7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Starring: Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone (I), Diane Cilento, Cameron MitchellWestern | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
People who grew up in (relatively) rural situations are probably familiar with the 4-H Club, the so-called “youth development” organization which focuses on head, heart, hands and health (hence its quadrilateral title). Urban folks need not lament, though, for if they were around in the 1960s and attending movies with any degree of regularity, they may in fact have become members of another 4-H Club of sorts, this one comprised of films starring Paul Newman. (The) Hustler, Hud, Harper and Hombre each helped to cement Newman’s status as one of the decade’s most commanding and dependable leading man presences. (“H” titles continued to crop up throughout Newman’s long and vaunted career, including such efforts as Harry & Son and (The) Hudsucker Proxy. A case might also be made for both Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man, which utilized the famous author’s moniker as part of its title, and The Secret War of Harry Frigg, since Newman does in fact play another Harry in the film.) Hombre and Hud (and in fact Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man) shared not just Newman’s star power (or in the case of the Hemingway film, co-star power), but the directing finesse of Martin Ritt. Ritt had directed Newman to his first Academy Award nomination in 1958 for The Long, Hot Summer, continuing to work with the iconic actor in such other outings as the underappreciated Paris Blues and interesting The Outrage, a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s legendary Rashômon reset in the American Southwest of the 19th century. Revisionist Westerns were something of a cinematic rage in the 1960s, and Hombre is one of several efforts which sought to recast well worn tropes of “cowboys versus Indians” in a somewhat more realistic, well balanced light.
Hombre is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1 (as the commentary mentions, this was one of the first Fox films to opt for Panavision instead of CinemaScope). The film was lensed by the legendary James Wong Howe, who is perhaps better remembered for some of his incredible black and white cinematography (Seconds), but who proves here that he was certainly no slouch with regard to working in color. Ritt and Howe are somewhat less concerned with the landscapes and more with the characters who pass through them, and so the film has a somewhat different emphasis than, say, a John Ford western. While Hombre does offer an at times John Fordian sweep of wide open spaces, it often instead favors long studies of faces and reactions. Detail and fine detail in these shots is excellent, offering clear, precise views of Newman's famously blue eyes or the crags in March's face. When we do get shots of the great outdoors, detail on busy elements like scrub or leaves resolve without issue and depth of field is generous. Colors are beautifully suffused and accurate looking, though I did feel things tipped ever so slightly toward the brown end of things on occasion (something that might be exacerbated by the film's emphasis on a ruddy sienna tinged ambience). Occasional moments are slightly soft looking (see screenshot 12), but sharpness and clarity are generally superb. Grain is very natural looking and resolves perfectly, and there are no compression artifacts of any note.
Hombre features a full bodied sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track which capably supports the film's dialogue, as well as effects like horse hooves or the trundling sound of the stagecoach, along with more bombastic effects like gunshots. David Rose's elegiac score is also very well rendered on this problem free track. Fidelity and prioritization are both fine and dynamic range is reasonably wide.
Hombre is occasionally just a bit too pat in its formulations, but it's ultimately such a thoughtful, nuanced and, yes, scenic enterprise that it's hard not to be won over by its gritty determination. Newman brings a steely (and incredibly blue) eyed stalwart calmness to the title role, and the supporting cast offers great turns by March, Cilento, Balsam and Barbara Rush in what may what be her finest film performance (and, yes, I'm including Can't Stop the Music). Technical merits are excellent, the commentary is very enjoyable and Hombre comes Highly recommended.
1968
Warner Archive Collection
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