Steve McQueen's credentials as an action man are not in doubt, but he's under-rated as an actor. If you're unfamiliar with the quality of his work, this movie is an excellent place to start. He gives one of his very best performances as Tom Horn, personification of the Old West with all its strengths, flaws and contradictions. He's well supported by Richard Farnsworth, Billy Green Bush, Linda Evans and Slim Pickens.The screenplay is somehow awry. Linda Evans' character articulates a moral judgement about Tom Horn that seems to come out of nowhere. This is because her world-view is not sufficiently set out by the script. Things like this litter the film, weakening its impact. Similarly, shots of poetic sunrises and sunsets are thrown in without any sense of appropriateness: they just seem arbitrary. And the estimable Ernest Gold was not a good choice to compose the score: his symphonic approach is, to no good purpose, at odds with the acting style. The director, William Wiard, was an experienced TV hand who feels out of his depth handling the bigger picture, although individual scenes are controlled pretty well.All in all, McQueen is the reason to see this movie, although its fundamental theme - the duplicity of vested interests - is unfortunately as current as ever

Tom Horn (1980) *** (out of 4) Surprisenly good western has Steven McQueen playing the legendary Tom Horn. Horn is hired to take care of some rustlers but when things turn heated he's framed for the murder of a young kid. This film doesn't contain too much energy but it's a nice showcase for McQueen who gets a chance to act. The normal toughness and coolness is in this character but we also get to see McQueen handle some good laughs and quieter moments. I wasn't too familiar with this true story so I didn't know how it was going to end, which led to more entertainment than some might get.

Steve McQueen's next to last film was a study of western legend Tom Horn and the last job he took in Wyoming as an enforcer for the big ranchers in 1903.McQueen's real life Tom Horn is in the same dilemma as the fictional John Bernard Books that John Wayne created for The Shootist. He's outlived his time. Still when prosperous rancher Richard Farnsworth for the Cattleman's Association persuades the members to hire Horn to deal with rustlers in Brokeback Mountain country, Horn takes the job because it's what he does.That includes dispensing justice from the barrel of a gun with no regard for due process which was slowly taking hold even in such remote and unsettled places that Wyoming had and still has. He can't do things the way The Virginian did them and get away with it. The Cattlemen's Association with the exception of Farnsworth puts plenty of distance between themselves and Horn.When a 15 year old boy turns up dead, shot with the same kind of rifle Horn uses, on some very flimsy evidence he's arrested. What I found ironic was at the trial apparently judge and lawyers on both sides never heard of the Fifth Amendment and compel Horn's testimony. They didn't offer nor did Horn take the legal provisions against self incrimination. In the end unlike Books in relatively civilized Carson City choosing the manner of his demise, Horn gets hung probably for a crime he didn't commit, but mostly because he was an anachronism in the 20th Century.Steve McQueen turns in a good performance as the aging Horn and such fine players as Linda Evans, Billy Green Bush, Slim Pickens, the aforementioned Richard Farnsworth ably support McQueen. Tom Horn is a fascinating of the man of the frontier who had no place to go and no place to practice his trade, even if that trade was hired gunslinger.

As one of my personal favorite westerns I have looked at this film several times and wondered how McQueen was able to give such a fine performance as the title role of Tom Horn. McQueen signed on to do the role in 1977, and would spent three years researching the role and even spending the night at Tom Horn's grave to help develop the his character. The film is viewed by many to be very dark and not historically right, but viewing this film more than once you see that the character is really the victim and not the enemy. You also see this a different side of McQueen and the way he portrayed this character. For me anyways the picture will always remain in my top ten films of all time, just for its acting talent and superb camera-work. When viewing the film notice how McQueen portrayed the character as never being afraid of anybody even death. This is also an example of a standard western in which the hero dies honorably without showing fear. The courtroom scenes are also very interesting to watch on how the character seems to loose himself in the end.