Hombre [HD]

AN OVERLOOKED CLASSIC
This is a flat-out great western, even though often it is overlooked on many "Best" lists. It is existential, yet spiritual. It has action, but not too much. It focuses more on the interaction of its characters; the human condition. The cinematography by James Wong Howe, one of his last efforts, is crisp and expansive; shown magnificently on the DVD version. The score, by David Rose, is energetic and melodic. Director Martin Ritt made the most out of an unconventional plot with his powerhouse of a cast; and ultimately he filmed a picture that delivers a message without preaching.

Paul Newman, a giant among actors, found something in his character, John Russell; a stillness, an incredible strength buried deep within honed survival skills, a quiet confidence, and ultimately a compassion for others. It is a very layered, compex, and brilliant portrayal.

The supporting cast was excellent, surrounding Newman with talented adversaries and cronies. Diane Cilento, as Jesse, was willful,...

Paul Newman's Ode to Self-Reliance
Some reviewers on this site have said that all the white people in this film are louts; that's not true. Unlike Dances With Wolves, where every white man other than Kevin Costner's character is a brute, a lunatic or a savage, in Hombre the characters have a great variety of virtues and faults -- admittedly, mostly faults, but they are not caricatures, and I don't see this movie as a liberal guilt trip by whites.

For example, Peter Peter Lazer as the ticket agent stands up to Cicero Grimes and enforces the rules of the stage company; that's an example of a white character in the movie showing integrity. Diane Cilento's character is frank and gritty and self-confident. She stands up to Grimes in the stagecoach, calling him on his lewd comments. It's her integrity at the end of the movie, her willingness to put her own life on the line for others, that makes Newman's character finally relent from his self-contained aloofness and face the outlaws.

Newman is...

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.
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.
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.
They are left in the desert to fend for...

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