littlestar, m, and I attended a free showing of 3:10 to Yuma. I went on the strength of the movie being based on an Elmore Leonard short story. I've enjoyed his contemporary novels, and I'd read that westerns were his first love, so the chance to see an Elmore Leonard western sounded good.
Unfortunately, 3:10 to Yuma was not a good movie. Really, it came across as a pastiche of prior westerns, full of things that people think ought to be in westerns. Although the acting was solid across the board, character motivation often made little to no sense at all. littlestar's planning on tracking down the original Elmore Leonard short story to see which parts were taken from it and which were added for the screen. m suspects that the original story mostly takes place in the town while waiting for the train. This suspicion is supported by the summary for the original, 1957 version of the movie:
After outlaw leader Ben Wade is captured in a small town, his gang continue to threaten. Small-time rancher Dan Evans is persuaded to take Wade in secret to the nearest town with a railway station to await the train to the court at Yuma. Once the two are holed up in the hotel to wait it becomes apparent the secret is out, and a battle of wills starts.
Also supporting this concept is the fact that the remake is a full 25 minutes longer than the original.
I can't say I recommend this movie. It feels as if someone took a good set of actors, threw every western concept they could think of into a bucket, and came out with a sort of indistinct, unsatisfying western casserole.
On the plus side, I do want to go watch some westerns from the 50s, 60s, and 70s now.