Marathon Update3:10 to Yuma When Delmer Daves
appeared recently in the Director Boards I said that I'd need to add him to this marathon, assuming I had seen none of his work. When the time arrived, I looked over the titles again and realized I'd seen Destination Tokyo and Dark Passage. Tokyo is one of Cary Grant's more forgettable films, but it has Grant which means it's at least okay. Dark Passage however, that the
other Bogie/Bacall film. The last one people watch when they want to see the couple in a film. A film so bad, it's easily the worst I've seen with either actor... and I've seen
The Fan.
The most striking thing about 3:10 to Yuma is its look. The angles and deep shadows bring a strong sense of noir to the western genre. A noir missing from Dark Passage. There's a lot of sweat, the rooms are way too small, the hero has a scheduled appointment with self-destrcution and what's really going to put him under is his pride. These elements are handled really well by Daves. This version also has a big win over the 2007 remake because I believe the ending. It's still a bit of a reach and not at all what you expect from a western, but what Russell Crowe does in the final minutes of his version is just insanely illogical.
So there's some good qualities here, but none of it really makes for a very exciting western. The film's only 92 minutes, but there's a lot of hotel room conversation that feels like it's padding out the run time. Also the two men's relationship with the two women are largely underdeveloped. Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) has a quickie before he's captured and the speed at which they hit it off is only made more uneasy by the way Daves places them in these unbelieveably tight frames. There's a hint that cattleman Dan Evans (Van Heflin) takes this assignment after his wife wounds his male ego, but it's never made clear. Even when she confronts him directly with it, he blows her off and tells her that's not it without offering up any other reasoning that might be driving him. This sort of cloudy motivation from your lead character always irks me. "I don't know. Just trust me," always sounds like a writer who's backed into a corner.
RATING: **1/2I think Daves was given a poll because Martin really liked The Red House. He has 6 votes spread over 5 films, and I'm not interested in seeing any of them for his direction though I'm sure I'll watch a few more (like Red House and 1953's Never Let Me Go) at some point in my life.