3:10 to Yuma (1957)
When
released theatrically, 3.10 to Yuma was well-received by both audiences and
critics and it has remained a popular
movie over the decades. In 2012 it was selected for the inclusion in the
National Film Registry of the Library of Congress (1). It's safe to say that
it's an undisputed genre classic, and yet the movie and its director hardly
ever appear on top of people's lists with favorite westerns or western
directors.
The movie
tells the story of a rancher, Dan Evans (Van Heflin), who accepts to escort an
arrested criminal, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) to the train that will bring him to
Yuma. The $200 reward matches the sum he
needs to save his ranch after two years of drought. Wade's men are ready to save
their boss, and the train will only arrive the next day, so Evans is forced to
spend some 24 hours in one small hotel room with his prisoner. Tension rises
when the volunteers who have promised to help him shy away from their task one
by one, and Ben Wade starts a psychological war, offering Evans an ever
increasing amount of money if he just let him go ...
The script
was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, but the escort in Leonard's story
is a deputy sheriff, not a farmer, and the reason why he risks his neck while
all the odds are against him remains unexplained. By giving the character a
ranch and a family, the stakes have become much higher: early on in the movie we learn
that Dan Evans once was a feared gunman, the best shot in the region; he's a
man who has given up his gun to become a farmer, a family man, but in this new
life, he threatens to become a total failure. His two sons still boast of his
reputation as a gunman and his wife seems to blame him for his passivity in the
face of their downfall. Evans risks to lose everything: his honor and
self-respect, his ranch and his family. He can accept Ben Wade's offer and get
away with it (he's even asked by the man who hired him in the first place to
give up), but his life will never be the same, his wife and son will never be
proud of him again.
The movie
was praised for its stark black & white cinematography, tense storytelling
and strong performances, but it was also criticized for plot improbabilities. Van Heflin threatens to shoot Ford when he comes
closer than 8 feet but he let him sit next to his small children and his wife
in his own house. On various occasions (especially on their way to the station) his
prisoner could have easily taken the shotgun away from him. He's also an easy
target for those snipers on the roof. The surprise ending - Ben Wade all of a
sudden helping Dale Evans to fulfill his task - is particularly disconcerting.
Apart from
this seeming illogical ending, the movie's shortcomings are easy to overlook. What is so
fascinating about it, is the combination of two narrative structures that are
hardly ever used at the same time, the so-called 'outsider looking in' and 'the
insider looking out'. Heflin is the insider, a family man deeply rooted in
society, who catches glimpses from the outside world when Ford tries to bribe
him, telling him how easy his financial ('social') problems can be solved; Ford
is the outsider, the outlaw, who catches glimpses from the inside word, family
life, children, a loving wife, and becomes aware of the fact that he is longing
for these things.
The ending - probably dictated by the studio (3) - has been described
as a cop-out ending; one of the fiercest statements about it says:
"Now
there ain't no way in hell that a criminal would spend all day devising a way
to escape, only to be given a clear shot at freedom and squander his chance. No
way in hell. That is so nonsensical, it makes a mockery of the audience"
(4).
Slovanian
philosopher and psycho-analyst Slavoj Zizek, has proposed a different reading
of the movie and the psychological battle centre to the plot (5). Usually this
is interpreted as an ethical ordeal: Dan Evans is exposed to the temptations
of Ben Wade's proposals, but Zizek claims that the one who has suffered an
ordeal throughout the movie, is not Dale Evans, but Ben Wade himself, the
apparent agent of temptation. In other words, the bandit was putting himself to
the test. In this reading, this seemingly illogical ending all of a sudden
makes sense. I think Zizek is right, but I have slightly different ideas about
Wade's motivations: Zizek thinks Wade is won over by Evans' integrity and
sacrifices his freedom for him; in my opinion the true reason for Ben Wade's
about face is the attraction of the 'inside world': he wants to become, like his escort, a family man, he desires for a home, and a woman who's waiting
there for him.
The
narrative offers enough indications to justify this reading, the most important
one an early scene with Ben Wade not being able to say goodbye to the local barmaid
(played by Felicia Farr); his hesitations (his right hand man, Richard Jaeckel,
urges him to hurry up) lead to his arrest and set this whole process of
temptation in motion: Wade has already taken the decision to leave his violent
life, but he doesn't know it yet, he still has to convince himself. The ordeal
he submits himself to, becomes a purification ritual in which he projects his
own fears and desires on the other man, who appears to be his opponent, but is
in fact his likeness, who's a step ahead of him, somebody who has already made
the transformation from an outsider (gunman) to an insider (farmer). Whereas
Dan Evans will lose everything if he yields, Ben Wade must give in to get what
he desires: after he will have paid his debts (not to society, but to himself)
this barmaid will be there, waiting for him.
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Elmore
Leonard's short story 3:10 to Yuma is avaible in .pdf
Notes:
* (1) LA Times, National
Film Registry selects 25 films for preservation, December
19, 2012 http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/19/entertainment/la-et-mn-national-film-registry-20121217
* (2) See
for instance: Kent Jones, 3:10 to Yuma, Curious distances http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2766-3-10-to-yuma-curious-distances
* (3) Paul
Simpson, The rough guide to westerns, p. 134 - In Leonard's original story the
ending is different: there's a brief shootout, with the deputy marshal killing
two of the bandit's men.
* (4) Forum
member drinkanddestroy on the Sergio Leone Web Board
* (5)
Slavoj Zizek, Welcome to the desert of the real, p. 73-74
Zizek has
often written about this movie or westerns in general, but always in the
context of his socio-cultural and political elucidations; following French philosopher Alain
Badiou, he sees westerns as illustrations of ethical courage, about people
making an (existential) choice. The plot of 3:10 to
Yuma and the behavior of the protagonists is used to comment (in negative
terms) on the position of so-called progressive leftists in modern society
(both Badiou and Zizek are by the way themselves leftists)
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Filmed partially at Old Tucson (Studios)
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