Camerota's tactic of working hard and asking specific questions made Heflin aware that she was coach-able and focused on her career, attributes that attract the best sort of mentor.
Later, one of the men the bristling and randy Webb Garwood (Van Heflin) comes back for a courtesy call that results in a big affair and, unsurprisingly, a case of homicide.
Adapted from an early short story by Elmore Leonard that was previously filmed very capably in 1957 with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, "3:10 to Yuma" strikes a fair balance between physical action and psychological warfare, but always at its core is the question of how we are to measure these two men.