3:10 to Robert Ford
Published 1 month, 4 weeks ago in CineramaI hooked up a couple Westerns on the Amazon Unbox recently.
The first was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Much like its title, the film is over-long, but it features some great cinematography and some mighty fine performances — especially from Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell. I was amused at one point when the narration describing Jesse James mentioned that he had a condition that caused him to blink a lot… and there’s Brad Pitt, doing his standard scruffy-faced, wide-eye, unblinking crazy face…. Um, yeah… OK, Brad. That said, Pitt is generally good, too, but it’s a role that isn’t much of a stretch for him. Anyway, the movie itself is good enough that I would certainly recommend it “if that’s your sort of thing” — by which I guess I’d mean low-action, semi-cerebral period pieces with pretty pictures.
Then last night I watched 3:10 to Yuma. More action to this one — it’s what you’d call a straight up Western. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are both quite good, and it was a treat to see that guy from Firefly again. Best of all was a scene-stealing Ben Foster as Charlie Prince — that character is a perfect Western villain. If you like people shooting at other people from horseback, this is your choice.
Unfortunately, I’m puzzled by the climax… (Spoilers ahoy!)
The actions of Crowe’s character, Ben Wade, in the finale don’t make sense to me at all. He decides to go along with Bale’s Dan Evans to get on the train, but doesn’t call off his boys, who are trying their damnedest to kill Evans. He actually behaves as if he is running from his own gang. Only as he gets on the train does he make any effort — too late — to keep Evans from being killed. He then proceeds to dispatch his entire gang in seeming revenge. WTF? Then he goes ahead and hops into the cage on the train to be taken to prison, but that’s revealed to be something he does only to make Evans’s son feel better (or something) because he calls his horse to follow along, implying an escape in the near future….
*boggle*
Why would he go along tot he train and not call off his gang? If he wasn’t going to call off his boys, why would he shoot them all after they killed Evans? Why would he do all of this if he was just going to escape and start over? At least I’m not alone:
Without giving anything away, let’s just say that in the interests of a socko finale Wade behaves in ways even Crowe can’t make us swallow.
Like I said, I don’t get it.
UPDATE: I should have checked Rod’s fake script first:
CHRISTIAN BALE
(clutching chest)
I did it, son!CHRISTIAN BALE’S KID
Did what? Managed to be so pathetic that Crowe took pity on you and volunteered to go to jail so that you could feel like a hero, despite being such a complete loser?CHRISTIAN BALE
Yeah, I totally did that.
(dies)
3:10 to Robert Ford
Published 1 month, 4 weeks ago in CineramaI hooked up a couple Westerns on the Amazon Unbox recently.
The first was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Much like its title, the film is over-long, but it features some great cinematography and some mighty fine performances — especially from Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell. I was amused at one point when the narration describing Jesse James mentioned that he had a condition that caused him to blink a lot… and there’s Brad Pitt, doing his standard scruffy-faced, wide-eye, unblinking crazy face…. Um, yeah… OK, Brad. That said, Pitt is generally good, too, but it’s a role that isn’t much of a stretch for him. Anyway, the movie itself is good enough that I would certainly recommend it “if that’s your sort of thing” — by which I guess I’d mean low-action, semi-cerebral period pieces with pretty pictures.
Then last night I watched 3:10 to Yuma. More action to this one — it’s what you’d call a straight up Western. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are both quite good, and it was a treat to see that guy from Firefly again. Best of all was a scene-stealing Ben Foster as Charlie Prince — that character is a perfect Western villain. If you like people shooting at other people from horseback, this is your choice.
Unfortunately, I’m puzzled by the climax… (Spoilers ahoy!)
