Hombre

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 generally described in these reviews as selfish and egotistical; I disagree. The scene in the bar where he clobbers a tough guy in a bar who's abusing Indians with the butt of his rifle, showed lots of courage and it was done for others who were not in a position to help themselves. (Western justice wouldn't help the Indians; they knew it, and Skip Ward and David Canary's characters knew they could get away with it.) I thought it showed a lot of guts on Russell's part. As a half-white he stood a better chance at justice; but then, he didn't rely on others to provide him with justice. That's one of my favorite scenes in the movie.The scene in the ticket office when Richard Boone's character Cicero Grimes enters, sets the background for a number of important aspects of the characters of the people in the cast. Grimes starts off trying to bully Newman's character John Russell into giving up his ticket. Grimes licking his lips, the way a cat does when it's really ticked off and ready to explode, with the word "friend" on his lips, is incredibly intimidating. He even blows away a returning soldier, who can't stand up to him, played to a "T" by Larry Ward. Newman's character, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying it and isn't fazed by Grimes' intimidation. I wish that scene had played out a little longer -- I'd like to have seen how Russell would have eventually dealt with Grimes; but that dynamic was held off till the last scenes of the movie.Newman was aloof in the ticket scene. He didn't reach out to help anybody else, and this sets the scene for who he is: A self-sufficient man, who assumes that everybody else can fend for themselves, too. That's why he doesn't jump all over himself to help others -- he assumes they're grownups and can take care of themselves.Besides coming to the aid of the Indians in the bar, another scene where Newman's character reaches out to help people is when the stage is held up. On the one hand he says to the bandits that he's not a witness to anything. But as soon as he sees his chance, he grabs his rifle and starts shooting. That's another aspect to the character of John Russell -- he's ruthless with criminals. If they threaten his life -- he threatens or takes theirs. This trait was also shown when he banished Dr. Favor to the desert with no water -- after Favor attempted to leave everyone else without water. Even Dr. Favor said it was tough, but just. This trait of John Russell was also shown when Cicero Grimes came up the hill to have a palaver with the people he was holding hostage at gunpoint in the shack. Grimes in essence came up the hill under a flag of truce. None was waved, but that was the dynamic, and he assumed that the "rule" of the situation was that since he was coming to talk, nobody would harm him. But Newman's character wasn't buying into this hypocrisy. Cicero Grimes was threatening the lives of all of the people in that shack. His conversion to gentlemanly ways when it suited him was something John Russell didn't buy into. Newman's character saw his chance, and shot and seriously wounded Grimes. Boone's character Grimes understood, shown when he paid the grudging but sincere compliment "you've got a lot of hard bark on you." (Newman's character wasn't swayed by the compliment. He didn't care what other people thought of him, good or bad. He was independent outwardly and inwardly.).Paul Newman has generally gravitated towards playing scoundrels in a lot of his movies, people with great flaws. But this role is my favorite of Newman's, of all of his movies. The message of his character that I take from the film is: be independent, be self-sufficient. People in general are namby-pamby, and his blunt self-sufficiency chases that out of the people around him; they rise to the occasion and become grownups. In this sense it is a true American movie, i.e. depicting something of the American character; or at least our mythic impression of ourselves. America over-does independence and individualism, and Hombre is a terrific example of it.When Barbara Rush's character is staked out in the sun, her husband won't attempt to save her, and comes across as a selfish you-know-what. John Russell won't save her because he knows, as he says to the two women in the shack, that even if they give up the money, the bandits will still kill them all. He knows there is no way of saving the woman tied up in the sun, and he has decided to not attempt it. Not until, that is, Diane Cilento's character outdoes him in integrity. She offers, at significant risk to her own life, to take the money down the hill to the bandits, even though she knows how ruthless the bandits are. She wants to try to save Mrs. Favor. Newman's character can't let that happen. I don't think it's just because it's a woman showing him up. That's part of it, but I think that a careful read of his character shows that he pays his own way through life, and he abounds in integrity. John Russell can't let somebody else bail him out, and have a higher level of integrity than his own -- so he relents and walks down the hill. He does so only after protecting the financial interests of the Indians from whom the Favors stole the money -- again showing his willingness to reach out to help people. Granted, two of the instances in the movie where he extends aid to others, are helping Indians. But he did get the whites through the desert. They followed him because, as he said, "I can cut it, lady." And he did, and they survived because of him. I think these examples refute the characterizations of some reviewers that Newman's character is selfish and egotistical. Individualistic to a fault, sure; but not egotistical, and not selfish.This is one of my top ten favorite movies, along with Gandhi, Patton, A Thousand Clowns, The Third Man, The Fallen Idol, A Man For All Seasons, and a few others (mostly good character studies of men). I've watched Hombre dozens of times, and have just bought the DVD and am waiting for it to arrive. I live a few hundred miles from where Hombre was filmed, and I've contacted the Tucson Film board to ask exactly where the Old Helvetia Mine is located, where the last scenes in the movie were filmed. I'd like to visit there. This is a great drama, and a very satisfying movie.Brent Poirier, Las Cruces NM USA

