Cheap Hombre (DVD) (Paul Newman, Fredric March) (Martin Ritt) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hombre

However, its a 60s movie and full of liberal attitudes. Paul Newman (Hombre) is the most noble, intelligent, capable native-american who ever existed on planet earth. And every white person in the movie is immoral, stupid, racist, and cowardly. (Except for Richard Boone who is brave but a murderous criminal.) Which is pretty amazing considering that the Old West was a dangerous place where almost everyone had to self-relient and know how to handle a gun.

Anyone who watches the movie has to wonder why Hombre (Newman) doesn't leave these horrible honkeys to their own fate. I guess it because he's the most the noble native-american ever.

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, 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.

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?
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.