History Film / ThreeTenToYuma

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A 2007 film starring Creator/RussellCrowe and Creator/ChristianBale.

DeterminedHomesteader Dan Evans (Bale) is going to lose his farm. A bad drought worsened by his creditor redirecting the river that ran through his farm makes it nigh impossible to pay his dues, let alone afford his ill son's medication. His luck is about to change though, but for better or worse is hard to tell. Not far away, stage coach robber Ben Wade (Crowe) is pulling off another successful heist against a bank coach. Dan and his sons are witness to it, and manage to walk away alive ''and'' with [[AffablyEvil Wade generously compensating]] the loss of some cattle during the heist. Dan and his sons rescue one of the [[PinkertonDetective Pinkertons (law men)]] that survived and take him to town.

Wade goes to the nearby town to rest before regrouping and setting off again, but the local marshal sets an ambush and they capture him. This was the easy part however. Since the marshal needs volunteers to escort Wade to Yuma for a trial, Dan volunteers in order to get the money to pay for his farm. The way to Yuma will be filled with dangers, orchestrated by Wade's [[TheCavalry gang]], and perhaps most dangerously, MagnificentBastard Wade himself.

This film was TheRemake of [[Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957 a classic 1957 Western]] starring ''Glenn Ford'' and Van Heflin, which was in turn a film adaptation of a short story of the same name by Creator/ElmoreLeonard (his first ever published work, in fact). Perhaps one of the best musical scores of the year 2007.

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!!This Film provides examples of:

