Tom Horn (1980)

Undescribable Perfection

Good concept, poorly executed.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I watched this film not because I came across a title called Tom Horn.I didn't know Tom Horn.I wasn't familiar with the director either.I watched this film because of McQueen,and I knew that this was almost his last film.While watching it I couldn't help making parallels between the personage of Tom Horn by the time that story happened and that of McQueen at the time the film was made. Two larger than life characters who have reached the end of the line. For the spectator who has seen McQueen as the unbeatable hero of The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape,watching him carrying the rifle ,tracking down the rustlers while catching his breath,running heavily,but yet never missing a target, is hard to accept.As the film also reaches its end,showing Horn getting arrested,his look gazed at the mountains afar through the bars of the jail window,his bright eyes,his calm face,you realize that this is not a defeat. The pale face,all that weakness and physical fragility works as transparent through which the inner light and strength of that mixture of Horn-McQueen comes out and shines.And when he steps up the stairs of his execution,what a forgiving smile at the face of the enemy,what a victory over death.A man who makes even dying look cool.

What makes this movie at least partially interesting is the fact that it's based on the writings of actual Tom Horn, an Old West lawman, outlaw and gunfighter. Keeping that in mind helps as you watch this movie, because it doesn't really follow a typical western or even movie plot. There's something of a story arc present, but there are certain scenes that can only be explained if you remember that they tried to represent a real life, which rarely follows storytelling conventions.That still leaves us with the problem that this movie doesn't really follow those conventions. This is a problem, because you cannot squeeze decades of life into a few hours if don't know how to tell a story, how to artfully skip over details and allude to other things and consequences. Tom Horn does some of that, but it's still the most boring and confusing western I've ever seen. Character motivations are poorly established or they seem to change between scenes - I theorize this is because the real life events probably took place over significant amount of time, which the movie doesn't establish at all. Likewise the setting is just your typical western setting, which is a huge missed opportunity. When you're using a real life character, use a real life town and give it an identity. And then there's the ending, which I thought a total cop-out, but it is explained somewhat by the "based on real events" thing, so in retrospect it wasn't THAT bad.Still, Steve McQueen is rather good as Tom Horn, the rest of the actors are passable, the film looks fine given its age and if you like westerns, you should get your fix of cattle ranches, big open plains, gunfights and blue skies from this film.Not a good film in my opinion, mostly because they didn't seem to know how to adapt the original writings to a working film. Shame, because the actual story is interesting. Western fans might find some enjoyment from this, but the rest of us are left feeling cold.

This is an odd movie. It's a western, but also is like a film noir where few people, if any, do the right things and the usual Hollywood happy ending is non-existent. It almost leaves you depressed. In fact, it does. Yet, I was glad to have finally seen this movie, however, even if it was so long overdue, and think that many of the poor reviews (not here) are unjustified.This movie is SO Steve McQueen: a tough guy with few words, a likeble man ("Tom Horn,"the title character) who gets the job done no matter how tough the assignment; a guy the prettiest woman in town goes for and a man who gets respect of the other (good) men in town. However, unlike many of his roles, the last 20-30 minutes reveals a totally unique character, and one that is puzzling.Viewers of this would not be blamed for yelling at the screen, imploring "Tom" to "say something in your defense! Speak up!! Tell everyone you are innocent!"McQueen's "Horn" either is resigned to leaving the world perhaps the way he thought he should, with a shrug of his shoulders as if saying "that's the way it goes" or he's imitating Jesus Christ, who did similar when he spent his last day in kangaroo courts. He, too, wouldn't answer questions and state the obvious. To paraphrase McQueen in this story, it's like, "Hey, if you don't know who I am and what I'm all about I am by now, well....do what you gotta do."Anyway, much of the film is a good western, nicely photographed and uniquely low-key with McQueen hired by a bunch of ranchers (an "Association") to put a stop to all the rustling that has been going on in the area recently. He does just that. In fact, he apparently does his job TOO well.Depsite this being a quiet movie, the action scenes are quick and very violent. Yet, McQueen and many of his friends in here are so low-key it makes for a strange western....and oddly fascinating, I thought. A pity this isn't better known, especially since it was McQueen's second-to-last film before dying of cancer. He looks different, too. He doesn't look well and it must have taken some courage to make this film feeling as he did. Despite the haggard looks, underneath, it's the same old Steve.

This film, while not a classic, is an important and entertaining view of the dying days of the American West. Tom Horn, as portrayed by McQueen, is a legend past his prime.... misunderstood and out of place in the new century. In a number of ways, the film is similar in this respect to the films Unforgiven as well as the Grey Fox (which also featured Richard Farnsworth).My only real disappointment in the film was the short amount of screen time for Linda Evans. She was dynamic in the few scenes in which she appeared and had excellent chemistry with McQueen.This film was superior to the earlier Nevada Smith and is a must-see for fans of the genre .