---
title: "Hombre"
year: 1967
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/hombre"
fi1m_id: "hombre"
imdb_id: "tt0061770"
tmdb_id: 27945
wikidata_id: "Q1783741"
fi1m_score: 77
critics_score: 70
critics_reviews: 4
published: "2026-09-26T16:34:58.204035+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-26T16:34:58.609768+00:00"
region: "SG"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Hombre (1967)

Directed by Martin Ritt · 1h 51m · Western, Drama

## Identity

Hombre

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/hombre
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** hombre
- **IMDb ID:** tt0061770
- **TMDB ID:** 27945
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1783741
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061770/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/27945, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1783741

**Fi1m score: 77** · Critics 70 (early) from 4 reviews

*In a sentence:* Paul Newman makes a persuasive case for letting everyone else finish talking

> Martin Ritt’s *Hombre* is a good, stern Western, carried by Paul Newman, Fredric March and Richard Boone. The writing presses its moral points too hard, but the performances make the arguments worth hearing.

## Synopsis

John Russell (Paul Newman) is a white man raised Apache. The people around him include Dr. Alex Favor (Fredric March), Cicero Grimes (Richard Boone), Jessie (Diane Cilento) and Henry Mendez (Martin Balsam). Audra Favor (Barbara Rush), Frank Braden (Cameron Mitchell), Billy Lee Blake (Peter Lazer) and Doris Blake (Maggie Blye) also figure in the story. Russell stands between the community that raised him and people who identify him as white. His place among them is the central question of this Western, adapted from Elmore Leonard’s novel.

## Review

*Hombre* works best when Martin Ritt lets the actors make us uncomfortable without explaining why we ought to be. This is a good Western with a sombre manner and a tendency to underline what we have already understood. Its interest in how people judge one another gives it more to do than arrange a contest of nerve. That interest also gets in the way when the script turns the characters into spokesmen.

Paul Newman gives John Russell a reserve that can initially look like a shortage of expression. The small variations matter, especially beside the more expansive acting around him. Russell is a white man raised Apache, and Newman makes his reluctance to offer easy companionship feel reasonable. There is a risk that such restraint will leave a leading performance remote, but here the distance is useful: we have to watch him rather than wait for a speech.

Fredric March’s Dr. Alex Favor is more immediately legible, and March makes good use of his character’s self-assurance. We felt an immediate dislike of Favor, because March gives him such an untroubled sense of his own importance. Richard Boone’s Cicero Grimes supplies a rougher, more openly intimidating presence, without needing to compete with March for our attention. The distinction between their performances keeps the film from reducing every disagreeable man to the same collection of habits.

Diane Cilento’s Jessie is less comfortably placed. Cilento sometimes seems to be working to give her lines a natural ease that the writing has not supplied, and the effort shows beside Newman’s reticence. Martin Balsam, as Henry Mendez, is more at home with the film’s measured pace. The supporting performances help, but they cannot quite disguise how often Ritt asks a character to explain a position we can already recognise.

James Wong Howe’s cinematography gives the actors prominence without allowing every forceful performance to dominate the image. The compositions feel firm and spare, and Newman’s stillness remains readable within them. We can look from one face to another without the photography dictating a response quite as heavily as the writing does. That visual discipline is a considerable virtue in a film already inclined to tell us what people represent.

Frank Bracht’s editing gives the exchanges time to settle, a sound choice when so much depends on differences in temperament. The pauses are less productive when the dialogue has already made its point, and the pace occasionally becomes dutiful. David Rose’s music adds gravity, sometimes more than these performances need. The film is sufficiently serious without every department having to confirm it, though its consistency of tone does help the quieter acting hold our attention.

Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., adapting Elmore Leonard’s novel, give the actors substantial parts but too often make their meanings explicit. Against the Western’s capacity to establish character through a few economical actions, this can feel laborious. Newman, March and Boone nevertheless give us enough to watch during the slower passages, and their different ways of occupying a scene remain absorbing. Choose it for the actors, and allow for a few speeches that could have ended sooner.

