Paul Newman made a LOT of movies in the sixties. He came along when the Old Guard stars were dying (Gable, Cooper), retiring (Cagney, Grant) or just plain aging (Stewart, Fonda) and attained a kind of bona fide stardom that found him inundated with scripts. Newman made some great movies in the sixties, but he also willingly took on fluff like "The Prize," "What A Way to Go" and "Lady L."
"The Hustler" and "Hud" were considered the classics in his sixties period until "Cool Hand Luke." Everything else was kind of "filler," even though "Harper" was a fun detective entertainment with an all-star cast. (Newman even worked with Alfred Hitchcock during this period, but on the lackluster "Torn Curtain.")
And what of "Hombre"? The reviews of the time felt that the film somehow didn't match the heights of "The Hustler" or "Hud." Hard to say why. Maybe the sight of Newman early on in an long-haired Indian wig?(movie critics could be silly and catty.) Maybe the "too entertaining" punchiness of the story ("Hombre," though grim, is more action-packed and funny in Newman's one-liners than "Hud" or "The Hustler.")
The bottom line is: I think that "Hombre" is THE sleeper of Newman's sixties career. It has consistently developed a following over time...I know many people who have seen it and can QUOTE it. It got several nationwide network TV showings in the seventies, and its cult grew.
Today, with Newman sadly passed and his great career ended, it seems clear to me that "Hombre" is in his Top Ten of memorable movies.
Newman had to share his post-"Cool Hand Luke" hits with Redford and McQueen and, much later, Cruise. "Hombre" is shared with some truly great actors (Fredric March, Richard friggin' Boone, Martin Balsam, and Frank Silvera, plus the gritty Diane Cilento), but those people weren't fellow superstars. "Hombre" is NEWMAN's own movie all the way.
Definitely Top Ten. Maybe Top Five. Personally, I enjoy it better than "The Hustler" and any of Newman's fifties pictures.
And that's how I feel, if it doesn't matter to you. Or even if it does. (As John Russell would say, except he says it different.)
That Top Ten?
Oh, here's my shot:
1. Hud (The Ultimate Paul Newman Role)
2. The Sting (smallish role, but he runs the movie)
3. The Verdict (A career reborn; old, handsome, and a "scared rabbit")
4. Hombre (Newman has little to say, but it all counts, he's laconic and cool and funny and tragic)
5. Harper (A forties Bogart detective movie updated to the sixties; great cast)
6. Butch Cassidy (The Odd Couple on Horseback and Newman Allows Redford Stardom)
7. Slapshot (A hilariously ribald and dim character, an incredible athlete for his age)
8. Nobody's Fool (Late Newman, and lovable; you're worried you'll lose him soon in movies and in life, but he surprised us all)
9. The Towering Inferno(Kinda clunky, but not when Newman and McQueen share the screen)
10. Sometimes a Great Notion(Newman directs and stars in a tough little movie about a tough little profession: logging.)
The Hustler and Somebody Up There Likes Me are great, too. And Absence of Malice and Fort Apache the Bronx. I even like Torn Curtain (Newman and Hitchcock are an interestingly "wrong" match). He won his Oscar for "The Color of Money,"; he's great, but the movie isn't. Face it, Newman worked long enough for a Top Twenty or Thirty, but there's only so much room.
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