Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 win & 4 nominations total
- Mrs. Potter
- (uncredited)
- Wade Henchman
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Wade Henchman
- (uncredited)
- Blacksmith
- (uncredited)
- Mathew Evans
- (uncredited)
- Wade Henchman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
The underlying story is made into a very watchable movie by the director and involves a ruthless but insightful gunman being held for subsequent transport by train which will take him to prison. The job of guarding him is taken on by reluctant guard. This temporary guard is a civilian who takes on the job only because he desperately needs the money to save his farm and family.
Typical of Leonard stories, the main characters have strengths and weaknesses not at first evident but when these traits become evident they are significant factors in the outcome of the story.
It is an intelligent movie which is great to watch. I highly recommend it.
It's a western but it could easily have been in any setting if it was done this well. The story is clever but really picks up once Wade is captured in both Evans' home and in the hotel room, the dialogue becomes clever and meaningful. The story is kept tense (with Evans getting increasingly sweaty) despite being very talky. Wade works Evans in a Machiavellian flow of dialogue that visually gets to him throughout. However once it is clear that honour is important over money the countdown to the tense walk to the train station is on.
Heflin is great as the farmer who takes a stand only to see pride swell up in his family, in a way he respects the criminal for taking risk and being brave in contrast to his middle road lifestyle. Ford is effortlessly brilliant as the criminal blessed with charisma and charm with a dangerous streak underneath in one key scene he sets out Heflin's character when he easily casts a spell charming Heflin's wife and sons. However beneath the dialogue he is slightly jealous of the farmer's settled life and this adds spice to the relationship between the two.
Overall this is a fantastic western, but if it was set in the modern day it would be a brilliant cop thriller, or in space, a brilliant sci-fi. The key is the central relationship between the two men here it is perfect and the tension that builds towards the fateful walk to the station is gripping.
There is shooting, but this is not a shoot-'em-up western. It is a thoughtful game of chess between a ruthless outlaw (Glenn Ford) and a farmer (Van Heflin). To see Ford, who we lost last year, try to buy Helflin (Johnny Eager, Shane), and see Heflin grow in courage was magnificent.
Every one else fades as these two play their game. The ending was terrific. I am anxious to see if they change it.
From the first notes of its mournful, affecting theme to to the poignant finale it draws you in and keeps you riveted as the tension mounts. It accomplishes this by keeping to the Aristotelian unities: a single theme about a single protagonist on a single day. Yes, there is an obvious parallel to **High Noon**.
Though cast as a villain for the only time in his career, Glen Ford's natural likability shines through in the role of gang boss Ben Wade. Van Heflin's Dan Evans is Everyman--no hero but spurred to heroism by desperate circumstances and devotion to family. In contrast to Heflin's homeliness is the godlike physical perfection of the young Richard Jaeckel as the outlaw gang's second-in-command, smart, dangerous, utterly amoral yet loyal unto death to his boss.
There is not a bad performance anywhere. But I must single out Felicia Farr as the lonely barmaid who gives Ford a last, quick good time, and craggy-faced Ford Rainey as a town Marshal with a plan.
With its mix of deep focus shots and closeups of the actors' faces, the cinematography was the obvious inspiration to Sergio Leone in his spaghetti western series.
Did you know
- TriviaAlthough most Westerns by this time were being produced in color, Delmer Daves and Charles Lawton Jr. opted to shoot this one in black and white. Lawton used red filters on his lenses, however, to give the landscape an even more starkly parched look, befitting the story's setting amid a lengthy drought.
- GoofsWhen all the characters are shown in the street just after the clock shows just after 11:00, all of their shadows are extremely long, because the scene was shot probably in very early morning after sunrise.
- Quotes
Bisbee Marshal: Do I have two volunteers?
First Posse Member: We gotta know what we're gettin' ourselves into.
Second Posse Member: Sure... might not be safe.
Bisbee Marshal: Safe! Who knows what's safe? I knew a man dropped dead from lookin' at his wife. My own grandmother fought the Indians for sixty years... then choked to death on lemon pie. Do I have two volunteers?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert Holiday Gift Guide (1991)
- Soundtracks3:10 to Yuma
by Ned Washington and George Duning
Sung by Frankie Laine
A Columbia Recording Artist
also performed by Norma Zimmer (uncredited)
- How long is 3:10 to Yuma?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- El tren de las 3:10 a Yuma
- Filming locations
- Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA(Contention City backdrop)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,033,000
- Runtime
- 1h 32m(92 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
- 1.75 : 1