* AccidentalHero: Near the end of the movie, Dan reveals [[spoiler: he was no hero during the war. When he lost his leg, not only was it his only battle, but his outfit was forced to retreat and he was the victim of friendly fire. Everything he does to get Ben Wade on the train to Yuma [[TheAtoner is to give his kids a dad they can be proud of.]] Ben is impressed enough to [[FriendlyEnemy help him for the rest of the movie.]]]]
* AdaptationExpansion: A textbook example. The remake reuses a lot of dialogue with many scenes being virtually identical, so much in fact that they gave the writer of the original a co-writer credit even though he died a long time ago. But the remake also adds a lot of content expanding on several characters, adding more and fleshing out the journey. The ending's also changed, though.
* AffablyEvil: Ben Wade, who is dangerously charming.
* TheAlcoholic: Potter in the original.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Charlie "Princess" in the remake. Definitely not helped by his shrill voice, immaculate dress sense, the way he struts and cat walks, the fact that he wears ''eye liner'', and his [[IgnoredEnamoredUnderling incredibly obvious crush on his boss.]]
%%* AnyoneCanDie
* BehindTheBlack: Dan really ought to be able to see the train from miles off, given the flat terrain and the fact that it's, ya know, a train. But it's kept off camera to make the finale more dramatic.
* BreakingOutTheBoss: This is the goal for Wade's men in the film.
* ChekhovsGun: Wade's gun is said to be cursed to anyone who touches it except him. [[spoiler: Tucker]] takes it from him, and is killed by [[spoiler:Wade]]. The [[spoiler: rail road posse]] take it later, and are in turn killed by [[spoiler: Charlie Prince]]. At the climax scene after [[spoiler:Dan's death]], [[spoiler: Ben's gang pass the gun to him]], but only after ''every single one of them has touched it.'' Remember the curse?
* CardboardPrison: After volunteering to help Dan do everything possible to get him on the train that will take him to Yuma prison, Ben Wade makes a little confession: he's already escaped from Yuma. Twice.
%%* ChineseLaborer
* ColdSniper: The "Mexican sharpshooter" in Wade's gang.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: {{Averted}}. Butterfield the banker isn't going to win any personality contests, but he was hardly a PointyHairedBoss or [[spoiler: willing to force Dan to fight suicidal odds in the end]].
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Dan, shot repeatedly in the back and chest by Charlie Prince.]]
* DeathGlare: Ben Wade gives several in the movie. The most impressive one is probably [[spoiler: the one given to his whole gang after Charlie shoots Dan. The second Charlie sees the look he starts reaching for his guns. It doesn't do him any good.]]
%%* {{Determinator}}
* DeterminedHomesteader: Dan Evans.
* DirtyCoward: The man handling the prisoners on the 3:10 to Yuma flees when [[spoiler: Charlie guns down Dan.]]
* TheDragon:
** Charlie Prince to Ben Wade.
** Tucker to Glen Hollander.
* DwindlingParty: The posse escorting Wade, whose members are killed off one-by-one as the journey goes on.
** Tucker: [[spoiler: Stabbed repeatedly in the throat by Wade.]]
** [=McElroy=]: [[spoiler: Thrown off a cliff by Wade.]]
** Potter: [[spoiler: Shot by the railroad enforcers.]]
** Dan: [[spoiler: Gunned down by Charlie Prince.]]
* ElectricTorture: A minor character whose brother was killed by Ben Wade does a version of this to Wade.
* EnemyMine: Wade helps his captors more than once when a common enemy shows up, namely the Apaches and the railroad enforcers.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The remake is the TropeNamer.
-->'''Wade:''' I've always liked you Byron, but you never know when to shut up. Even bad men love their mommas.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: While Ben Wade is a thief and murderer, he does believe in paying back favors, treating the dead with respect, and using non-violent methods when possible.
* FastestGunInTheWest: Ben Wade.
* FlatCharacter: Ben Wade accuses Byron [=McElroy=] of being one.
-->'''Ben Wade:''' Byron's like a song with only one note in it. You ever read a book in your life besides Literature/TheBible, Byron?
-->'''Byron:''' No need.
* ForDoomTheBellTolls: In the trailers and during the movie's climax.
* FriendlyEnemy: Towards the end [[spoiler: Wade all but fights at Dan's side, out of respect and admiration. Of course, he had escaped Yuma prison twice already.]]
* GatlingGood: The stagecoach has one, not that it stopped Wade's gang.
* GayCowboy: Charlie to Wade in the remake, the subtext practically ''screaming'' AmbiguouslyGay. Charlie is even once insulted as "Charlie Princ''ess"''. Given that he's a criminal, he also counts as a {{Gayngster}}.
* GreenEyes: Ben Wade is attracted to girls with green eyes. Like Dan's wife Alice.
** Charlie Prince also has a pair of striking green eyes.
* HandicappedBadass: It's easy to forget Dan does all his stunts while ''wearing a prosthetic leg.''
* HandyCuffs: You'd think after the first time Wade killed a member of the party with his hands cuffed in front of him, someone would cuff them behind his back.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: After coming to understand why Dan is willing to die to get him on the train to Yuma, Ben Wade actually ''helps'' him to the train station, leading him through a hail of gunfire from the gunmen trying to rescue the outlaw. All so that the railroad will make good on their promise to save Dan's farm, but more importantly Dan's son can see what his father is made of. At one point Ben pulls Dan to his feet after falling so they can keep going.]]
