3:10 to Yuma (15)

The original version of this film, while never a classic Western, is well-enough regarded but just unknown enough to stand a remake.

The new version is very good but with some reservations. However, it should continue to give the current Western revival a little box office impetus.

In the 1957 version Glenn Ford was bandit Ben Wade, captured in a small town and being transported to catch the train to Yuma Prison. Van Heflin was Dan Evans, the financially strapped farmer who agrees to keep him under guard until the train arrives.

In this version Russell Crowe is Wade with Christian Bale as Evans, although the plot is much the same. Much of the original takes place in a hotel room as Wade tries to convince and then bribe Evans to free him. Mangold opens his version out so that we follow them over the three-day journey to meet the train.

More emphasis is also placed on the other members of the posse – including a terrific Peter Fonda – who know that Wade's psychotic henchman is on their tail. By the time it gets to the hotel there seems to be not much left in terms of philosophical argument, but the final shoot-out is well staged.

Both characters have been fleshed out. Wade sketches, so we understand he is really a sensitive soul, and Bale has a war wound to hammer home the notion of his weakness. That's all a bit distracting, but both Crowe and Bale are compelling in a very good Western.