“Tom Horn” (1980) starring Steve McQueen / Z-View

Tom Horn (1980)

Director:  William Wiard

Screenplay:  Thomas McGuane, Bud Shrake; based on LIFE OF TOM HORN, GOVERNMENT SCOUT AND INTERPRETER by Tom Horn

Stars: Steve McQueen, Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Billy Green Bush, Slim Pickens, Peter Canon, Elisha Cook Jr., Roy Jenson, Harry Northup, Steve Oliver, Bill Thurman, Bert Williams, Bobby Bass, Mickey Jones and Geoffrey Lewis.

Tagline: Before they could settle the West, they had to hang the man who tamed it.

The Plot…

Tom Horn was famous in his own time.  But his time has passed.  Known for his skills as a frontiersman, a U.S. Army scout, a tracker, and a crack shot… Horn is now a drifter.  The Indian Wars are over.  A man with Tom Horn’s skills aren’t in demand.  So Horn just drifted from place to place scrapping by.

Horn is in a small town, when he meets cattle rancher John Coble.  Coble is impressed with Horn’s legend and surprised to find him without work and struggling.  He offers Horn a job.  Coble is a member of a Cattle Rancher Association that has been plagued by rustlers.  The Association agrees to hire Horn to rid the territory of cattle thieves… by whatever means needed.  Horn is assured by the group as well as the US Marshall that once he gives the rustlers fair warning, he is legally allowed to do whatever it takes to get rid of them.  Horn takes the job.

Horn does what he was hired to do.  He rids the area of rustlers.  His methods are violent but effective.  Many men are killed.  The rustling stops.  The Cattle Association  no longer needs Horn.  Especially since they’ve been getting bad press.  When a young boy is found murdered by a rifle shot of the same caliber that Tom Horn uses,  some Association members see a way out.

Horn is set up to take the fall for the murder.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Tom Horn was a troubled production.  Steve McQueen wasn’t happy with the script and ordered multiple rewrites.  The original director, Don Siegel decided to move on.  Siegel was replaced by replaced by Elliot Silverstein.  Silverstein was replaced by James William Guercio.  McQueen fired Guercio after just three days.  McQueen wanted to direct, but since filming had started, union rules prevented an actor to replace a director.  So William Wiard, a television director was brought in to finish filming.  Tom Horn is the only feature film on Wiard’s resume.  Many believe that McQueen directed much of the movie himself.

In addition to the troubles listed above, Steve McQueen’s health was suffering.  He was often short of breath and towards the end of filming even began coughing up blood.  McQueen would learn that he had advanced cancer.  Just a couple of weeks before Tom Horn premiered, The National Enquirer broke the story that Steve McQueen had terminal cancer.  When asked at the premiere, McQueen denied reports of his cancer.

Tom Horn was a real-life legend.  The movie is based on his autobiography that he wrote while in jail awaiting trial.

Tom Horn (1980) rates 3 of 5 stars.