A couple of interesting JW facts with article about 3:10 to Yuma
How the West was remade By Mark de la Viña
Mercury News Article Launched: 09/04/2007 01:33:31 AM PDT
At a time when everything short of an Alka-Seltzer commercial is remade into a feature film, it's a wonder Hollywood hasn't reworked more old westerns.
On Friday, the little-known 1957 horse opera "3:10 to Yuma" will get the star treatment when its remake, featuring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, opens in movie theaters.
The original film, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, might not seem as likely a candidate for resurrection as other, better-known westerns, but surprisingly few redos even make it out of the Tinseltown corral.
Here are some of the westerns that have been remade - or at least provided inspiration for later films: "Stagecoach" (1939) - The movie that made John Wayne, below, a star was also the first film that director John Ford shot in Monument Valley.
Remade as: "Stagecoach" (1966) What to know: Ann-Margret, Bing Crosby and Van Heflin, who had the Christian Bale role in the original "3:10 to Yuma," are chased by Apaches - just like in original. Fun fact: Crosby's cinematic swan song featured theme music by upcoming "Dancing With the Stars" hoofer Wayne Newton.
"High Noon" (1952) - Gary Cooper (below, with Grace Kelly) is left alone to face a gang of outlaws in perhaps the greatest western ever.
Remade as: "High Noon" (2000) What to know: Ted Turner's superstation TBS again tries to craft a great western for the small screen. Fun fact: Michael Madsen, who plays the heavy in the remake, is no Lee Van Cleef.
"Rio Bravo" (1959) - From left below, John Wayne teams with a drunken sheriff (Dean Martin) and a sharpshooting teen throb (Ricky Nelson). Remade as: "Assault on Precinct 13" (1976)
What to know: "Assault" director John Carpenter, who went on to make "Halloween," used the name John T. Chance, borrowed from Wayne's "Bravo" character, as a pseudonym for his work as the film editor.
Fun fact: The story was reheated in 2005 for a version of "Assault" with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne.
"Fistful of Dollars" (1964) - Clint Eastwood is the Man With No Name, a stranger who pits two warring clans against one another. Inspired: "Last Man Standing" (1996)
What to know: "Dollars" director Sergio Leone remade Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" into the legendary spaghetti western; "Last Man" director Walter Hill drew from the same source material for his gangster film that starred Bruce Willis.
Fun fact: "Dollars" made the cigar-sucking, poncho-donning Eastwood into a star, while "Last Man" underperformed at the box office.
"High Plains Drifter" (1973) - Clint Eastwood plays a nameless stranger enlisted by a town to ward off a gang of outlaws. Inspired: "Pale Rider" (1985)
What to know: Both films star the future mayor of Carmel as a vaguely familiar stranger who stands up to save some simple folk.
Fun fact: Instead of the straight-up outlaws of the almost trippy "Drifter," Eastwood must battle a mining company's goon squad in "Rider." `3:10 to Yuma'
Mercury News
In theaters Friday
Rated: R (violence and some language)
Cast: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Alan
Tudyk, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster
Director: James Mangold
Writers: Halsted Welles and Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes
