Tom Horn

Tom Horn is a former army scout. He interpreted at the talks where Geronimo surrendered and was known for it at the time. Now he is out of work. Large cattle owners in Wyoming hire him; the task is to stop the rustlers. The method is not discussed. Horn starts and the thefts stop, because he does not take those he catches to court. Unease grows in the region. The same men who hired him are now uncomfortable with him. Then a boy is shot and the crime is put on Horn. A trial begins. William Wiard directs. Steve McQueen plays Horn; Linda Evans and Richard Farnsworth are in the cast. Tom Horn was a real person; he was tried in Wyoming and hanged in 1903. Whether he was guilty is still argued. The film is among McQueen's last; he was ill in this period and died soon after. There was a change of director during production and a disagreement over the cutting. The matter it treats is hired violence turning on the men who hired it; Horn is used as an instrument and spent when convenient. The film does not meet the western's expectation of action; the narrative is slow and loaded with talk. The landscape and the period design are its strong side. Its limit is structure; the narrative proceeds in pieces and the character's inner life stays incomplete. Who it is for: viewers who like late westerns and Steve McQueen. Who it is not for: it is slow, the narrative scattered, and the ending bleak.