Hombre | | Cast : | Paul Newman, Fredric March | | Director : | Martin Ritt | | Studio : | Fox Home Entertainme | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | March 21, 1967 | | DVD Released Date : | May 11, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | Unrated | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 05, 2005 | | Summary | "Now what do you suppose hell is gonna look like?" | Content
 | Fine performances by a laconic Paul Newman, a menacing Richard Boone, Martin Balsam as a Mexican (hahahahaha wait hahahaha), 3 hot women in a stagecoach (bet you never saw that before), and without a doubt the worst special effects in the history of the Western.
OK, let's start with the "blood thing" that another reviewer mentioned as well. At 1:00:51 of the film, Paul Newman is standing on the back of the stagecoach aiming his rifle at the sky. Candy from Bonanza catches one of these errant rounds and SPLAT! The "blood" first appears as a red spot on Candy's face, then on the next frame somebody apparently glopped red nail polish onto the print itself. You really have to see this to believe it. Then Cameron Mitchell takes the next round, and he is rocketed from his horse like he was shot out of a cannon. No blood though, they must have used the whole bottle on Candy.
Technical nits aside, and there are many more, this is an interesting but semi-boring movie that leans a little to heavy on the "message" while not making much of an attempt to connect with the audience. Frederic March is excellent as usual as the crooked Indian Agent that's been skimming the treasury of cash allocated to buy food for Apaches on the reservation, and now is on the run with his wife Barbara Rush who is totally out of place and does not belong in this movie. Diane Cilento is amazing as the boarding house mom displaced after Newman inherits and sells her livelihood out from under her. She hides her contempt for Newman very well. The first hour is a sleepthrough, the second hour moves at a little better pace, but as with a lot of these message flicks from this era, the finale is completely unsatisfying and leaves you flat.
The soundtrack can basically be found in other Western drivel like Will Penny, or The Shootout. Sort of Walking Tallish if you know what I mean.
The DVD wins no pity points either. The transfer is fine, pretty clean actually, with no remnants or artifacts unless you count the nail polish. The Dolby 2.0 is just adequate, there's not enough action here to justify pushing your speakers. No extras, just trailers for other Newman flicks. I do have one question though, how the Hell did they get those horses to do that? 3 waterbags |
| Rating | | | Date | June 27, 2005 | | Summary | Doesn't Work | Content
| This has got to be one of the worst Westerns of all time, on a par with some of the 60's Italian offerings. The script is ghastly, the acting is absolutely terrible. I am not a Paul Newman fan, as I believe he has always been highly over-rated as an actor, but he outdoes himself with bad acting in this movie. Richard Boone sorrily plays his usual predictable part, exactly the same role he played in "Big Jake".
I hate it when a director takes a movie that could be entertaining and ruins it by trying to make it a PC social commentary. And that is exactly what happened in this movie. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 26, 2004 | | Summary | Hombre | Content
| 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 | | | Date | December 30, 2003 | | Summary | One of the Great Westerns of the Modern Cinema | Content
| 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. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 08, 2003 | | Summary | A mixed review | Content
| Hombre is a very good western. Newman is cool, Boone is a great Villian, the action is well done, and there are some pretty good lines of dialoge. 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. |
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