The growth of social organisation brings with it rights for individuals, but also restrictions, and a concomitant institutionalisation of imbalances of power and wealth. It's therefore not surprising that so many westerns have been set in the dying days of the "old west", when a world of lawless freedom was succumbing to the extension of the formal power of the state. The tone is usually romantic and nostalgic for a dying era, but frequently, such films are marred by a tendency to associate the ability to shoot straight (a typically defining characteristic of their heroes) with moral virtue. The hero is the hero because he can kill the bad guys; the fact that lawlessness most often means the bad guys kill the heroes is conveniently ignored, while the law is stigmatised as corrupt.
'Tom Horn', Steve MacQueen's penultimate film, is an uncommonly strong western, even though Horn is both a sharp shooter and morally virtuous. But the film never suggests that these two qualities are causally linked; rather, the connection is incidental, and spells potential tragedy for the man. The difference in emphasis between this film and, say, Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven' is subtle but crucial: whereas in that film, Eastwood's character was presented as morally compelled to kill, Horn is simply the victim of living through times where the boundaries of individual licence are coming under strain. MacQueen was a strange actor, he hardly seems to act as such and in this film already looks ill, but he carries the role quietly and unpretentiously. Although there are films that look deeper into the human psyche, and as an action film 'Tom Horn' is no certainly no 'Bullitt', it's a thoughtful effort that stands above most of its genre.
'Tom Horn', Steve MacQueen's penultimate film, is an uncommonly strong western, even though Horn is both a sharp shooter and morally virtuous. But the film never suggests that these two qualities are causally linked; rather, the connection is incidental, and spells potential tragedy for the man. The difference in emphasis between this film and, say, Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven' is subtle but crucial: whereas in that film, Eastwood's character was presented as morally compelled to kill, Horn is simply the victim of living through times where the boundaries of individual licence are coming under strain. MacQueen was a strange actor, he hardly seems to act as such and in this film already looks ill, but he carries the role quietly and unpretentiously. Although there are films that look deeper into the human psyche, and as an action film 'Tom Horn' is no certainly no 'Bullitt', it's a thoughtful effort that stands above most of its genre.