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Dan himself at the end of the remake.]]
* HolyHitman: Ben Wade seems to either not believe in God or dislike Him, but he can exchange Bible quotes with the best of them. [[spoiler:This is due to his ParentalAbandonment: Wade's mother gave a young Wade a Bible, sat him down, and told him she was going off to get train tickets to take them out of town and to keep reading until she got back. Three days later, he had finished from cover to back, and she never came back.]]
* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Charlie Prince to his boss Ben Wade. Charlie is implied to be romantically attracted to Wade, who never notices or reciprocates.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: [[spoiler:During the film's climax, the gang seems to be able to hit everything ''except'' Dan and Wade.]]
* InjunCountry: The party passes through here briefly only to get attacked by stereotypical braves at night. Wade notes that the ones in this part are the ones that stayed to fight and they [[AxCrazy enjoy killing.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Some notable examples:
** One of the posse's members, Tucker, burned down Dan's barn at the behest of his creditor and continues to go out of his way to be an asshole to Ben Wade.
** [=McElroy=] also qualifies due to his nastiness towards other characters, his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of a shackled Ben Wade, and his OffstageVillainy, which includes massacring an Apache village (men, women and children). Though [=McElroy=]'s beating of Ben comes directly after [[spoiler: Ben had just finished stabbing Tucker to death]] and Wade's gang did ''shoot'' him earlier so he's got plenty of good reasons to hate him.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The entire group trying to get Wade onto the train (except Dan's son and Butterfield), ''and'' the entirety of Ben's posse.]]
* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler: What Ben's gang does to the passenger of the decoy wagon (the driver got sniped).]]
* LiveActionEscortMission
* MoralityPet: {{Zigzagged}}. William tries to invoke this, telling Wade he isn't all bad. Wade casually tells William that he "wouldn't last five minutes leading an outfit like that if [he] wasn't as rotten as hell." He then [[spoiler:kills every member in his posse when they kill Dan and gets on the train willingly, with the knowledge that he can escape from Yuma, having done so twice before.]] He's a complex guy.
* NiceHat: Wade is ''very'' fond of his hat.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: When Wade manages to kill one member of the posse while everyone is asleep, Byron [=McElroy=] responds by beating the handcuffed Wade (who is also lying down on the ground) over and over with the [[PistolWhipping butt of his rifle]]. This goes on even when the other members of the posse tell him to stop. Eventually, he has to be physically restrained from continuing the beating.
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Doc is actually a horse doctor. His surgery still manages to save [=McElroy=].
* ParentalAbandonment: Ben Wade suffered from this as a child.
* PinkertonDetective: [=McElroy=].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [=McElroy=] massacred Apache in the past, and he makes a (literally) fatal mistake when he insults Ben Wade's mother. There's also the corrupt leader of the construction camp who considers his Chinese laborers to be animals and somehow comes across as worse than Ben and his gang.
* {{Rancher}}: Dan Evans (albeit a failing one).
* SonOfAWhore: [=McElroy=] states Ben Wade is the offspring of a hooker and makes the idiotic mistake of insulting dear old mom in front of him. Wade kills him and notes that [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas he loves her anyway]].
* StuffBlowingUp: Byron kills one of Wade's men this way when he shoots a stick of dynamite in the bandit's satchel, blowing him and the horse he's riding up.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: There are 13 members of Wade's gang, counting Wade.
** Ben Wade
** [[TheDragon Charlie Prince]]
** [[ColdSniper Campos]]
** Sutherland (explosives expert, murders the decoy wagon passenger by burning him to death)
** Jackson (wears a furry waistcoat, doesn't think it's worth trying to free Wade)
** Nez (wears a poncho, referred to as an Apache)
** Kitner (killed by Dan in the town shootout)
** Jorgerson (large man with a poncho)
** Tommy Darden (held hostage by one of the stagecoach guards, gets shot by Wade)
** Tighe (blown up by Byron [=McElroy=] by a shotgun shell to his satchel of dynamite during the stagecoach robbery)
** three others (killed during the stagecoach robbery)
* TooDumbToLive: Being a JerkAss to a MagnificentBastard is a very bad idea.
%%* UnwillingSuspension
* VehicleTitle: The name is based on the train scheduled to ride to Yuma.
* VillainExitStageLeft: Wade has apparently escaped Yuma multiple times before.
* WeaponStomp: The stagecoach driver crawls for his shotgun but just as he gets to it, Charlie Prince steps on it.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Role reversed - Dan Evans desperately wants to earn the love and respect of his bratty, ungrateful son William, which inspires him to take Ben Wade to the train that will take him to prison (which will also provide him with some extra cash as a reward).
* WickedCultured: Wade has read the entirety of the Bible, and is a skilled drawer of both wildlife and humans.
* YouRemindMeOfX: A villainish version is done, as Wade tells Dan that William Evans (Dan's older son) reminds him of Wade in order to provoke Dan.
** Wade also makes inferences about Dan's wife, comparing her to a girl he knew in San Francisco.

