Hombre (1967)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Very best movie i ever watch

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Despite the ever present hotbed topic of racism, the film was a major disappointment to me as it is rather slow moving and the characters such as Richard Boone, Paul Newman and Fredric March are never allowed to develop fully.The one excellent performance here is by Diane Cilento as one of the passengers on the ill-fated stagecoach.Racism is not an underlying film here; rather, it is the definite theme. Kidnapped by Indians as a child and raised as their own, Paul Newman was eventually taken back by a man who gave him his name and upon the latter's death willed him his property.Seeing how the Indians have been mistreated has left an indelible mark on the Newman character and he faces bigotry on the coach for when his Indian past is discovered, the passengers no longer want to ride with him.The coach is summarily held up and the passengers must depend on Newman for their very survival.In a change of pace, Fredric March, one of the passengers, is an Indian agent traveling with his wife Barbara Rush and both show their nasty bigotry. Through the irony of the situation, Rush will also depend upon Newman in the end to survive.As always, Newman comes to grips with the situation and human decency propels him to save the Rush character, but at what cost?

A tough, sun bleached western from Martin Ritt, this is well served by fine performances and some tremendous cinematography from James Wong Howe.John Russell (Newman) is a white man raised by the Apaches, who travels by stagecoach with a group of people whose lives aren't as simple as we first believe. Threatened by bandits, Russell unwillingly leads his fellow passengers towards safety. His moral code is sparse and unforgiving, but he is surrounded by others of a different persuasion, most notably Jessie, played by Diane Cilento. When the bandits hold a passengers wife hostage, Russell's moral code is challenged, and it's his unexpected attachment to Jessie that causes him to behave differently. Newman and Cilento are excellent. Richard Boone is the perfect counter weight as Cicero Grimes, the principal bandit. Martin Balsam (stagecoach driver) and Frederic March (an Indian agent) make an impression too, as does Frank Silvera (Mexican bandit). This is a vastly superior western. Superlative work from the stars and an intelligent script, added to the dusty Death Valley location work, create a tense, sparse western well worth watching.

The first part of the film, from the very beginning until the trip starts, is simply perfect. My favorite scenes are the one in which the main character is in the bar with two Apache fellows and the one in which intimidating Grimes gets his ticket for the stagecoach. If the movie had kept in the same path this would be one of the best Westerns ever made. It did not, though it is still a good Western. Both Paul Newman and Richard Boone did a very good job. Filmmaking is also remarkable, a very careful work. The screenplay explores competently the different moods, interests and backgrounds of each character. Although not in the same average level of the first part of the film, the trip also has amazing moments, both in the interaction between passengers and in the final conflict.

Paul Newman reunites with "Hud" director Martin Ritt for this stark western. Newman plays John 'Hombre' Russell, a white man raised by Apaches who is shunned by the community as a result. When he inherits a boarding house in town, he decides to trade it for a herd, and must take a stagecoach to complete the deal. With him on the journey are Favor(Frederic March) and his wife Audra(played by Barbara Rush) a snobbish couple, along with ruthless gunfighter Grimes(played by Richard Boone) The trip is rudely interrupted by bandits, who force the passengers to flee into the mountains for safety, but with the bandits in pursuit, leaving Russell the only man to protect them... Interesting tale of prejudice and irony is quite cynical, with a familiar plot, yet works very well because of fine acting and direction.