From the Collection: 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Delmer Daves’ classic western 3:10 to Yuma recently got a 4k upgrade from the Criterion Collection.
In this beautifully shot, psychologically complex western, Van Heflin is a mild-mannered cattle rancher who takes on the task of shepherding a captured outlaw (played with cucumber-cool charisma by Glenn Ford) to the train that will deliver him to prison. This apparently simple mission turns into a nerve-racking cat-and-mouse game that tests each man’s particular brand of honor. Based on a story by Elmore Leonard, 3:10 to Yuma is a thrilling, humane action movie, directed by the supremely talented studio filmmaker Delmer Daves with intense feeling and precision.
Here’s What the Disc Includes:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Interviews with author Elmore Leonard and actor Glenn Ford’s son and biographer, Peter Ford
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Cover by Gregory Manchess
- PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones
My first introduction to 3:10 to Yuma was in James Mangold’s 2007 remake of the film starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Mangold’s film is spectacular, and after I saw it, I sought out Daves’ original.
I had not watched Daves’ film since then, but watching it now felt like seeing it for the first time. The crisp 4k transfer breathes new life into the film, and it looks spectacular. I was also not the movie-watcher in 2007 that I am today. My knowledge of the western genre has grown, and watching 3:10 to Yuma now, I was able to appreciate how it diverts from the classic western archetype of the time and is focused on its characters rather than a guns-and-horses shoot ‘em up. It does have its share of shootouts, but the film thrives in being a morally ambiguous psychological western, a very different approach to the John Wayne type of western that was dominating at the time.
There isn’t much on this disc as far as special features go. I enjoyed Kent Jones’s essay about the film and his talk about Daves as an under-appreciated director and the importance of the film. 3:10 to Yuma might have been unconventional at the time, but it is firmly cemented as a classic western.
You can find House Party on the Criterion Collection website or wherever you find Criterion DVDs.
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From the Collection is an analysis of non-new-release movies, whether seen on DVD, streaming, or in a theater. It includes a brief history of the film, a review of the film, and content about the experience of seeing the film and/or the contents of the film’s DVD.
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