[The Hero is] a witty and ironic film Ray made in 1966. It is quintessential Ray, a simple story moving at what has been so aptly described as "the pace of a majestic snail," its protagonist projected on a broad canvas so subtly crammed with insights, perceptions, and wry comment that its compassionate awareness of the human comedy sticks to the mind's ribs with surprising persistency….

Ray provides a worldliness and sophistication to break the journey, with the tiniest of moments becoming significant drama, and gestures—like the quick, firm restoration of the hornrims—providing the breadth of character. We might, in fact, be riding the Twentieth Century again, a little less fliply and a lot more satisfyingly. It makes the erratic sound track and recurrence of white-on-white (but markedly literate) subtitles worth enduring.

Judith Crist, "Star's Trek," in New York Magazine (copyright © 1974 by News Group Publications, Inc.; reprinted...