3:10 to Yuma

This gripping and suspenseful film is one of the finest westerns ever made. It contains great performances by Glenn Ford as the cocksure outlaw and Van Heflin as the farmer who's determined to hold Ford in check until the Yuma train arrives. Director Delmer Daves makes superior use of camera cranes and bleak horizons, and the screenplay (based on an Elmore Leonard story) is an object lesson in film scripting. The scenes between Ford and bargirl Felicia Farr are exceptionally well crafted and the superb whole is boosted by a marvellous Frankie Laine theme song. This classic western got the remake treatment in 2007 with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale filling the sizeable cowboy boots of Ford and Heflin.