3:10 to Yuma - RCrowe, CBale, PFonda, GMol & BFoster

[Sonic Youth]

If Ford was underrated, it's because he played the hero too often. His dull veneer made him far more interesting in the villian's roles. He's wonderful in the original Yuma, but I liked Crowe as well. In fact, it's the first time I've liked him in years (ever?). Sure, he comes off as a smug asshole, but he IS a smug asshole. So it's nice to see him properly channelling his personality in an unsavory role rather than have to put up with him as another martyred victim or nice guy. At this point, it's probably good career advice as well. Bale's another actor who does nothing for me, and I liked him here as well, probably because he's allowing someone else to give the star turn.

[Damien]

Christian is so sexy that my dream project would cast him as Ethan Hawke's brother.

Wouldn't you rather cast him as Ethan Hawke's gay lover? Brokeback Mountain 2: Right Back in the Saddle.

Well it's just that they are such similar types that playing sblings makes so much sense. But I love your idea (and title) for a Brokeback follow-up, so Eth and Christian can play brothers on a ranch who become smitten by a young cowpoke played by John Robinson or Emile Hirsch or Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Wait, on second thought, there'll be three cowpokes. And a part for Michael Pitt, too. And the Randy Quaid role could be played by Brad Renfro.

[Akash]

Christian is so sexy that my dream project would cast him as Ethan Hawke's brother.

Wouldn't you rather cast him as Ethan Hawke's gay lover? Brokeback Mountain 2: Right Back in the Saddle.

[Damien]

Christian Bale has been soooo hot for years! The one flaw in Gillian Armstrong's Little Women is that it absolutely made no sense that Winona threw him over for Gabriel Byrne. (The obsessive prepubescent girls who made up the huge mid-90s Internet cult, The Baleheads, used to insist that LOL did not mean "Laughing Out Loud," but "Lusting Over Laurie.")

Christian is so sexy that my dream project would cast him as Ethan Hawke's brother.

Plus, he's a lefty and a total animal rights person.



Edited By Damien on 1192683893

[Penelope]

Also, few people could convey anguish as well as Van Heflin (a superb actor and another under-rated one), but the compensation here is that a scruffy Christian Bale is sexy as hell!

Harrumph! I always thought Van Heflin was incredibly sexy, and I'd take him over the constantly constipated Christian Bale any day!

Van Heflin of Johnny Eager fame or Van Heflin of Airport fame??

Well, Johnny Eager-era Heflin was incredibly sexy, but even in Shane and 3:10 to Yuma he was a very sexy man; but, yeah, Airport-era Heflin isn't so hot--but his acting is still aces.

Who knows what Christian Bale will look like when he's in his 60s; I presume he'll still look constipated.

[Reza]

Also, few people could convey anguish as well as Van Heflin (a superb actor and another under-rated one), but the compensation here is that a scruffy Christian Bale is sexy as hell!

Harrumph! I always thought Van Heflin was incredibly sexy, and I'd take him over the constantly constipated Christian Bale any day!

Van Heflin of Johnny Eager fame or Van Heflin of Airport fame??

[Penelope]

Also, few people could convey anguish as well as Van Heflin (a superb actor and another under-rated one), but the compensation here is that a scruffy Christian Bale is sexy as hell!

Harrumph! I always thought Van Heflin was incredibly sexy, and I'd take him over the constantly constipated Christian Bale any day!

[Damien]

Finally caught up with this today. Liked it: good, solid, well-made, morally complex western with interesting characterizations -- which is pretty much the same I would say about the original. Except, it seems that all the divergences this film took from Delmer Daves's version seemed to me to lessen the overall effect (having Bale's son so involved, when in the original it was Leora Dana as Van Heflin's wife who gets further into the goings on -- poor Gretchen Moll had nuffin to do; the ridiculous last two minutes; transforming Henry Jones's town drunk to Alan Tudyk's sweet natured vet; not having Bale save Ford's life in the hotel (which sets up the finale in the 1957 version).

But above all, what made the Daves movie a more effective work was the wonderful performance by Glenn Ford, in which the actor used his banal amiability (or is it amiable banality?) to chilling effect. Ford was always grossly under-rated as an actor and this may be his best performance. (As for Russel Crowe, no matter what the role, he always comes across to me as only a smug asshole.)

Also, few people could convey anguish as well as Van Heflin (a superb actor and another under-rated one), but the compensation here is that a scruffy Christian Bale is sexy as hell!



Edited By Damien on 1192675307

[Sonic Youth]

Hmmm... I'm not sure the two are necessarily exclusive.

[Penelope]

I do see what you're saying about family values, but Crowe's gang were an apolitical bunch.

Au contraire, Sonic; one could argue that the Wade Gang were anarchists.

[Sonic Youth]

I understand, Penelope. But the question remains as to whether you've identified the correct subtext or not. Certainly the movie didn't apply the labels "red state" and "blue state" as you did.

There's subtext that the auteur brings to his film, and then there's the subtext that the subjective viewer applies to it after viewing. If your analysis below is what you personally got out of it, that's fine. But you don't seem to be saying that. You're saying it's what Mangold put into the movie "consciously or unconsciously". (And how can anyone know such a thing, unless the person making the claim is his therapist?)

Then again, it's possible I'm just not a very hip viewer. I do see what you're saying about family values, but Crowe's gang were an apolitical bunch.

[Penelope]

Sonic, there's ALWAYS subtext, consciously or unconsciously. It was plain as day to me.

[Sonic Youth]

No, I don't know that's not what you mean. What I'm reading is that you characterize a Laura Ingalls family as "red-staters" and murdering plunderers as "blue-staters".

I could accept Mangold may have intended the former, but there's no way I'm gonna accept that by extension, the gang is meant to symbolize anyone and everyone who denies red state values. Maybe they're just a gang without subtext. Maybe a duck is just a duck.

As for Charlie Prince, if all the other straights have gaydar as weak as mine, you can rest easy. It never once occurred to me there was any homoerotic subtext. But there's hope for me. Remember, I'm the guy who declared "The Wedding Crashers" was about a gay couple's love for each other. (Bedding women was just a sideline.)

"Sunshine": by death #2, I figured out it was gonna be a scene-for-scene remake of Alien.

[Penelope]

Sure, if murder, rape, and pillage is taken to mean a "blue state, independent lifestyle". Otherwise, that's quite a reach.

You know that's not what I mean. I'm referring directly to the fact that Wade and his gang are independent individuals, who haven't conformed to society's demands; and especially to the Charlie Prince character, whose homosexuality is seen as the greatest threat in the film.

I seem to recall you enjoying "Sunshine", hmm?

I sure did, and here's the difference: I didn't expect the body count in Sunshine, and it kept me guessing from moment to moment; whereas, whenever a character appeared for the first time in 3:10 to Yuma, I knew whether they'd make it to the end or not--3:10 to Yuma telegraphed all its intentions right from the get-go.

[Sonic Youth]

Sure, if murder, rape, and pillage is taken to mean a "blue state, independent lifestyle". Otherwise, that's quite a reach.

The film could also be interpreted as a condemnation against the evil, conservative land-owners against the poor and oppressed.

As for the ending, I interpreted it as nothing more than the studio cowtowing to one of the most nauseating egomaniacs working in Hollywood today. (Too bad, because Crowe finally found a role that suited his personality beautifully.)

(On top of all this, the movie also comes across like a 70s disaster film--gather together a group of people and see who makes it out alive by the end of the film.)

I seem to recall you enjoying "Sunshine", hmm? :p