Wade goes to the nearby town to rest before regrouping and setting off again, but the local sheriff sets an ambush and they capture him. This was the easy part however. Since the marshal needs volunteers to escort Wade to Yuma for a trial, Dan volunteers in order to get the money to pay for his farm. The way to Yuma will be filled with dangers, orchestrated by Wade's [[TheCavalry gang]], and perhaps most dangerously, MagnificentBastard Wade himself.

* VehicleTitle: The name is based off the train scheduled to ride to Yuma.

DeterminedHomesteader Dan Evans (Bale) is going to lose his farm. A bad drought worsened by his creditor redirecting the river that ran through his farm makes it nigh impossible to pay his dues, let alone afford his ill son's medication. His luck is about to change though, but for better or worse is hard to tell. Not far away, stage coach robber Ben Wade (Crowe) is pulling off another successful heist against a bank coach. Dan and his sons are witness to it, and manage to walk away alive ''and'' with [[AffablyEvil Wade generously compensating]] the loss of some cattle during the heist. Dan and his sons rescue one of the [[PinkertonDetective pinkertons (law men)]] that survived and take him to town.

Wade goes to the nearby town to rest before regrouping and setting off again, but the local sheriff sets an ambush and they capture him. This was the easy part however. Since the sheriff needs volunteers to escort Wade to Yuma for a trial, Dan volunteers in order to get the money to pay for his farm. The way to Yuma will be filled with dangers, orchestrated by Wade's [[TheCavalry gang]], and perhaps most dangerously, MagnificentBastard Wade himself.

* AdaptationExpansion: Textbook example, the remake reuses a lot of dialogue with many scenes being virtually identical, so much in fact that they gave the writer of the original a co-writer credit even though he died a long time ago. But the remake also adds a lot of content expanding on several characters, adding more and fleshing out the journey. The ending's also changed, though.

* TheAlcoholic: Potter in the original

* ChekhovsGun: Wade's gun is said to be cursed to anyone who touches it except him. [[spoiler: Tucker]] takes it from him, and is killed by [[spoiler:Wade]]. The [[spoiler: rail-road posse]] take it later, and are in turn killed by [[spoiler: Charlie Prince]]. At the climax scene after [[spoiler:Dan's death]], [[spoiler: Ben's gang pass the gun to him]], but only after ''every single one of them has touched it.'' Remember the curse?

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: {{Averted}}, Butterfield the banker isn't going to win any personality contests, but he was hardly a PointyHairedBoss or [[spoiler: willing to force Dan to fight suicidal odds in the end]].

* FriendlyEnemy: Towards the end [[spoiler: Wade all but fights at Dan's side, out of respect and admiration. Of course, he had escaped Yuma prison several times already.]]

* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Charlie Prince to his boss Ben Wade. Charlie is implied to be romantically attracted to Wade who never notices or reciprocates.

* InjunCountry: The party passes through here briefly only to get attacked by stereotypical Braves at night. Wade notes that the ones in this part are the ones that stayed to fight and they [[AxCrazy enjoy killing.]]

** [=McElroy=] also qualifies due to his nastiness towards other characters, his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of a shackled Ben Wade, and his OffstageVillainy, which includes massacring an Indian village (men, women and children). Though [=McElroy=]'s beating of Ben comes directly after [[spoiler: Ben had just finished stabbing Tucker to death]] and Wade's gang did ''shoot'' him earlier so he's got plenty of good reasons to hate him.

* MoralityPet: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]]. William tries to invoke this, telling Wade he isn't all bad. Wade casually tells William that he "wouldn't last five minutes leading an outfit like that if [he] wasn't as rotten as hell." He then [[spoiler:kills every member in his posse when they kill Dan and gets on the train willingly, with the knowledge that he can escape from Yuma, having done so twice before.]] He's a complex guy.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [=McElroy=] massacred Apache in the past, and he makes a (literally) fatal mistake when he insults Ben Wade's mother. There's also the corrupt leader of the construction camp who considers his Chinese Laborers to be animals and somehow comes across as worse than Ben and his gang.

* SonOfAWhore: [=McElroy=] states Ben Wade to be the offspring of a hooker and makes the idiotic mistake of insulting dear old mom in front of him. Wade kills him and notes that [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas he loves her anyway]].

* VillainExitStageLeft: Wade has apparently escaped multiple times before.

* InjunCountry: The party passes through here briefly only to get attacked by stereotypical Braves at night.

* {{Rancher}}: Dan Evans.

** Nez (wears a poncho)

** Jorgerson

* EnemyMine: Wade helps his captors more than once when a common enemy shows up.

This film was TheRemake of [[Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957 a classic 1957 Western]] starring Creator/GlennFord and Van Heflin, which was in turn a film adaptation of a short story of the same name by Creator/ElmoreLeonard (his first ever published work, in fact). Perhaps one of the best musical scores of the year 2007.