*Fi1m score 77, published 26 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Hombre worth watching?**

*Hombre* is worth watching for its performances and its serious interest in prejudice; we score it 77. We recommend it to Western viewers who enjoy watching actors establish character at a measured pace, though the writing explains its moral points too often and some speeches outstay their usefulness.

**How long is Hombre, and what is it rated?**

*Hombre* runs 1h 51m. It is a western and drama film.

**Where can I watch Hombre in Singapore?**

*Hombre* is not on any streaming or rental service in Singapore at the moment. It is available in 10 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How does Hombre compare to The Ox-Bow Incident?**

*Hombre* is the choice for Paul Newman’s restrained acting, while we recommend [*The Ox-Bow Incident*](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident) for a sterner examination of prejudice and collective certainty. Both suffer from over-explicit writing, but the latter’s short, dark account of a lynch mob is more frightening; *Hombre* gives its contrasting performances more time to settle.

**Is Hombre based on a true story or a book?**

*Hombre* is adapted from Elmore Leonard’s novel, rather than presented as a true story, with a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. We find the adaptation too eager to spell out its moral points, but no familiarity with the book is needed to follow John Russell’s uneasy position as a white man raised Apache.

### Reviews we read (4)

- **Radio Times**, Tony Sloman (4/5): The critic calls it a fine, grim western, though not quite as good as Newman’s other films Hud and The Hustler. The distinguished cast and James Wong Howe’s cinematography are singled out for praise, while Diane Cilento is said to seem ill-at-ease. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ebgjfb/hombre/)
- **The New York Times** (70/100, inferred): The headline indicates a positive verdict, describing the Western as skillfully served. It singles out the film’s effective handling of a familiar Western recipe. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1967/03/22/archives/screen-an-able-hombrewestern-recipe-served-skillfully-at-astor.html)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (65/100, inferred): The review is measured but favorable, finding the film’s themes sometimes overdone. It singles out Paul Newman, Fredric March and Richard Boone for strong performances. [Read](https://variety.com/1966/film/reviews/hombre-1200421352/)
- **Time Out** (64/100, inferred): The available page metadata does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It describes the film as a lesser-known Western about a white man raised Apache. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/hombre)

## Details

- **Director:** Martin Ritt
- **Director:** Martin Ritt
- **Writer:** Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr.
- **Novel:** Elmore Leonard
- **Cinematography:** James Wong Howe
- **Editor:** Frank Bracht
- **Music:** David Rose
- **Costume design:** Donfeld
- **Producer:** Irving Ravetch, Martin Ritt
- **Cast:** Paul Newman as John Russell; Fredric March as Dr. Alex Favor; Richard Boone as Cicero Grimes; Diane Cilento as Jessie; Cameron Mitchell as Frank Braden; Barbara Rush as Audra Favor; Peter Lazer as Billy Lee Blake; Maggie Blye as Doris Blake
- **Runtime:** 1h 51m
- **First release (the US):** 21 March 1967
- **Genres:** Western, Drama
- **Budget:** $6 million
- **Box office:** $12 million

## Where to watch in Singapore

Not streaming, renting or buying in Singapore at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, DE, FR, GB, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Tall T* (1957): Another Western where captivity exposes character, with Richard Boone making menace uncomfortably personable.
- *The Ox-Bow Incident* (1943), Fi1m 84: A sterner examination of collective certainty, prejudice and the cost of joining in. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-ox-bow-incident.md)
- *The Great Silence* (1968): For another withdrawn Western protagonist, though this snowy Italian version is considerably bleaker.
- *The Proposition* (2005): An Australian Western equally suspicious of respectable authority, with much more explicit violence.
- *Sweet Country* (2017): Racial injustice shapes an Australian pursuit Western that gives its silences proper weight.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/hombre