Hombre [1966]
£36.95
Just The Best - I saw this film first in 1967, and many, many times since, and westerns just don t get better than this. Paul Newman is at his very best, Richard Boone is at his very nastiest (and best), the humour is, like Cool Hand Luke, subtle and funny. If all that is not enough, there is a real story behind it, and the good guy doesn t win. Just like lifeWhat a shame we cannot get it in PAL format
Iconic western - Paul Newman at his best with an excellent supporting case. It follows the conventional story of an outsider who is drawn back to help his fellow travellers on a coach trip. The landscape is bleak and unforgiving, the acting taut and blistering. Newman is at the height of his powers. Supreme wwestern, leaves most others in the shade.
We all gotta die, it s only a matter of when. - An Apache policeman John Russell (Paul Newman) inherits a boarding house and is off to sell it. He must travel by the last stage coach out of town. Naturedly we are introduces to each of his traveling companions and given the general background of their life stories. We have the standard mix of exadurated stereotypes. You guessed it the stage is held up. Luckily for the other passengers John Russell, also know as Hombre was raised by the Indians. He is cool, calm, and decisive. The others are just a tad too pansy for reality. However it makes for a good story as they start to learn or not from John what it takes to survive. What they do not realize before it is too late is that John is doing more than just surviving. What on the surface seems like John is changing his ways in reality is an extension of what he was always about.Classic tale with no surprises. But well told and well acted. There are plenty of one liner s, quasi philosophy, and a fair amount of gun play. In all a very satisfying movie. Richard Boone s characterization of Cicero Grimes was better port raid than in his characterization Have Gun Will Travel series.Some actors get type cast and all I could think of when watching Margaret Blye was her character in Waterhole #3 (1967).
Classic Newman - Old blue eyes is at his best in this film. His eyes express his feelings first, then the words come. The film covers old themes such as racism, prejudice, greed,love and courage, the ingredients of a classic Western. As a white boy raised by Apaches the hombre( you don t learn his name until the end when a dying Mexican asks in admiration At least let me know his name)faces prejudice and indifference, catching you out initially as he is a white man who sits quietly in the corner like an Indian, as if afraid to assert himself in the white man s world. But when the time comes to assert himself he steps forward as the only man capable of opposing the bandits (an evil Richard Boone leads them) who hijack the stagecoach.But at the very end it is the stupidity of others which leads to his death. A classic film, which grabs your emotions and stirs you up as a good film should.