The actions of Crowe’s character, Ben Wade, in the finale don’t make sense to me at all. He decides to go along with Bale’s Dan Evans to get on the train, but doesn’t call off his boys, who are trying their damnedest to kill Evans. He actually behaves as if he is running from his own gang. Only as he gets on the train does he make any effort — too late — to keep Evans from being killed. He then proceeds to dispatch his entire gang in seeming revenge. WTF? Then he goes ahead and hops into the cage on the train to be taken to prison, but that’s revealed to be something he does only to make Evans’s son feel better (or something) because he calls his horse to follow along, implying an escape in the near future….
*boggle*
Why would he go along tot he train and not call off his gang? If he wasn’t going to call off his boys, why would he shoot them all after they killed Evans? Why would he do all of this if he was just going to escape and start over? At least I’m not alone:
Without giving anything away, let’s just say that in the interests of a socko finale Wade behaves in ways even Crowe can’t make us swallow.
Like I said, I don’t get it.
UPDATE: I should have checked Rod’s fake script first:
CHRISTIAN BALE
(clutching chest)
I did it, son!CHRISTIAN BALE’S KID
Did what? Managed to be so pathetic that Crowe took pity on you and volunteered to go to jail so that you could feel like a hero, despite being such a complete loser?CHRISTIAN BALE
Yeah, I totally did that.
(dies)
4 Responses to “3:10 to Robert Ford”
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the original had the same caliber actors in it. and it was essencially the same story. i had the same critiscism of the film but was too overpowered by the crowe and foster (who i mistakenly thought was owen wilson - even better) performance. they were both amazing, and the character that crowe played was also an interesting and engaging one.
i think that the crowe character was supposed to be an elemental part of the untamable western spirit. that undefined something that makes up the american blah blah blah. that it got its eternal power from ‘playing the game’ and that the bale character was the first add to the play list that it had ever seen there for it watched it play itself out to the end, ensuring that it could hit redo and run the story over by calling its horse to follow after.
i dunno… it falls into the unforgiven catagory for me. it was very good but the things that make the western genre attractive to me were missing. it was a crossover movie for something that didn’t need to cross over for me to see it. its efforts to cater to a mainstream audience were mostly lost on me.
i did get all emotional watching alan tudyk pull another wash.
crowe’s charater drew heavily from the native american mythos in my opinion… very coyote-esque and the story follows that tradition with typical white heavy handed interpretation. i think viewed from that stand point it makes a little more sense.
Just saw this myself over the weekend.
For the ending, it also made me go “WTF?” and feel a little hollow. But, then it made sense.
First, he got onto the train at the end, since he wasn’t scared of going to Yuma. He mentioned he had escaped twice, and certainly expected to do so again. Whistling for his horse to follow was probably a clue that his escape was coming.
I don’t think he could have called his gang off. Remember, the whole town was after him (well, Dan) by this point. A flood was started, and he couldn’t have stopped it. But, he also wanted Dan’s son to give him the proper respect. He liked Dan, and had some respect for him. He saw in him what he could have been, and maybe deep inside wanted to be (he wanted to escape with the bartender to Mexico.. his life as an outlaw didn’t seem to be what he wanted anymore). Also, he wanted Dan to get paid. Dan was, in a sense, his mirror image. So, a few reasons why he was running from his own gang, and probably didn’t/couldn’t call them off.
My guess on his killing his gang is that, well, he didn’t care about them. His plan, I think, was to go to Yuma, escape, get his money, and go to Mexico (with the hot bartender). His gang didn’t matter at that point. Probably better off dead if he wanted to head to Mexico since he’d keep their money, and wouldn’t have to worry about them following.
I think what was missing was more (blatant?) clues to what Wade wanted. I only make my hypothesis based on some of the things he said, some things he did, and some things he didn’t do (like kill Dan, who was his biggest threat, and he had plenty of chances).
I didn’t see the original, but this ending was also a typical Hollywood ending so they can leave open for a “Last we saw Wade, he was on the 3:10 to Yuma….”
that guy from firefly rules.
Pirate Steve from Dodgeball
E network boss from knocked up.