"I did 3:10 TO YUMA in the winter. We had to break the ice for our horses in the morning, the buckets were frozen solid every night. It's in the morning you get your long shadows."

-Delmer Daves
#TCMParty #LetsMovie

"You gonna let him do this to ya." I love how lean, swift, and focused this movie is. Ben Wade is introduced with a smirk, Dan Evans with caution and concern. There's so much at stake for the family man, not least of which is his image to his young sons. #TCMParty #LetsMovie

Love Heflin. Like Ford, he had a top-notch hardboiled phase and excelled as a romantic lead when given a chance (check out SEVEN SWEETHEARTS). But he's probably best remembered suffering various states of emasculation because of the way YUMA and SHANE have endured. #TCMParty

This is one of 3 Westerns Daves made with Ford and cinematographer Charles Lawton Jr., and I recommend watching them as a trilogy. You'll see Ford navigating male relationships, in Lawton's shadows, as an ethical ranch hand (JUBAL), a jaded cowboy (COWBOY), & a psychosexual imp.

A long shadow. Ben Wade isn't a big guy, but there's something smooth and invasive about him. Watch as Wade moves through barriers—as he walks through the saloon doors, or creeps behind the bar, or as he slips into someone's thoughts, no matter their values. #TCMParty #LetsMovie

Gorgeous simplicity here, and so palpably intimate. Can you imagine this on a massive screen? (Have any of you seen this film on a massive screen? Gosh, I miss massive screens.) #TCMParty #LetsMovie

There's something about Ben Wade that draws out hidden dynamics. Ford plays Wade as calm, unconcerned, self-aware—it's a different kind of masculinity than the bravado the kids are defending in their father. Would Wade be as menacing in another room, to another man? #TCMParty

Leora Dana appeared in only a handful of films and worked again with Delmer Daves in KINGS GO FORTH (1958), in which she is excellent. I think Daves does so much storytelling through eyes—in nearly every film, eyes glisten with tears that never fall. #TCMParty #LetsMovie

A town called "Contention" might be a TOUCH on the nose. (Blame Elmore Leonard). #TCMParty #LetsMovie

The bridal suite sequence knocks my socks off. It's not as subtle as Van Heflin's twitching eye here, but I think the overtness of Wade's seduction is a psychological take on a shootout. You realize death isn't the only reason Dan Evans might not return home. #TCMParty #LetsMovie

"Where's your sporting blood?"
"I had to try you out."
"I wouldn't wanna try to corrupt your morals."
"You ever think of taking on a partner?"
"Nobody needs to know."
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The brilliance here is how inscrutable Ford is. Does Ben truly long for a quiet home life? Or is he trying to crack up Dan's sense of complacency? He's giving voice to Dan's deepest fears about family and security, but maybe Ben is lonely, too. Maybe. #TCMParty #LetsMovie

Ben Wade is too mercurial for jail or reform—he'd slip right through the bars. But in all his manipulation of Evans, did he discover something about himself? Hard to say, but I think the first & last shots of Wade are a clue. We open with a smirk, close with a smile. #TCMParty

"It was always a lot of work doing a picture with Del, but it was always worth it. I can't tell you why Del and I worked so well together. We just had good chemistry right from day one. Del was like Fritz Lang. He knew exactly what he wanted to get from every shot he made."

That's it, that's all! Thanks so much for joining me on the 3:10 TO YUMA (1957). Feel free to stop by with your thoughts on Delmer Daves, Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, or heck, even Frankie Laine. #TCMParty #LetsMovie