After watching James Mangold’s thoroughly enjoyable old-school western, 3:10 to Yuma, two questions come to mind. First, why has the western been so terminally unfashionable for so long? And secondly, will the current small-scale revival of the genre, of which Yuma is part, sate the audience’s appetite for westerns or increase it? I hope the latter is the case – more films like this would be no bad thing. It’s a thrill-filled ride across a flyblown dustbowl where the heroes are iconic, unwashed and deadly. They spit out killer lines like bullets.

The golden age of the western played out against a very different American socio-political landscape. It was a simpler time, when people talked about pioneer spirit and cowboys and Indians. Perceived as an anachronism, no wonder the western fell from popularity. It’s interesting then that, rather than an updated or a revisionist take on the genre, Mangold’s film is respectfully traditional. A remake of a 1957 movie starring Glenn Ford, Yuma’s pacing may owe something to the contemporary action movie, but the themes are age-old: redemption, morality and the lure of the lawless wilderness and of the killers who call it home.

The film follows a battle of wills between two men from either side of the law. Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, the boss of a gang of reprobates so dissolute that even he describes them as animals. Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, an impoverished rancher who signs up to help guard the captured Wade and to escort him on to the train to Yuma, where he will stand trial. Crowe’s Wade is a deadly charmer with a wit as quick as a rattlesnake. Bale’s Evans is a taciturn tough guy who has taken the job to earn back the respect of his sons and the love of his wife. It’s a screen partnership that crackles with animosity, suspicion and grudging respect, despite the fact that Crowe looks a little cuddly for an outlaw. And a special mention must go to Ben Foster as Wade’s right-hand man – with his whiplash of a temper and grime-coat- ed leer, it’s a scene-stealing turn in a film full of top-notch performances.

15, 122mins

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