John Chard
September 22, 2019
7
Someday, you're going to have to pay for your way of life, Tom.
Tom Horn is directed by William Wiard and adapted to screenplay by Thomas McGuane and Bud Schrake from Horn's own autobiography. It stars Steve McQueen, Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Billy Green Bush and Slim Pickens. Music is by Ernest Gold and cinematography by John A. Alonzo.
Plot finds McQueen as legendary army tracker - turned hired gun - Tom Horn, who is hired by Wyoming ranchers to see off cattle rustlers, only to see them turn against him when his methods threaten their reputation.
As a big fan of both Westerns as a genre and McQueen (in the process of getting the cancer that would kill him) the actor, it's tricky trying to review Tom Horn (and his final film "The Hunter") without the heart ruling the head. Fact is, is that Tom Horn is not the glorious hard hitting Tom Horn picture that the character demands. It looks fabulous, is very melancholic, and McQueen is genuinely affecting in his performance, but the production problems (various attached directors, rewrites etc) are evident and give us a film of what might have been.
Nonetheless, this is no stinker, in fact, it's a very reflective piece dealing with a man out of his time - and he knows it. The narrative is strong on the end of the so called Wild West, a changing of the times, where law and order is about to finally become the dominant force. Horn was the man who helped bring in the mighty Geronimo, which gives the makers a chance to not only nod towards respect for the great Apache chief as a plot device, but to also let Horn, in McQueen's hands, show us a resignation of time being up for his kind.
One dodgy "special effect" aside, when the violence is required for the story it is an adrenaline jolt, this is because the tone of the piece is ultimately sombre. The hazy romantic thread between Horn and Glendolene Kimmel (Evans is fine in a thankless role) is suffering from flashback overkill, but the tender feel to it sits comfortably within the pic's earnest intention. The political aspects strike the required chord for narrative worth, and the key aspect of Horn's ultimate fate being based on fact or otherwise? is deftly handled.
Poor editing and a number of "time filling shots" grate a little, and if not prepared for a sombre pic then this will disappoint. Yet there's a lot of beauty here and if you be a fan of McQueen or not, his turn is brave, committed and very engaging. 7/10
_**The passing of the Old West with Steve McQueen**_
The legendary Tom Horn was a cowboy, a scout, a stage coach worker, a soldier assisting with the capture of Geronimo, a Pinkerton, a range detective and he fought at The Battle of San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. In 1901 he rides into the Wyoming Territory at 40 years of age where he is hired to kill rustlers, but is eventually accused of shooting a 14 year-old shepherd boy, a crime for which most authorities believe he was framed.
"Tom Horn" (1980) was reportedly a troubled production. Steve McQueen in the title role had a passion for the project, which took three years to bring to the screen. He did much research, but was diagnosed with fatal mesothelioma in late 1979. McQueen wasn’t able to work with several directors, including Clint Eastwood’s mentor Don Siegel and “A Man Called Horse” director Elliot Silverstein; he ended up unofficially taking the reins, although William Wiard is credited in the position.
While some critics say the movie comes across as a mess and base this on the fact that McQueen was working from two different scripts, I never felt lost watching it. The story’s pretty simple, really, with a few flashbacks to Tom’s relationship with a love interest (Linda Evans). The film’s fittingly funereal with flashes of great violence and a bit o’ low-key humor. It has authenticity in its favor, no doubt due to McQueen’s research. It just FEELS like the way it really was in the Old West at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, it wasn’t shot in Wyoming, but rather about 800 miles southwest of the real-life locations.
In Jail, Horn wrote his autobiography “Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter,” which was published after his death in 1904. Horn was one the few people in the Old West to have been executed by a water-powered gallows, known as the "Julian Gallows,” which is depicted in the movie.
The film runs 1 hour, 37 minutes, and was shot entirely in Arizona (Patagonia, Sonoita, Portal, San Raphael Valley, etc.). The cast includes Western notables like Slim Pickens, Richard Farnsworth, Geoffrey Lewis, Roy Jenson and Elisha Cook Jr.
GRADE: B-/B
This has the look of a labour of love to it for the clearly ailing Steve McQueen as he plays the ill-fated scout turned enforcer and the nineteenth century comes to it’s end. Horn has been drafted in by some local cattle barons to help thwart rustling, but what he doesn’t appreciate is that he is just another tool for ambitious men and despite the advice of the benign Coble (Richard Farnsworth), most of this community would have no compunction in using him for his skills with a gun then surrendering him up, like a lamb to the slaughter, when his usefulness ended. That scenario emerges after he is accused of killing the young son of a local farmer and though local sheriff Creedmore (Slim Pickens) and the marshal Belle (Billy Green Bush) ensure the legal motions are gone though, the conclusion is inevitable - and it appears that Horn, himself, has come to realise that times have changed and that perhaps this is the best solution for a man unimpressed with what he thinks the future holds. McQueen has lost none of his charismatic appeal and with Linda Evans also capably offering quite a dignified performance as “Gwen” - a visiting teacher who understands almost as much as he does himself that his best days, living by his own often murderous code, are over now, the film offers us something akin to a tribute to his way of life and even his own rather individual sense of decency. There is action here but in a similar fashion to films like “The Shootist” (1976), this is story of the end of an era, of a way of life and of the emergence of a new kind of brutality that hid in plain sight wearing a fitted suit and riding a buggy instead of an horse. There is some fine cinematography as the story closes quite a few chapters of it’s nations history, and although the pace is downright sluggish at times, this is well worth a watch.
