HOMBRE MEANS MAN… PAUL NEWMAN IS HOMBRE!

After being raised by the Apache, John Russell (Paul Newman) returns to “civilization” to claim an inheritance; after deciding to sell a house, he leaves on a stagecoach full of people who have reason to resent each other… One of the “revisionist” Westerns of the 1960s, a film that questions the traditionally racist view of Native Americans often held in earlier Hollywood Westerns; it was also the last movie Newman did with Martin Ritt. The drama is made all the more intense by concentrating its characters on that stagecoach, which eventually leads to a hostage situation. Exploring the various aspects of racism, the film is compelling and has a nicely restrained performance by Newman.

1967-U.S. 111 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Irving Ravetch, Martin Ritt. Directed by Martin Ritt. Screenplay: Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank, Jr. Novel: Elmore Leonard. Cast: Paul Newman (John Russell), Fredric March (Alex Favor), Richard Boone (Cicero Grimes), Diane Cilento, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Rush… Martin Balsam.

Last word: “[Cinematographer James Wong Howe] could make the sky look like anything at all. And he would do anything for a shot. I remember him when we were shooting ‘Hombre’. At a pretty advanced age, he was climbing up a stiff mountain with a camera on his back just so we wouldn’t lose the light for the next shot”. (Ritt, “Martin Ritt: Interviews”)

IMDb