Made in 1953 Warner Bros. HONDO is a good entertaining western. A Wayne/Fellows production it was originally filmed in the short lived process of 3D but here is thankfully without many of the gimmicks associated with that format. Nicely directed by John Farrow the picture has become well established over the years as one of John Wayne's better westerns.From a novel by Louis L'Amour it had a fine screenplay devised by James Edward Grant and was glowingly photographed in Warnercolor by Robert Burks and Archie Stout.
John Wayne is Hondo Lane a dispatch rider for the U.S. cavalry in 1874 who, after having his horse shot from under him by Indians stumbles across an isolated ranch occupied by a deserted woman (Geraldine Page) and her young son (Lee Aaker). At first the woman is suspicious of the stranger but she soon realizes he means no harm and later develops deep feelings for him. She gives him a horse (which he had broken) so he can get back to the fort where he learns that because of the Apache unrest the army is about to ride out and evacuate families from the outlying ranches and take to the field against the fearsome Apache leader Vittorio (Michael Pate). Hondo must now return to the ranch and help bring the woman and the boy to safety. But on his journey he tangles with and is forced to kill a would-be assassin (Leo Gordan) who he discovers is the woman's errant husband. Then in a brilliant chase sequence he is run down and captured by the Apaches but Vittorio, who is fond of the boy, releases him back to the ranch. The picture ends in a spectacular fashion with a full scale desert battle between the cavalry and the Apache horde.
Performances are splendid. Wayne is especially good as is Geraldine Page. Page, a New York stage actress in her first film is very impressive and her early scenes with Wayne are engaging and pleasing. However I have a couple of quibbles about the production of HONDO. Firstly, Wayne's stunt double is a very slight and much smaller man than the actor. His height and size is jarringly obvious in a few scenes such as the horse breaking sequence and the stunning chase scene. Then the second half of the movie - which is reputed to have been directed by John Ford - somehow doesn't really jell very well with the first half at all. It almost becomes a different movie - eschewing the fine dramatic power and character development inherent in the beginning and it even relegates the woman and the boy to mere bit players. The blame for this must be laid at Ford's door. It's like he never saw the first half and just proceeded to do his own thing. His section of the film is simply a cavalry versus Indian actioneer. But then perhaps Ford wasn't totally at fault since he had no involvement in the project from the outset and probably only did the thing as a favor to Wayne. Nevertheless there is still much to enjoy in HONDO which has arresting cinematography, excellent performances, a wonderfully written first half and a vibrant score by Emil Newman and Hugo Friedhofer.
John Wayne is Hondo Lane a dispatch rider for the U.S. cavalry in 1874 who, after having his horse shot from under him by Indians stumbles across an isolated ranch occupied by a deserted woman (Geraldine Page) and her young son (Lee Aaker). At first the woman is suspicious of the stranger but she soon realizes he means no harm and later develops deep feelings for him. She gives him a horse (which he had broken) so he can get back to the fort where he learns that because of the Apache unrest the army is about to ride out and evacuate families from the outlying ranches and take to the field against the fearsome Apache leader Vittorio (Michael Pate). Hondo must now return to the ranch and help bring the woman and the boy to safety. But on his journey he tangles with and is forced to kill a would-be assassin (Leo Gordan) who he discovers is the woman's errant husband. Then in a brilliant chase sequence he is run down and captured by the Apaches but Vittorio, who is fond of the boy, releases him back to the ranch. The picture ends in a spectacular fashion with a full scale desert battle between the cavalry and the Apache horde.
Performances are splendid. Wayne is especially good as is Geraldine Page. Page, a New York stage actress in her first film is very impressive and her early scenes with Wayne are engaging and pleasing. However I have a couple of quibbles about the production of HONDO. Firstly, Wayne's stunt double is a very slight and much smaller man than the actor. His height and size is jarringly obvious in a few scenes such as the horse breaking sequence and the stunning chase scene. Then the second half of the movie - which is reputed to have been directed by John Ford - somehow doesn't really jell very well with the first half at all. It almost becomes a different movie - eschewing the fine dramatic power and character development inherent in the beginning and it even relegates the woman and the boy to mere bit players. The blame for this must be laid at Ford's door. It's like he never saw the first half and just proceeded to do his own thing. His section of the film is simply a cavalry versus Indian actioneer. But then perhaps Ford wasn't totally at fault since he had no involvement in the project from the outset and probably only did the thing as a favor to Wayne. Nevertheless there is still much to enjoy in HONDO which has arresting cinematography, excellent performances, a wonderfully written first half and a vibrant score by Emil Newman and Hugo Friedhofer.