Tom Horn

1980 was a year full of some very impressive movies. Empire Strikes Back. Ordinary People. Airplane. Coal Miner's Daughter. Raging Bull. So it is no wonder that this low-budget little cowboy movie was overlooked at award time and largely at the box office.

It was also Steve McQueen's last good movie and the last before he was diagnosed with cancer. He plays a hired gun, Tom Horn, brought in by ranchers to eliminate rustlers. He is so effective however that the ethics of the project eventually comes into question by townsfolk. Another hired gun is brought in to eliminate McQueen.

When an innocent young cowboy is gunned down under questionable circumstances, Horn is put on trial for the murder. This is a slow-moving story full of character development and thoughtful dialogue.

Richard Farnsworth plays one of the ranchers and Horn's only real friend. When I think of Arizona cowboys, Farnsworth is still the face I see, and the voice I hear.

Tom Horn is a very controversial figure in Wyoming history. Most folks are either for or against his methods as the legendary "Stock Detective" at the turn of the last century. The actual rifle he used sits in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

If you like old school westerns, where what the cowboys said was as interesting as what they did, you should like this movie.

Watch this one with someone who is not familiar with McQueen's work and see what they think of this big screen legend.