Classic Movie Scenes: Hombre: Time to live like a white man....

(NOTICE --- DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE --- NOTICE

Here is another in my series of classic movie scenes. In this scene from Hombre (1967), John Russell (Paul Newman) has been summoned by Mendez (Martin Balsam) to be informed that Russell's adoptive father died and left him a piece of property that will allow him to "live like a white man again." John Russell is not overjoyed by the prospect of living like a "white man."

This is a classic movie scene because it is one the first, if not the first, major motion picture to depict a defense of Native Americans fighting back, not simply by showing them charging into hails of bullets, but by assertive, direct, personal action that is brutal, uncompromising, and extremely realistic. The first time you see this movie, this scene shakes you while making you cheer for the classic hero: the fearless warrior who confronts a bully to defend the innocent in a world where those innocents are considered subhuman. This is another of Paul Newman's many "classic movies scenes."