Yuma Territorial Prison - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

(Listed chronologically) The Yuma Territorial Prison figured in:

  • "Three-Ten to Yuma", a 1953 western short story written by Elmore Leonard, and also in two film adaptations:
  • 3:10 to Yuma, the 1957 original. (directed by Delmer Daves and starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin), and the 2007 remake, also titled 3:10 to Yuma (2007 film), directed by James Mangold and starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.
  • 26 Men, the 1957 episode "Incident at Yuma" of the syndicated western series of true stories of the Arizona Rangers, focuses on a prison break and the difficulty of gathering a posse faced by Captain Thomas H. Rynning, portrayed by Tristram Coffin.
  • In the 1959 western, Rawhide (S1E2 broadcast 1 Jan 59), starring Clint Eastwood. In the episode "Incident at Alabaster Plain" Rowdy Yates tells how he and a fellow Confederate Corporal (Buzz Travis) escaped the Yuma Territorial Prison during the Civil War.
  • In the 1961 western, The Comancheros, starring John Wayne, Yuma is also referenced.
  • For a Few Extra Dollars (aka Fort Yuma's Gold) is a 1966 Italian spaghetti western war film.
  • The first scene of the "Louis L'Amour" book Kid Rodelo (first published in 1966) takes place in Yuma Prison
  • In Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), the bandit Cheyenne is put on a train to Yuma (from which he escapes).
  • Yuma prison is referenced frequently in western radio and television programs such as Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and Bonanza, where ex-cons were frequently described as having done time.
  • The 1968 Italian made film "Long Ride From Hell" is a tale of revenge that chronicles the saga of a rancher who along with his brother is unjustly sent to Yuma prison.
  • In The Wild Bunch (1969), Pat Harrigan (Albert Dekker) threatens Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan): "You've got thirty days to get Pike, or thirty days back to Yuma."
  • The novel Forty Lashes Less One (1972) by Elmore Leonard takes place almost entirely inside Yuma Prison in 1909, shortly before it was closed down.

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