Hombre (1967)

hyped garbage

Brilliant and touching

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

HOMBRE is a very good American western featuring Paul Newman, hot off Cool Hand Luke, in the title role. If Cool Hand Luke saw Newman at his deepest and most emotional, HOMBRE sees him playing a totally different part: ice cold, his feelings hidden beneath a tough and leathery old skin. He plays a white man raised on an Apache reservation and thus suffering the scorn of his fellows. He ends up taking a fateful trip on a stagecoach waylaid by bandits and must use his survival skills to help keep his fellow passengers alive.The film has a leisurely pace and a long set up, but everything works well here. Each character has a little story all of their own and the actors centre the roles well. Diane Cilento is particularly good as the damaged woman that Newman butts heads with, but the likes of Fredric March, Cameron Mitchell, and Martin Balsam don't disappoint either. Richard Boone is particularly imposing as the chief villain in the story, and the action is handled expertly with some great twists and turns along the way.

The subject and the story are commendable. A revisionist Western if there was one. Racism against the native Indians is highlighted. So are the negative traits of the white men who made money out of the subjugation of the the native Indians. Even the attitudes towards Mexicans are well etched.Ultimately, the film is all about values and humanism and less about killing.The opening sequence of the black stallion leading wild horses is amazing.Ritt is a director who was a cut above the rest, especially his films on anti-racism (Edge of the City, The Great White Hope). He chose his subjects well.Commendable performances (Newman, Boone and Balsam) and a good script.

Released in 1967 and directed by Martin Ritt, "Hombre" is a Western starring Paul Newman as John Russell, a white man raised by Apaches on a reservation and thus disdained by the "respectable" stagecoach passengers traveling with him. Perhaps they'll respect him when he becomes their only hope for survival. The driver & passengers are played by Martin Balsam, Diane Cilento, Richard Boone, Fredric March, Barbara Rush, Peter Lazer and Margaret Blye."Hombre" is a gritty realistic mid-60s Western; a character study that stands the test of time. Seeing it today, it's hardly aged. Taken from Elmore Leonard's novel, the script effectively shows the illusion of high and low social standing: The proud are proud until uncontrollable events swiftly bring them to their faces; the decent are only decent until survival or lust can only be attained through indecency. This is a tale of survival and in the heat of life-or-death tribulation what's in one's heart comes to the fore.People complain that the climax leaves a sour taste, but it ends the way it must (see below).ADDITIONAL CAST: Skip Ward, Frank Silvera, David Canary, Val Avery and Larry Ward.The film runs 111 minutes and was shot mostly in Arizona, but also a couple scenes in Jean, Nevada and Bell Ranch, California.GRADE: A FURTHER COMMENTARY ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read until watching the movie) John Russell tells the other passengers that they'll only survive their life or death situation by being very careful and shrewd. Ultimately, he decides to be UNcareful in order to save an unworthy uppity woman in response to Jessie's bold sympathy (at least she practiced what she preached). To survive, he relies on the inexperienced kid to take out the bandit while he shoots the main outlaw. Ironically, the kid's shot is blocked by the very woman Russell is trying to save.When the dust settles, the survivors are all revealed as seriously flawed one way or another, whether venal (Fredric March), arrogant (Barbara Rush) weak (Martin Balsam), green (the kid), morally dubious (Margaret Blye) or liberally naïve (Diane Cilento). The end leaves them speechless as unworthy sinners in the face of unmerited grace through Russell's bold sacrifice. They represent the viewer, you & me: We can take the grace offered us and live a life worthy of it or put it out of mind and continue in our folly. It is every person's plight.

I'd given this movie a straight "ten" had Steve McQueen been given the title role. I don't know what Mr. Newman was thinking doing this movie. Was he doing his Steve McQueen impersonation? If so, he got it down to a 'T'! It would have been a very enjoyable movie to watch had it not been Paul Newman's "Steve McQueen look/act-alike" brooding performance. Paul's acting wasn't very convincing. He should have come up with his own way of "method acting", not rip off Steve who practically perfected the "method". Maybe smiling once or twice..? Moving his lips perhaps? Sorry, folks, but this movie should have been directed by Mel Brooks what with the "Gold Hat" Mexican bandito character from Treasure of the Sierra Madre" doing an almost spot-on impersonation of Gold Hat. Basically, this movie was a farce. A rip-off. A joke.