The Original 3:10 to Yuma

I haven't seen the new remake of 3:10 to Yuma with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe yet, even though folks I trust have told me it's a very good flick.

I think part of the reason I haven't yet seen it is that I can't get it into my head why it had to be remade. And even more irritating is that when I expressed this question on my LiveJournal, I was hit by a comment that people don't think older films are worth watching. I'm still dumbstruck by this notion. Wow.

Either way, I was delighted to catch the original Glenn Ford and Van Heflin version of 3:10 to Yuma on OnDemand last night. It's been some time since I last seen and it was still as great as I remember. In glorious black and white. Ahem.

Glenn Ford plays bad guy Ben Wade as an almost likable villain, but not in a let's-root-for-the-guy way but more in a charismatic way. But still, this is 1957 and the line between the white hats and the black hats is a thick and decisive one. just as we know how human he is, we also know how evil he is. It's a dance I wish more modern movies would take. After all, who were the stars of the first four Batman movies of the last decades? Batman or the baddies? There should be a line, dammit.

Van Heflin walks the other side as farmer Dan Evans, a reluctant farmer hero forced into the position to oppose Ben Wade. Wade is captured and a waiting game ensues as a race between his men coming to save him and an oncoming train to prison tick the clock away. Dan must come to terms with what should be done and what he wants to do as Wade tempts him with much-needed money to let him go.

The Elmore Leonard story is more psychological drama than straight western even though all the necessary elements are there. As I said I see little reason for this to be remade as it's an almost perfect film as it stands. Did it need to be in color? Did there need to be more bloodshed? I don't get it, but suppose will find out when I see the new one.

In the meantime, if you get a chance to see this one, please do. Great story, and probably some of the better performances by Ford and Heflin - a winner all around in my book. See it.

September 2007 Movie Log

Movies I've watched or re-watched this month include: The Avengers, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Bill Cosby: Himself, Mystery Men, In His Life: The John Lennon Story, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Devil’s Rejects, Dementia 13, Janis, Up Up and Away, Silent Hill, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Superman Returns, Boa, The Blues Brothers, West Side Story, Mask of the Avenger, Shaun of the Dead, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Crime Unleashed, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Great Race, Rollerball (1975), Shopgirl, The U.S. vs. John Lennon, Dark City, Moog, Josie and the Pussycats, Portrait of an Assassin, Office Space, Hostel, 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Forbidden Zone, Come On Get Happy, Apt Pupil, World Trade Center and A Simple Plan.

The only foray to the theatre this month was to see friends perform to Rocky Horror, so really no theatre flicks this time out. Insomnia had me raiding OnDemand again, and Showtime’s free preview this past weekend (Yay! Dexter!) offered up some new choices as well.

Flicks to add to the list of movies I’ll watch whenever they are on TV: Office Space, Josie and the Pussycats, West Side Story and Shaun of the Dead. Mystery Men would be added to my wife’s list, I just happen to be in the room.

Among the best this month (that I had seen for the first time) would be slim pickings with Shopgirl, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With and World Trade Center.

Fallen and Others

Fallen ~ I’ve never gotten around to seeing this until recently and was surprised at how good it was. Denzel Washington is not just one of our finest actors, but he also has tremendous skill in choosing roles. Even when he stars in action flicks, or like here, borderline horror, he maintains his integrity by playing thinking protagonists as opposed to those who shoot or punch first and thinks later. Fallen also features some great locations in and around Philadelphia, excellent sidekick work from John Goodman and a very chilling performance from Elias Koteas. It’s also interesting to see “Sopranos” brother and sister James Gandolfini and Aida Turturro together pre-“Sopranos.” Definitely recommended.

3:10 to Yuma (2007) ~ I really wanted to like this, especially because folks whose opinions I respect loved this version, but it just couldn’t overcome the original Glenn Ford/Van Heflin flick. In my opinion, while the performances are first class, the story was only made unnecessarily violent and complicated. Just not as good as it could been – this one was a missed opportunity.

Domino ~ Director Tony Scott brings us this sharp and clever bounty hunter flick starring Keira Knightley very against type. Think Quentin Tarantino meets Shoot ‘Em Up meets reality TV. Great fun.

Vanilla Sky ~ This remake of the Spanish Open Your Eyes was a surprise, not just because I never expect much from Tom Cruise flicks, but because folks told me that this was the Cameron Crowe film that Cameron Crowe fans hate. Honestly, as a CC fan, I don’t see his touch, but considering he didn’t write this one I didn’t need to. I liked the twists and turns in the story, although I figured it out early. If I hadn’t this would have been a lot better. Acting-wise, no one is bad but no one stands out either – Cameron Diaz is suitably creepy though.

A Million Ways to Die in the West

A Million Ways to Die in the West ~ Steven Spielberg once predicted the death of the superhero movie, saying it would soon go the way of the Western. This comes from the man who co-created Indiana Jones, a character that is essentially a superhero, lacking only a mask. It wasn't that he said it that bothered me, it was the derision with which he said it. Bad form, Mr. Spielberg.

I think it's a matter of quality not genre. Bad superhero movies may well go the way of bad Westerns, but good movies, no matter the genre, will last. When it comes to bad movies, only the really, really bad ones are remembered. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, anyone? And we shall not even speak of Batman v Superman…

They still make good Westerns, just sometimes they're in disguise. They wear the trappings of the South like Django Unchained, Japanese theatre like Bunraku, the post-apocalypse like Mad Max, or simple covered in dirt like "Deadwood." I left the remakes of True Grit and 3:10 to Yuma out because I didn't particularly like them, no matter how critically acclaimed they were.

And sometimes a good Western, like in the case of Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West, it's shrouded in shameless inappropriate humor. I would never have thought it before seeing it, but I loved this flick. Co-written, produced, and directed by MacFarlane, this movie has that old time Western feel, but with that raunchy fall down funny vibe of Blazing Saddles, and even has the dirty authenticity of "Deadwood."

From the start with the opening credits sequence, MacFarlane sets the stage for this film as a classic Western. Old fashioned titles matched with sweeping colorful scenery of the Old West, overlaid with the beautiful score of Joel McNeely, made for an opening that could have been swiped from a sixties John Ford epic. I watched it twice. That good.

Once it's over though, the trademark MacFarlane humor kicks in almost immediately. This is no Blazing Saddles but it's real close, and if you liked Ted or "Family Guy," you will love this. This movie is a gift for Western fans, and piss-your-pants funny for comedy fans. Recommended.

RIP Elmore Leonard

We have lost another living legend, this time a god among writers, award-winning novelist Elmore Leonard has passed away. He's written over fifty novels, a handful of short stories and screenplays. Movies and television shows have been made for dozens of his works.

Among his writings are some of the subtle masterpieces of our time, including Rum Punch (filmed as Jackie Brown), Gold Coast, The Big Bounce, Get Shorty, Be Cool, the short story 3:10 to Yuma (filmed twice), Out of Sight, 52 Pick-Up, Hombre, Mr. Majestyk, Riding the Rap, and more than a few novels that inspire the TV series "Justified."

When I think of the written western or crime fiction I think of Leonard as the master. When I was in college, and stubbornly insisting I wanted to be a writer, a professor told me, "If you want to write fiction, read Elmore Leonard," suggesting it was education by example.

I can't get it together to say much more. We have lost one of the greats. Click here and I'll share his ten rules of writing, quite possibly the best writing advice ever given. Elmore Leonard was one of the masters, and there'll never be another like him.