“Squeezin’ that watch ain’t gonna stop time.”
Although it’s not as fraught as High Noon, Delmer Daves’ similarly-themed and undersung 3:10 to Yuma is just as gripping as Fred Zinnemann’s better known film. Van Heflin plays Dan Evans, a hardscrabble rancher who bears many similarities to his character in George Stevens’ Shane. Evans is a conscientious man but somewhat ineffectual and irresolute. When his path crosses with Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), an intrepid, charismatic outlaw, his world is thrown into disarray.
From the opening scene, in which Evans and his two young boys stand by as Wade uses their cattle drive as a roadblock to stick up a stagecoach, the personalities and moral constitutions of the two men are contrasted. One is decisive, the other passive; one charming, the other uneasy; one carefree, the other burdened. Each, it seems, holds some envy towards the other: Evans wishing for a touch of the brigand’s magnetism, Wade pondering the value of settling down and starting a family. Ford in particular is brilliant in his creation of the unpredictable, suave, rootless, and ruthless Wade.
When Evans gets talked into assisting in Wade’s capture—led on by the promise of a $200 reward that will help him save his drought-ravaged farm—the quickly-deputized homesteader finds himself subject to the constant goading of Wade, who relentlessly probes for a soft spot. Though he wavers, and despite being abandoned by the civilian men who initially committed to ward off the loyal gang gathered outside of the hotel where they are holed up, Evans eventually reclaims his dignity, also earning the admiration of his sons and the respect of the desperado himself as they wait for the 3:10 train that will send the villain to the state pen in Yuma.
Throughout, Daves deftly handles the material (which is derived from an Elmore Leonard short story), matching his images and editing to the emotional pitch and psychological complexities of each conversation. In his capable hands, the interactions between man and wife, man and son, and man and outlaw ring true, and so create an enthralling, white-knuckle affair.