Hombre

Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard which works a neat variation on the Stagecoach theme, this has Newman first outcast by the passengers who think he is an Apache, then elected as their guardian angel when they are menaced by bandits. White, but brought up by Apaches to believe that civilisation is hell, Newman very sensibly - but to humanitarian protests from his flock - starts coldly and calculatedly picking off the bandits one by one before they are ready for him. Developing its own liberal conscience, the film has Newman finally see the light - 'People must help each other' - so that he perishes (nobly rather than ironically) in making a doomed bid to rescue Rush, staked out by the bandits to die in the sun. Even so this is one of Ritt's best films, with fine performances all round, impressive Death Valley locations, and superlative camerawork from James Wong Howe.