Paul Newman is an enigmatic actor to me; on the one hand he has been in some amazingly successful and enjoyable films like The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, and Hud. On the other hand he has been in some out-and-out turkeys, like Harper, Left-handed Gun, and the subject film, Hombre. So what is he, a great actor or not? Well, if Hombre were the only time you ever saw him on the screen you just might think the latter. Actually, that is a little unfair, as Newman does just fine with the role he is given but the story could have been told a whole lot better. Newman also has never been able to convince me he was a cowboy on screen. Hud was a spoiled rich boy who masqueraded as a cowboy.

From a story by Elmore Leonard, who has written more Westerns than anybody I can think of other than Louis L’Amour, Hombre tries to give a meaningful take on racial injustice. Produced during the feel-good sixties where America was taking a hard look at itself in light of certain developments in Southeast Asia it could have been a hard-hitting drama. Instead it fizzled due to flabby story telling, poor casting, and weak characterization by the majority of the supporting cast. While other films have very effectively dealt with the double standard by which minority-group members have often been treated in America - The Searchers and Valdez is Coming immediately spring to mind – this film is almost mind-numbingly boring in its ham-handed attack on the “silent majority.”

The plot goes along pretty much according to that established in Stagecoach, the first Western that went beyond the white hat/black hat simplicity of the classic Westerns. Hombre’s great innovation is, instead of a bandit for the hero like in Stagecoach, an Indian is substituted. Actually, John Russell (Paul Newman) is a half-breed. One of the first moments focuses on Russell’s baby blue eyes; incongruous on a man dressed as an Apache warrior.

Stereotypes abound – whites are either greedy, dishonest, or weak. By contrast, the strongest characters are Mexicans or Indians. Oh yeah, there was one strong woman, too. She says, “I just want your knife. That’s all I want from you.” He says, “You want a whole lot more than that from me, lady.” You’ll have to watch the conclusion to see what that exchange refers to. In a nutshell, the story concerns the stagecoach passengers’ snubbing of Russell until they are held up. After that, he is the only one they trust to follow out of the barren desert.

One of the defects I noted was, to make Russell appear to be noble, the filmmakers made all the other characters weak or mean. Actually, Russell was not that wonderful a person; he was just true to himself, more than anything, at least until the ending.

Supporting cast includes such heavy hitters as Frederic March and Cameron Mitchell, but their parts could have been played by cardboard cutouts for all the use made of them by Director Martin Ritt. The exception was villain Richard Boone, who did have some choice lines. “You have some mighty hard bark on you, mister.” And “Wonder what hell is going to look like?” are some examples. Martin Balsam also did a good job as a Mexican stagecoach driver. The women players, including Barbara Rush, were uniformly weak in their characterizations.

Direction by Martin Ritt was not one of his better efforts. Watch Hud or The Spy Who Came In From The Cold to see his best work. Costuming and sets are below average and cheesy looking. Photography by James Wong Howe is good, but camera angles could have been better chosen. Score by David Rose was unremarkable.

So where does this leave us? Hombre is a part of my video collection, but in all fairness, unless you are a BIG Paul Newman fan you can safely miss this one. Two stars.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above