Hondo (1953)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The acting in this movie is really good.

For the first 20-30 minutes, "Hondo" seems like it just might transcend the "typical Duke western" label. Some SPOILERS AHEAD: The title character (played by Wayne) wanders out of the dusty plains and into a homestead run by Angie (Geraldine Page) and son Johnny (Lee Aaker). After helping Angie with some work, Hondo quickly discovers that her husband has deserted her. Riding back to the U.S. Calvary regiment that he sometimes scouts for, Hondo gets into a barroom fistfight with a local scoundrel...a scoundrel who turns out to be Angie's "lost" husband!At this point in the film, I thought it had real potential to be a great western tale. A lot of interesting pieces were established that could have been built upon. Unfortunately, from that point onward it becomes stock cowboys vs. Indians fare. Director John Farrow tries to weave a subplot about the white men and the Indians co-existing with each other, but everything we see/feel on screen says otherwise.At the end of the film, after a group of Cavalry men have fought off a warring band of Indians, Hondo makes the following quote: "It is the end of a way of life. A good way." This after an entire movie of killing more Indians than anyone else on screen. Now, I realize that movies (and especially westerns like this one) were made for different reasons and even different audiences than today and should be partially judged as such. However, in today's Hollywood, that type of empty moralizing is inexcusable. History, then, is not kind to a film like "Hondo".Overall, "Hondo" is a decidedly average (or maybe even a bit below) western. I give it three stars because the Duke gives a good performance and the setup did hold my interest for a time. In the wide view, though, I think the only reason this movie gets as much "press" as it does is because it became quite rare before coming out on DVD. When history has its say, it doesn't really stand out in any way.

. . . admits Western actor John Wayne's son Michael during a "tour" of "The Duke's" "film vault"--which looks Exactly like my old 5' X10' storage unit from years ago--for the TV show ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT in 1994. (This is one of several "extras" on the 2005 HONDO DVD release). In the 1900s, film reviewer Leonard Maltin was working for ET, and Lenny joins Mike in drooling over the chaps worn by Pops Wayne in as least three Westerns (STAGECOACH, RED RIVER, and HONDO). There's also Wayne's HONDO hat on the same shelf, along with his sawed-off long gun from STAGECOACH. All of this stuff, plus what looks to be scores of round film cannisters, is crammed into the 150 square feet of "Vault" (or $10 a month storage unit) #332. (I assume that by now most of this moldy and\or rusty material has been sold off, since I saw a Promo for "Male Collectibles" on a different, more recent DVD from Wayne Enterprises.) I've also watched what professional film restoration looks like, such as the effort that went into restoring ROMAN HOLIDAY, which won an Oscar for Wayne's Real Life Arch-Enemy, writer Dalton Trumbo (please see TRUMBO for more details--it's been nominated for this year's Oscar, too!). Actual film preservation involves large, sterile rooms filled with banks of computers. It is NOT something you can accomplish with a box of Q-Tips!

I recently watched Hondo for about the fifth time, and was struck again by its many wonderful qualities. And also by the one notable flaw that keeps it from being one of the best westerns of all time.The best part is the beginning. Hondo Lane is one of the most interesting characters ever played by John Wayne. Not just the stereotypical hero, but a man with a particular code of self-reliance. And with a sympathy for the Native American viewpoint that must have been well ahead of its time for 1953. Hondo's character puts him in a uniquely challenging moral dilemma later on.Geraldine Page is the perfect leading lady. Far from a classic beauty, she seems like someone you might actually have found on a remote ranch in the 1800s.Sparking all this is some really excellent dialog, and some great little emotional exchanges between Wayne and Page, or, later on, between Wayne and Page's son. I wish the film had spent another hour delving into the three main characters, but it proceeds to some very solid action segments, involving the equally likable Indian chief, Vittorio.Visually, the film is impressive. It hasn't quite got the painterly flair of The Searchers, but again, for its time, it's pretty spectacular. A few shots overtly composed for 3D are distracting, but don't spoil the overall feel of the film.The one subtle flaw in Hondo (** mild spoiler **) is that the end of the dramatic arc comes 10 or 15 minutes before the end of the film. The result is that the final action sequence - excellent in itself - has much less dramatic impact than it should have, and feels almost tacked-on. Most viewers won't notice this odd bit of pacing as such, but they will come away feeling just a shade less emotionally satisfied than they might have done. It's a shame, because the action scenes and the dramatic ones could easily have been swapped.This structural flaw stops me from rating Hondo as a full-fledged cinematic classic. Nonetheless, the film's many virtues make it one of the most likable westerns of the 1950s, and a must-see for John Wayne fans.

Army despatch rider Hondo Lane (John Wayne) discovers a woman (Geraldine Page) and her son (Lee Aaker) living in the midst of warring Apaches, and he becomes their protector.Some of this is your standard Western fare, with the white settlers at odds with the Apache warriors. And then you have the "half breed" Hondo, who is able to walk between both worlds with some level of success. The angle of Hondo being both a surrogate father and a murderer is a nice touch.While perhaps not his finest acting, any John Wayne fan will enjoy this film. Heck, it is not like he is really known as a great actor anyway.