Saturday viewings.......

3:10 to Yuma (1967) Glenn Ford, Van Heflin Directed by Delmer Daves

Van Heflin plays small time rancher Dan Evans who wants to get by peacefully with his family (very similar to his character in Shane). But he needs money to get water from a big time ranch nearby, because there has been a drought for 3 years. He and his two sons witness a stage robbery where the driver gets killed by Ben Wade(Glenn Ford). leader of a notorious gang. Wade let 's Dan and the boys go after taking their horses, leaving them to herd their cattle he had let loose to stop the stage home on foot.

Wade and gang (including a favorite of mine , Richard Jaeckel) stop in the nearby town of Bisby and actually tell the barmaid that the crime occurred (but not who did it ). The town Marshall is notified and gets a posse to check it out. The gang leaves town leaving Wade behind temporarily. He sweet talks the barmaid into a nooner which ends up getting him caught.

The owner of the stage line offers $200 to anyone who will escort Wade to the train for Yuma. He is notorious for escaping so they must quickly get him out of town. Dan Evans takes the job along with the town drunk (Henry Jones).

Ford's character is very smooth and manipulative. Once they are in holed up in the hotel room waiting for the train a war of wills starts between Wade and Dan .

An enoyable western, but the story really could be told in modern setting. I was amazed that on IMDB they list a 2005 version in production, but no details about it.

Red Water (2003) Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson, Coolio

Phillips is a down on his luck fisherman living on the Atchafalya River in Lousiana. His ex-wife (Swanson) shows up wanting him to help explore for oil up river in a wildlife protection area. Seems he was master oil driller but blames himself for the death of a couple of riggers that died in a well blowout.

Throw oil drillers, some drug dealers looking for hidden loot, and an apparently very hungry bull shark together and this turns out to be an entertaining, although predictable little thriller. I really like the unique way they off the shark at the end.

One comment about this film. Why do directors put in such blatant hints at what is going to happen? They show Phillips putting a propane tank on the boat with the camera on the tank the whole time. What do you think happened to it later?

By the way, I did look up the bull shark and it is considered the most dangerous shark in the world to people and it can live in fresh water. They have been found as far as 1500 miles up the Mississippi.