‘Yuma’ quick on draw

If anyone could bring back the Western, it’s Russell Crowe donning a black hat. The Australian actor takes on the Glenn Ford role in the remake “3:10 to Yuma,” and darned if he doesn’t look right at home in the Arizona landscape.

Mr. Crowe’s film expands upon the excellent original, just rereleased on DVD and aging as gracefully as any ‘50s Western could expect.

While Mr. Ford’s film concentrated on the dynamic between the law and the lawless, the new “Yuma” inserts a gritty travelogue that takes advantage of modern cinematographic advances.

Christian Bale stars as Dan Evans, a broke rancher with a bum leg and two children who see him as more of a gimp than a hero. Dan helps the local law capture Ben Wade (Mr. Crowe), a notorious killer wanted for a string of stage coach robberies. The authorities want Ben taken to prison, not hanged on the spot, so Dan offers to join a crew of men assigned to bring Ben to Contention City. There, Ben will be carted off to jail via the titular 3:10 train to Yuma.

Dan will net $200 for his troubles, enough to lift up his impoverished farm and, he hopes, give his family some much needed security.

Getting Ben to the train on time won’t be easy. The outlaw’s posse is hot on his trail, led by a loose cannon (Ben Foster) who will shoot anything in his way. And Ben is far from helpless. He’s a charmer, a man who knows how to impress a lady no matter the situation and someone who can win over nearly any audience. He quickly sizes up, then seizes upon, Dan’s internal doubts over the mission.

Director James Mangold (“Walk the Line”) does a number on the audience, too, presenting a rich morality play within the context of a traditional Western. Why would these men risk their lives to keep Ben alive long enough to be hanged? Can a society exist with a legal framework that gives so much freedom to the outlaw and so little to the lawmaker? Best of all, what kind of a man is Dan, and where does his ego begin and his fatherly responsibilities end? After all, Dan’s older son (Logan Lerman) decides to follow pa along the trail.

In the original, it’s Dan’s wife who chases him down, but subplots both old and new mesh fluidly with the story here.

Mr. Bale is convincing and cool as the rancher who discovers integrity he never knew he had, but it’s never in doubt this is Mr. Crowe’s film. The Oscar winner gives us a villain to unabashedly root for, a thief who makes beautiful sketches when he’s not robbing men of their lives. He never kills at random like his second in command, the delectably vicious Mr. Foster, and Ben forms a bond with Dan that never feels staged.

“3:10 to Yuma” isn’t a prettified Western like those in the past, nor does it set about reimagining the genre. It’s a taut, terrific story with gripping action, complex characters and a tour de force of a lead performance.

The Western may be on its last legs, commercially speaking, but any movie with these selling points deserves an audience.

*** 1/2

TITLE: “3:10 to Yuma”

RATING: R (Adult language)

CREDITS: Directed by James Mangold. Screenplay by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, based on the short story by Elmore Leonard.

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