Paul Newman's character had been captured as achild and raised by an Apache tribe.After several years, he was discovered and returnedto the Anglo culture for a time, and was adoptedby a family.His escaped the Anglos and returned to his tribe.The movie picks up when the father who adoptedhim dies, and leaves him a boarding house (and agold watch) in a western town.(HISTORICAL NOTE:I read a history book about Anglo children takenby Native Americans and raised as their own.The author of that book found that historically,if the child was with the tribe for less thana year or two, and then returned to his or herfamily, the child would stay with the Anglos.But if the child had been with the tribe for morethan a couple of years -- the majority would makeattempts to return to their native tribes.)Newman returns to the town, sells his boardinghouse for a pack of horses, and then begins hisjourney by stagecoach to travel to the townwhere his horses are located.During the journey, he interacts with otherAnglos and Latinos -- good, bad and ugly.Newman is festering with anger and hatred towardthe Anglos and the US government for what they didto him and his tribe while he was growing up.Many reviewers have circled the question of why,at the end, with all his anger and hatred,he gives his life to free the other captives.Here's my take:During the journey, Jessie continually reaches outto him, tries to understand him, and falls in love withhim. Newman, at first, gives her the same animositythat he shows the others (except for his semi-friend,Martin Balsam, a Mexican). But Jessie has a lot of moxie,and Newman begins to respect her honesty, and her''I like to be with men'' feminist-fire. Eventually,he begins to have reciprocal feelings for her.At the end, he gets possession of the stolen money,and plans to return it to his tribe. He expects to killsome bad guys, and doesn't give a damn if the rest of thecaptives live or die.The others pressure Newman to exchange themoney in return for their freedom.Newman knows the bad guys won't free them if theyget the money, and so he warns the others, and callstheir bluff by offering to give the money to anyonewho wants to take the money, and give it to the badguys.No one steps forward -- except Jessie.Here she shows Newman her courage and willingnessto die if need be in order to help others.With all the anger/rage/animosity insidehim, Newman doesn't really give a damnif he lives or dies (I know this experientiallyas a VN vet) so instead, he goes down to meetthe outlaws after obtaining a pledge that the moneywill be returned to his tribe.In the final analysis, he only wants the moneyreturned to his tribe, and Jessie not to be killed.As fate would have it, his back up shooterwasn't able to defend Newman, and sadly, we lose him.Fantastic story. The more I watch Paul Newmanmovies, the more I learn what a really great talenthe was (including his food charity).So if you are puzzled by some mean Hombre you know,and wonder why he hates everything and everybody,this flick is a great character study of such a man.Knowing that Paul Newman was a WW-2 combat veteranwhose unit was decimated, I can imagine how hefound the grit to make his character so believable.After watching the freebie on Amazon,I bought the DVD to add to my collection.

Great actors along with Paul Newman in this very nicely done western!

Great movie. A classic.

Fill in our western collection. The story line carries the great actors.

The spine of the DVD case was delivered broken and split half way up the case. There was also a piece of the case that broke off and was sitting in the delivery package. The DVD itself was just fine and played perfectly. The film is part of my Paul Newman collection. Just sad that the case is not very presentable.

Watched it.

I liked how , Paul Newman help the people in stagecoach with him even several bigoted passengers from outlaws .

A well acted and interesting movie. It also had a message if you want to approach it at that level.

Beautiful blu-ray transfer for a classic western,the picture quality is sharp as a tack,I bought this on amazonmarketplace,from screen archives entertainment,their customer service was excellent,it was a bit expensive,but well worth it.This is what blu-ray is all about,taking a classic western from the 60,s and making it feel like this is the first time you,ve seen it,the picture quality is gorgeous,Highly HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!Cheers Guys,Davy Cairns,Scotland.

Newman is probably best known for Butch & Sundance, but he made several excellent westerns and this was one of the best. As the white boy raised by the Apache and taught their ways he really has no allegance to the white population and little liking for most of them, so it is ironic that he loses his life protecting them. The film has a good cast of familiar faces including Richard Boone as the chief villain and a good storyline from the pen of Elmore Leonard who wrote several good westerns before switching to crime novels. Many of his stories have been filmed. EG. Get Shorty. JR.

As said the sound quality is very poor but it is a good western

Always liked this movie, Paul Newman at his best(for me anyway) great quality sharp viewing,glad to add it to my collection. Thank you,fast delivery.