Letter to the Editor

February 11, 2008
Letter to the Editor

3:10 to Yuma was a bad movie because it glorifies violence and the acting was sub-par. In your article “3:10 to Yuma – An Outstanding Movie,” you mentioned this movie is a good example of a true Western movie. Your thoughts of a “true Western” are like everyone else’s, distorted. Not only does this movie give a bad depiction of the Old West, but it does so in a way that makes the criminals seem to be the better men. Movies like this make outlaws seem like gods because they shoot lawmen and rob banks. What good can come from a movie that teaches people violence is alright? No good can come from mindless violence like this.
Recently the media has made a big deal out of violent video games and the effects they have on children and young adults. In your article you mentioned movies such as The Unforgiven. I believe the media should target movies such as The Unforgiven and 3:10 to Yuma because scenes such as the stage coach robbery from 3:10 to Yuma showed huge amounts of mindless violence. When Ben Wade’s gang rides up to the stage coach they show no mercy while killing every person possible. When the gang takes over the stage coach, they believe everyone has been killed and accounted for. When one of the people in the stage coach get up and attempt to take a gang member hostage, Ben Wade decides to shoot both of them. He then walks up to the gang member and told him this was his fault for not being thorough enough in his killing.
The acting in 3:10 to Yuma was a nightmare. I think the best actor in this film was Ben Foster who played Charlie Prince, Ben’s right hand man. Christian Bale just doesn’t seem like the right type of person to play Dan Evans. He has over the years made a name for himself by playing the roles of quiet characters. Dan Evans is not in any way supposed to be a quiet character.