Hombre

“Hombre” means MAN - - Paul Newman is HOMBRE.

“Hombre” is suspenseful western about racial bigotry.

An old family friend comes to visit John Russell (Paul Newman) to tell him that his father has died and left him an inheritance – a boarding house and a gold watch.  He urges John to return with him to claim the bequest, but John is hesitant to do so because he is not eager to rejoin the “White” race.  John has been happily living amongst the Apache Indians for years.

John eventually decides to return home to claim the boarding house so that he can sell it. This puts him at odds with the Jessie (Diane Cilento), the woman who has been running the boarding house for years and wants to continue doing so.  Jessie, however, can’t afford to buy it.

Now Jessie, John and several other passengers find themselves together on the only stagecoach leaving town.  Their bigotry emerges when they find out that John is part Apache and actually spent time living as an Apache Indian.

The situation completely changes when they all get robbed and are left to die in the desert.  Now they are depending on Hombre to save them. 

• The director of this movie, Martin Ritt, also directed the popular western, Hud, starring Paul Newman.

• “Hombre” was filmed on location in Arizona at the Coronado National Forest,  the Helvetia Mine owned by the Anaconda Company, and in Old Tucson.

• “Hombre” is based on the novel Hombre by Elmore Leonard (London, 1961).