Rating: 
Summary: A top western in my book.
Review: Paul Newman is just soooo hard in this movie. Has some great one liners ("How are you going to get down that hill?") and a great study on one man's personal sacrifice. I saw this movie when I was a kid on cable and recently purchased it. This ranks up with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Outlaw Josey Wales, and The Wild Bunch as a true classic western with some deeper themes.
Rating: 
Summary: A great Western.
Review: The basic message of this film is that we should treat our fellow men based on their needs instead of on their merits. It's when the character John Russel realizes this, that he performs a truly unselfish act. Outstanding performances by Paul Newman, Diane Cilento, Richard Boone and Martin Balsam.
Rating: 
Summary: Hombre
Review: 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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Well, quasi-religious figures in a Judeo- Christian culture haven't got a lot of options left by the time they reach the end of the last reel. For some strange reason we find ritual bloodletting deeply satisfying and a road sign to Higher Meaning. So be it. Many people will love HOMBRE for its passion. For my part, I'll remember with fondest pleasure watching Richard Boone guffaw, threaten, and intimidate his bad bad self through an otherwise okay western.
The only extras on this dvd are a clutch of theatrical trailers for Paul Newman movies. The trailer for THE HUSTLER has a snazzy, jazzy feel to it and I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Hombre
Review: 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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Well, quasi-religious figures in a Judeo- Christian culture haven't got a lot of options left by the time they reach the end of the last reel. For some strange reason we find ritual bloodletting deeply satisfying and a road sign to Higher Meaning. So be it. Many people will love HOMBRE for its passion. For my part, I'll remember with fondest pleasure watching Richard Boone guffaw, threaten, and intimidate his bad bad self through an otherwise okay western.
The only extras on this dvd are a clutch of theatrical trailers for Paul Newman movies. The trailer for THE HUSTLER has a snazzy, jazzy feel to it and I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the first "modern" westerns...
Review: There was a trend in the late sixties to insert a message in movies that the counterculture youth of the period (I was one of them) could relate to, Hombre and Butch Cassidy probably were the best examples of this. (Cool Hand Luke also) Russell (Newman) has no use for the white establishment, although he is white himself. However, his life style is rapidly changing, the Indians are having more and more land taken away from them by the government, and they are pushed further back into the hills to land that is not suitable for ranching or farming. That, and they are being cheated by dishonest Indian agents like Dr. Favor, who is embezzling the funds that he was supposed to use to feed the inhabitants of the reservation. (This is a historical fact, many of these agents were crooked) Russell's birth father leaves him some property in his will, and Russell must associate with the hated white race, at least for awhile. I thought this movie was the sharpest contrastfrom that of the traditional westerns (Cowboy=good, Indian=bad) at least until Little Big Man came out a few years later. I also like the fact that everyone in the movie was flawed to some degree, the aloof Russell, the devious Favor and his racist, snobbish wife, even Rush and Balsam's character's were flawed to some degree, although basically good people. I just loved the part where Russell tell's David Canary's character who he is right before he shoots him, Canary not recognizing him with his short hair and hat. I read in a few movie rags that this was going to be remade with Kevin Costner playing Russell, but I guess he changed his mind, and I'm not complaining.
Rating:
Summary: Six Stars (Except for the Ending)
Review: This film is a beautiful depiction of a perfectly consistent, rational-egoist hero. The hero did not ultimately "sacrifice" himself for others. You have to ignore or overlook facts of the film in order to reach such a conclusion. Since other reviews have revealed the ending already, I'm not spoiling it by saying the ending is bad. But it's not bad because the hero becomes inconsistent. John Russell goes down to "save" the hostage in order to fight his way out of the trapped situation he finds himself (and the others) in. Recall, before he goes out he says, "I'm not going out there to die." He comes up with a perfectly workable plan that (and this is the crucial point) *would have worked* if the writer had not chosen to foil it by creating an "accidental" circumstance: the hostage blocks the line-of-sight of the guy covering Russell's back. There was no "selflessness" involved here. The Russell character had integrity to the very end and would have saved everyone yet again in the process of saving himself had not the author of the story chosen to have him die by "accident". That choice should be held against the film and its author, but it doesn't spoil the perfect integrity of this wonderful heroic character. It's the author that becomes inconsistent, by showing us throughout the film a man who is good, honest, virtuous, and efficacious dying in the end because of some unforseeable, incidental detail that has nothing to do with any character in the film. That's a second-rate way to resolve a story, but the hero the writer created is awesome. I can't say it's a great film, but it's a great character.
