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| Hombre
Year: 1967
Classification: Western
Directed:
- Martin Ritt
Actors/Actresses:
- Paul Newman
- Fredric March
One of the Great Westerns of the Modern Cinema
This movies has most elements of a good Western. It has cowboys and Indians, a stagecoach robbery, a shootout, the man (and woman) against nature theme, and much much more. Most of all, it has a great script, strong directing, and outstanding acting. Just about all of the characters are memorable for their performances but the soul of this movie is Paul Newman. His character is that of the quiet yet strong man who shares his thoughts with no one and takes no guff from anyone. The bad guy in this movie is nearly as memorable in the person of Richard Boone. He is about as evil a character as you will find in a G rated movie.
Then story is that of a man (Mr. Randall) who was raised on an Apache reservation in the Arizona Territory. He inherits some money and property and sets off to check out a different life style. On the way, he meets up with a diverse group of people on a stagecoach leaving town. Bad things happen but the only man who seemed equipped to handle things is Mr. Randall, played by Paul Newman. The movie explores the nature of good and evil which recalls the old Woody Guthrie line, "Some will rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen". The movie also contrasts the values of the "savage" with that of civilization and you can probably guess who comes out ahead. This movie does not have a happy ending which is not unusual for a modern Western. Yet there is a true feeling that Good has prevailed.
This movie mixes plenty of action and thought-provoking situations and is a good movie for the whole family to enjoy.
Newman and Ritt make Western magic again
Whenever Paul Newman and Director Martin Ritt("Hud", "The Outrage") team up for a western it's pure magic. "Hombre" is a shining example of that.Western lovers will love this film. And if you already know you love it, you'll be thrilled with the DVD.BR> As the story opens we see an Apache Indian, quiet, crouching behind a rock,eyeing the horses that will soon be his. This Apache though is different from the rest. He is a blue eyed Indian. A white man raised by the Apache, outcast from the world he was born to. He is HOMBRE! He is his own man.BR> After word comes to him that he has inherited a boarding house from the man who once tried to raise him and gave him his name, John Russell, he sells it. cuts his hair and embarks on a stagecoach trip. Some of the other passengers are outraged when they learn of his upbringing, and don't even want him inside the coach with them. But the stagecoach runs into trouble,overtaken by outlaws.BR> They are left in the desert to fend for themselves against the outlaws and the elements. He may be their only salvation. Will he help the people that outcast him, and if he does at what cost to him?BR> The cinematography gives that pure western feeling.The music score by David Rose is moving.The story based on a novel by Elmore Leonard is gripping.Paul Newman IS HOMBRE! Richard Boone is the baddest of the bad guys as only he can portray it. The cast also includes, the great Fredric March as the theiving Indian Agent, Barbara Rush as his biggoted wife,and Martin Balsam as Russell's only allie, and the driver.BR> The DVD is a real treat.Beautiful widescreen, sharp clear pictures of the rugged terrain.Vivid colors. The sound is surprisingly crisp(I love the sound of horses hooves) in the Dolby Surround 2.0 stereo. The muscial score terrific. Dialouge was clear although a little low at times.The special features include a Still Gallery of photos taken during the shoot, some theatrical trailers for other Newman movies, and there are subtitles in English or Spanish if needed. There is also a French version.BR>For a great western, great drama,and well just plain great Newman,check this one out!.........Laurie
Hombre
The blue-eyed Paul Newman as a half-breed Apache? Weren't there quite a few folks a-waiting on a stage considering that the stagecoach company was practically defunct, presumably because of a lack of customers? Why didn't most of them, 'ceptin' the women folk, ride horses rather than take the stage? Why did they leave the water in the mine shaft? If you're sure the nasty bandito is going to shoot at you, why tell the kid to "wait 'til he reaches for his gun" before shooting him? BR> I asked a lot of questions while watching HOMBRE, and that usually ain't a good thing. Considering this was taken from a novel written by the usually reliable Elmore Leonard, it's a little mystifying as well.BR> A cynic would say these plot pimples were necessary to make things work. Look, you ain't gonna put brown contacts on Paul Newman's eyes, for criminy sake, and in 1967 there weren't many stars with stronger box office than Newman. We had to get the folks together on a stagecoach so Barbara Rush, the wife of corrupt Indian agent Frederic March, could get the vapors and see to it that half-breed John Russell (Newman) would be asked to ride on the roof. We had to keep the boys off the horses and on the benches because we needed to see bad guy Grimes (Richard Boone, excellent as usual) stink up the coach with his boorish manners and his cigars. They had to leave the water in the mine shaft so that the corrupt Indian agent Dr. Alex Favor (March) could reunite his venal self with the group. BR> That said, with all its question, HOMBRE is a good movie. In a beautiful opening scene a boss horse leads a group of wild horses into a corral. Director Martin Ritt is a master at sustained scenes that build with little or no dialogue. BR> HOMBRE belongs in that herd of movies that came out in the 60s and 70s that cast a critical eye on American culture. They reflected the tensions in society - hawks versus doves, pacifists versus Joe hardhats, the silent majority versus the vocal minority. Like other movies of that ilk, HOMBRE has a quasi-religious outsider at the center of the movie, and that central character is used to reflect and magnify the failures of society. In HOMBRE the white men are venal, immature, corrupt, evil and impotent. BR> The transitional figure, the one that links the hero to the dominant society, is the Mexican Henry Mendez (Martin Balsam.) That a movie attacking racism should cast the anything-but-latino Balsam is one of the sweet ironies of the time. Balsam is good, though, and in a pivotal scene with Russell he lays it out for him. Russell's adoptive uncle has died and leaves him a boarding house and some land. Leaves him a stake in society. He tells Russell, who is living on the reservation at the time, to get his haircut. Look like a white man. Make it easier on yourself. "A Mexican," Mendez says, " is closer to a white man than an Apache. I'll tell you that." Tune out, turn off and drop in, Hombre.BR> Well, quasi-religious f
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