Delmer Daves’ original is an absolute gem of narrative, directorial and acting precision, and the overblown quality of James Mangold’s remake had me worried. So, we get a burning barn in the opening scene, as if otherwise we can’t comprehend the financial threat to the farm. There’s an overextended attack on a stagecoach where a Gatling gun is thrown into the mix so there’s more things getting blown up in the modern style. And Christian Bale’s farmer is now given a wooden foot, as if we otherwise couldn’t see how Ben Wade emasculates him in front of his wife and son — although Van Heflin and Glenn Ford were perfectly able to do it without the wooden foot fifty years ago. But in the end, it works pretty well, Russell Crowe does a good job with a convincing mix of ruthless criminality and better-natured charm, and the changes that are made to the film at the end are ones that no doubt make the story more credible to a modern audience while still preserving the moral force of Elmore Leonard’s original story. (Although I also can’t help wondering do we really need this remake?)
by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
28 Oct 2007 1:50 PM | Submit Comment
