.

There is not a bad performance anywhere. But I must single out Felicia Farr as the lonely barmaid who gives Ford a last, quick good time, and craggy-faced Ford Rainey as a town Marshal with a plan.

With its mix of deep focus shots and closeups of the actors' faces, the cinematography was the obvious inspiration to Sergio Leone in his spaghetti western series.

I was accidentally given this movie instead of the 2007 re-make! And I am grateful. For modern students of cinematography the 1950s Western genre may initially seem somewhat arcane, but movies like this demonstrate how movies of that era reach for a higher plane, not just in terms of the craft, but philosophy as well. This effort is almost perfectly constructed, and worthy of a student's close analysis. It could have been 10 minutes longer, to develop the characters of Ford and Heflin, emphasise some of the sexual tension, and to develop the relationship between protagonist and antagonist. Perhaps some back story should have been implied, too, between the gang and its leader (civil war loyalty ?) And incidentally, I was amazed and pleased how briefly, intensely and satisfying was the connection between Ford and the barmaid.An amazing scene, of just a few minutes - which surely must have shocked adult audiences of 1957 (and passed over the head of children).