The film 3:10 to Yuma, starring Christian Bale and Russel Crowe is a western action movie, rated R for violence and language. This isn't a children's movie. Lots of shooting and lots of swearing.
The film is set in the late 1900s, during a boom in the railroad industry. Rancher Dan Evans (Bale) lives on a patch of land owned by a man named Hollander (Lennie Loftin), who has been trying to get Dan to move off of it so he can sell the land to the railroad company for more money. The film opens with Hollander's cronies, led by Tucker (Kevin Durand) burning down Dan's barn in the middle of the night. Dan and his oldest son William (Logan Lerman) go into the burning barn and get as much horse tack and horses as they can before the barn collapses. William attempts to pull a bag of feed out, but Dan tells him to leave it and just as Dan pulls his son out of the barn the roof caves in right where William was standing. Dan assures William that he'll take care of it, but William doesn't believe him.
Meanwhile, Ben Wade (Crowe) and his outfit, led by Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) attack an armored payroll coach headed for Bisbee, AZ, killing all but one of the hired Pinkerton agents with it.
As morning rolls around, Dan, along with his two sons, in search of their herd that Tucker let loose the night before, stumbles upon the scene where Wade is robbing the coach. Put in an interesting position, Wade strikes a deal with Dan, the outlaws take the boys' horses into town and they bring their cattle back home. The outlaws ride off on the Evans' horses.
Dan tends to the injured Pinkerton, Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), and carries him into Bisbee, not knowing that that's where Wade's gang was headed as well. They find their horses cinched up where Wade had told them he'd leave them for them, and mount up, heading into town.
Charlie has already tricked the marshall and his men into checking out the coach they had just held up, so there isn't a lawman in the town. The outlaws stop for a celebratory drink at a saloon, and Wade decides to get cozy with the barmaid, while Charlie and the gang take off, promising to wait for him on the outskirts of town.
Dan, after getting McElroy into town, brings him to the town doctor, who is actually a veterinarian (Alan Tudyk) who removes the bullet from his stomach. After the procedure is done, Dan crosses the street to the saloon where Hollander's office is. Meaning to go in and talk to him about undamming his water supply, but being rejected, Dan decides to take matters into his own hands, goes back to his horse, grabs his shotgun, and walks back into the saloon, just as the marshall gets back into town. The marshall sees what's happening and gets his men to surround the saloon, which, unknown to them, holds Ben Wade.
Wade comes downstairs just as Dan bursts through the doors, shotgun in tow. Remembering Dan from earlier, Wade humors him by paying him for the cattle that died when they were caught in the crossfire, and for the lost days work of him and his boys. As all this is going on, Dan sees the marshall's men closing in on the saloon. Just as the negotiations are done, the marshall's men come in and arrest Ben Wade, saying he's going to be put on the 3:10 train to Yuma prison the day after tomorrow to be hanged and made an example of.
They need a group to escort such a notorious criminal. Tucker and the man from the railroad, Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) volunteer to take him, along with McElroy. Still wounded, the marshall insists the doctor go too. Dan says that he'll take him as long as he'll be paid 200 dollars upon his return. Butterfield agrees to this and the plan is set.
Charlie comes riding into town, shooting randomly when he sees that Wade's being put in the marshall's wagon, then rides off. Knowing it's not going to be a safe journey, the group decides on a plan. The marshall takes off in the wagon toward Dan's ranch and the group take another man from the railroad out to the ranch on horseback.
Once the wagon gets out to Dan's ranch, the wheel gets stuck in a rut, and the marshall calls out to Dan for help. Tucker, Dan and the man from the railroad come out to help him. They open the door to the marshall's wagon, take Wade out, take his hat off, and give him the railroad man's hat and coat. The railroad man dons Wade's hat and takes his place in the wagon and they take off again. Charlie, who had been following the wagon from Bisbee, thinking Wade is still in the wagon, follows.
The group sets out that night. Shortly after the group leaves, William sneaks out of bed, takes his own pistol and his horse and follows the group.
During the night Tucker, who's annoying Wade as he's keeping watch over him during the night shift, so he can't sleep either, is attacked by Wade who kills him. With no time to bury him, the group must move on.
The outlaws catch up with the marshall's wagon, carrying the fake Wade. When they realize its just a decoy, they set the wagon on fire and demand the railroad man tell them where they're taking Wade. He finally tells them they're going to Contention to put him on the Yuma train.
The next day, after McElroy says a few choice words to Wade, Wade attacks him, knocks him off his horse and throws him down a ravine. Wade takes McElroy's gun and is holding the group at gunpoint when William comes in, holding his pistol to Wade's head. He talks Wade out of killing the men, and Dan takes McElroy's gun away from him.
The group, on their way to Contention, decides to take the pass through Apache country, against the wishes of Wade, who says they're going to get killed by the Apache. They go through, but are attacked during the night. Wade escapes and takes Dan's gun and uses it to kill the couple braves attacking the group. He then knocks Ben unconscious and takes off.
Wade gets caught up in a railroad operation heading through some mountains when he's recognized by someone whose brother he killed. They begin torturing him, when the group comes and pulls some sweet moves and gets him free, because, as Dan said, there's no reward for getting him halfway there. Once Wade's back in their possession, at the cost of the life of the doctor, they continue on into Contention.
The outlaws, right behind them, come across the same group and get through in much the same way, except with a lot more killing.
Now in Contention, they book a room at an inn across town from the train station. Still an hour before the train is scheduled to come. Butterfield gets a small group together from people in the town to protect Wade from being taken by the outlaws.
And speak of the devil, the outlaws roll in. Once they find out where Wade is and how many people are protecting him, Charlie gives the town of Contention a deal, $200 for anyone who kills one of Wade's captors. The protectors begin dropping like flies. First the marshall of Contention leaves, and is shot by the townspeople, then Butterfield says he's going to get out while he still can, and then Dan tells William he can't go and has to stay when he takes Wade to the station.
There's a very long drawn out gunfight as Wade and Dan make there way from the inn to the train station, but we find out how Dan lost his foot, and see a whole new side of Wade. When they finally get to the station, the train is late, so they have to wait for it to get there. When it does, Dan runs Wade out to the car, and Wade gets shackled in, just as the gate is shutting however, Dan is shot in the back by Charlie, who caught up with them. As he's turning around, Charlie empties the rest of his six shooter into Dan and he falls to the ground, nearly dead.
Wade steps out of the train, knowing he deserves to die for the crimes he's committed, and having grown close to Dan, he's a little angered by Charlie's actions. Once Charlie gives him his gun and belt back, Wade whips out The Hand of God, the name of his pistol, and shoots all the members of his party, leaving Charlie for last. Once they're all taken care of, he gets back on the train and back into the gated car, as William runs in and collapses over his dying father.
William cries as he says "You did it dad, he's on the train because you brought him all the way." The train begins to move and Wade whistles and his horse follows the train, ready to bring him back once he escapes from Yuma prison for the third time (assumedly)
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