Turner Classic Movies pick for July 5, 2008: 3:10 to Yuma

“3:10 to Yuma,” TCM, Saturday, July 5, 8 p.m. (EST)

Why is it, when a classic film is remade, the very qualities that made the original unique are eliminated?

Case in point: the original 1957 version of Elmore Leonard’s “3:10 to Yuma.” This is a perfect example of what was known as a “psychological western,” which is to say there is more emphasis on emotional conflict than physical action. (The only violence in the original is concentrated in the first and last five minutes of the film, whereas the new version has much more violence and traditional action.)

Cattleman Dan Evans (Van Heflin) agrees to guard captured sociopath outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) because he desperately needs the reward to save his failing ranch. As they wait in a dingy hotel room for the train to the prison in Yuma, Wade tries to tempt Evans into releasing him before his gang shows up to rescue him and kill his captors.

The biggest surprise of “3:10 to Yuma” is Ford who was cast against type as the Luciferean Wade and rose to the occasion by giving the performance of his career. Frankly, the same goes for Delmer Daves, a mildly talented director who also did his best work here.

Another crucial element to “3:10 to Yuma” is Charles Lawton’s stark black-and-white photography that intensifies the austerity of the outdoor locations and claustrophobia of the hotel room that a third of the film takes place in.

The best thing that can be said for the remake is that, at least, it has renewed interest in the original which remains one of the finest westerns of the 50s.