3:10 to Yuma

This second time through, I focused quite a bit on the relationship between Christian Bale's character and the character's oldest son, who has lost respect for his father. The son initially seems to want his father to fight harder, to try harder, to be more of a "man," but then the son takes a shine to Russell Crowe's character, an outlaw. Eventually, that flips again, and I won't go any further than that with regard to the storyline.

The film explores themes of who we admire, and speaks truth in the sense that 14 year old boys will always be torn between the outlaw rebel identity and the admiration for our fathers. For many, our fathers are our heroes. But there comes a time when many boys, through our instinctive desire to rebel, gravitate toward the guy in the black hat instead.

For me, admiring my father has always been tough. He's no fighter. He's done some things he's not proud to admit. He's not always the sharpest. But he's still my dad, and he still has years of experience ahead of me, and he still makes pretty good decisions for himself all things considered. I was thirtysomething before I could say all of that.