Rating:
Summary: AN OVERLOOKED CLASSIC
Review: 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, pragmatic, outgoing, yet still sexy; the earth mother of the piece. Richard Boone was the bad-to-the-bone Cicero Grimes; adding a new dimension to villiany. Yes he was mean, was a bully, was hard-as-nails, yet Boone still was able to show us an interesting man with deep shadows on his past; a gem of a performance. Fredric March, as the San Carlos Indian Agent, Mr. Favor, allowed us to dislike him, then pity him. He managed to dredge up a form of redemption out of the shoals of a potentially one-dimensional character. Martin Balsam found an odd humanity within his Mexican character, the stage driver Mendez; a man prone to compromise, a survivor. And in a small flashy part of a Mexican bandit, Frank Silvera made a tremendous impact. He helped us to like this brigand, and he shined with every gesture and line. Barbara Rush as Mrs. Favor, and Margaret Blye as the young Mrs. Blake, were both quite competent. One false note in the casting was Peter Lazer as Billy Lee Blake. Even with repeated viewings, his performance never improves. There is no real substance to it. He never managed to rev up his character to the level of those around him; like a Shetland pony competing in race with thoroughbreds. Cameron Mitchell and David Canary had great energy and smooth professionalism fused into their supporting roles. The most haunting moment of the film, what stays with you, is the death of John Russell. Newman had carefully established that this Hombre would not "bleed" for others. He was like a coyote bedding down with domestic dogs; an outcast. Yet it was his strength that all the others clung to in a crisis. So why, in the last gasp of the plot, would this hardened pariah suddenly sacrifice himself to save a woman who had demonstrated contempt for him ? We are left without a real answer, just a sweet sadness, and the awesome realization that we have witnessed some level of greatness.
Rating:
Summary: AN ISOLATED MAN COMES TO GRIPS WITH HIS HUMANITY
Review: THIS IS A GREAT STORY OF THE MEANING OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY AND WHAT IT MEANS IN RELATION TO YOUR OBLIGATION TO YOU OWN SURVIVAL AND THAT OF OTHERS. HOMBRE IS A WHITE MAN RAISED AS AN INDIAN WHO FINDS HIMSELF IN AN INTERNAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN HIS OWN SURVIVAL AND THAT OF OTHERS WEAKER THAN HIMSELF, BOTH PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY. THEY NOT ONLY TREATED HIM POORLY BECAUSE HIS BACKGROUND BUT WERE BARELY ABLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR OWN DIGNITY IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY. IN THE END HIS STRONG HERITAGE TO PRESERVE THE "TRIBE" OVERRIDES THE GREAT URGE OF SELF-PRESERVATION AND HE SAVES THE WHITES WHO REJECTED HIM AND EVEN THEIR OWN KIND. THIS MOVIE IS WELL ACTED AND DIRECTED. IT IS HUMOROUS AND GRIM. THERE IS BOTH HOPE AND DESPAIR FOR HUMANITY DEMONSTRATED IN THE CHARACTERS. THIS IS A GOOD, SOLID FILM, WITH BOTH ENTERTAINMENT VALUE AND SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR. P.S. NEWMAN IS GREAT.
Rating:
Summary: What's with the blood?
Review: This is a simple review of Hombre. It's just great. I would never miss it on TV even though I have the tape. One of Paul Newman's best parts, not to mention Richard Boone as the very, very bad guy. He makes me shudder every time. It's easy to hate the part played by Frederic March too.
Now to the question, when Newman shoots the first outlaw from the top of the stage coach, the blood seems to be painted onto the movie frame itself, NOT on the man getting shot. No one ever mentions this in any review or movie goof or Hombre trivia. Does anybody have any comments on this? It fascinates me every time!
Rating:
Summary: Newman at his absolute best
Review: This is one of if not Paul Newman's best performance. He cooly delivers numerous cynical one liners that are unforgettable. Several have been referenced by the other reviewers below. The acting of Frank Silvera as a Mexican bandit has not been mentioned by anyone else here and while he has a secondary role the scenes in which he is featured are some of the most memorable in the movie. He comes up the hill waving a white flag and he and Newman face off in an unforgettable sequence>when Silvera says "this Grimes -he thinks it is going to be easy" Newman responds "it's going to get harder"
Overall this is my favorite Western with great characters beautiful scenery and a tremendous screenplay.
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