Tom Horn (1980)

Beginning of the twentieth century: Tom Horn is a man with a large experience as a tracker. He comes to a small town where a series of cattle thefts is happening, and accepts a job as a "stock detective", that is, he is to hunt and kill the cattle thieves.

Lyrical - elegiacal to be exact - Western. Perhaps an imperfect film - e.g. the relationship between Horn and his girlfriend is rather sketchy and certain parts of it are unconvincing, e.g. her leaving him - but the center of the film - a man who is only half-aware of his self-destructive character, eventually meeting his demise - is as poetic as a film can be. The other side of the coin, also well handled, is the sacrificial subtheme of society expelling the very instruments it uses for its advancement. All in all, a film worth seeing.

Rating: 60