Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Overrated

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Directed by John Farrow and co-produced by John Wayne (with Robert Fellows), in the title role, this Louis L'Amour story was adapted by James Edward Grant, who would earn his only Academy recognition 5 years later with an Oscar nomination for the Western comedy The Sheepman (1958), featuring Glenn Ford. Wayne's co-star Geraldine Page earned her first Oscar nomination (Supporting) and L'Amour his only (Best Writing, Motion Picture Story).This slightly above average Western also features Ward Bond and James Arness as Army Indian Scouts, and Michael Pate (among others), as well as an uncredited wonder dog (like Lassie). What makes this film particularly real are all the things Wayne does at the beginning of the film, after his character has walked out of the desert and onto Page's ranch, including shoeing a horse (though it's obvious that a stunt double was used to break the wild one). Originally released in 3-D (which explains a few of the contrived action sequences).Ten year old Johnny Lowe (Lee Aaker) notices a man walking towards their remote ranch nestled in Apache Indian territory. He calls to his mother Angie (Page), who witnesses the man coming out the arid landscape carrying only a saddle bag and a rifle, but accompanied by a brown collie-like dog. They later learn that the man's name is Hondo Lane (Wayne); the dog's name is Sam. His demeanor at first frightens Mrs. Lowe, who insists that her husband has gone after some cattle and will be back soon, but Hondo later learns that she was lying. However, she needn't have feared Hondo, even after she reads his name off his rifle and correctly identifies him as a gunman who has killed others. Hondo is an independent man who lives by an honest code of the West, as a scout and messenger frequently employed by the Army. In fact, he is a sterling example to her son and a sharp contrast to the husband that abandoned her, after he married her for her ranch. Later, through a series of circumstances, Angie's husband Ed (Leo Gordon) encounters Hondo, who kills the married man in self defense even after he'd saved Ed's life in an Indian attack. Ed was a dishonorable man, a fact Angie later wants kept from her son despite Hondo's wanting to tell him how his father had died.Hondo's character and the fact that he knows Angie and her son saves his life later when Vittorio (Pate), the Chiricahua Apache Chief, discovers a connection between them. After a captured Hondo had won a knife fight with another Indian (Rodolfo Acosta), Vittorio learns that Hondo had once lived with the Apaches (in fact, he'd been married to one) and finds a photograph of Johnny on his person. Vittorio had allowed the Lowes to continue to live on their ranch, despite his tribe's murderous rampage (caused by the white man breaking their treaty, naturally), because Johnny had showed such a resistive spunk that he'd dubbed him 'Small Warrior' and instructed his mother to find her husband, or pick one of his braves, to raise him properly. Once the Chief sees the photograph, he assumes Hondo is Mr. Lowe and, fearing for his life, Angie doesn't let him think otherwise. For his part, Hondo was somewhat incapacitated having been burned by torture, stabbed during the knife fight, and carried over the back of the horse on the journey to the ranch. As Hondo recovers, Vittorio tests him and becomes satisfied with the man's honor such that he allows the three of them to continue to live in their territory.But all good things must come to an end. The army, who'd been instructed to rescue the settlers in Indian territory, arrive at the Lowe ranch with scouts Buffalo Baker (Bond), an old friend, and Lennie (Arness), who reveals the secret of Ed's death to Angie, under the command of a young Lieutenant McKay (Tom Irish), fresh out of school. However, the information about her husband's death serves as a mere speed bump in Hondo's relationship with Angie. Despite Hondo's advice, the greenhorn officer continues into Apache land, but comes limping back after an ambush. Hondo takes charge of the scouts and the Lieutenant's command to lead the Army and the rescued settlers through a series of "circle the wagons" stands that wrap up this heretofore fine Western in a disappointingly stereotypical way.

. . . of that 1953 John Wayne outing, and is about 10 seconds short of 20 minutes. It is lumped together on the disc menu with two other documentary shorts (PROFILE: JAMES EDWARD GRANT--about HONDO's screenwriter--and THE JOHN WAYNE STOCK COMPANY: WARD BOND, about the actor who plays "Buffalo Baker" in HONDO and participated on-screen in 23 of John Wayne's films). The three items actually are SEPARATE, self-contained things of uneven quality, best addressed and rated individually. THE MAKING OF HONDO itself features two cast members who lived to see the Turn of the 21st Century, "Indian Chief" Vittorio (Michael Pate) and his "Small Warrior" Blood Brother (or Blood Son) Johnny (Lee Aaker). Leonard Maltin introduces THE MAKING OF HONDO, which includes comments from a couple of other film historians, as well. It's alleged here that John Wayne only spoke six words of Spanish, which I suppose makes sense, given that all three of his "beards" or "wives" were Spanish, and why should he wish to converse with THEM? THE MAKING OF HONDO also informs us that the drawn-out (if not tedious) "Circle and Wagons!" and "Re-Circle the Wagons!!" and "Re-Recircle the Wagons!!!" scenes which close HONDO were shot by Oscar glutton John Ford, as HONDO's original director John Farrow tired of Circling the Wagons!

A gripping action-romance, "Hondo" showcased Hollywood's newest gimmick, 3-D, but scores instead as a centerpiece for a much older cinematic device, John Wayne in a cowboy hat.Wayne is Hondo Lane, a scout and dispatch rider for the U. S. Cavalry who comes upon a woman and her son in hostile Apache territory. Hondo tells her to pack up, but she doesn't want to leave her family farm or her missing husband. Hondo protects them instead, both on his own volition as well as that of the Apache leader making war with the white man, Vittorio.Despite adhering to many of the day's cinematic conventions involving westerns, "Hondo" is a modern film. The woman, Mrs. Lowe (Geraldine Fitzgerald), is no afterthought but the center of our emotional engagement. And while hardly the first western to question the legacy of western expansion, "Hondo" presents the Apache side of the story with bracing sympathy."There's no word in the Apache language for 'lie,' and they've been lied to," Hondo tells Mrs. Lowe in explaining why the treaty she counts on to protect her and her son is no good anymore.In fact, the most honorable character in the film may be Vittorio (Michael Pate), who demonstrates great concern for both Mrs. Lowe and her son, the latter a reminder of his own sons the white man killed. He's as much her savior as Hondo is, when you look at the arc of the movie, yet Pate plays him without any of the "noble savage" ahistorical stylings common with revisionist westerns of later vintage. "Hondo" finds a way to make its points without weighing down a taut, 84- minute film.Director John Farrow deserves credit for keeping matters economical (and the 3-D tricks to a minimum), but the true force behind the scenes is screenwriter John Edward Grant, working from an early Louis L'Amour story which he augments nicely. Grant was Wayne's usual writer, and his screenplays could get awful woolly, but here he's on point and lifts the film with a kind of terse wisdom that hangs with you after the gunplay is over."Sam's independent," Hondo says, talking about his canine companion. "He don't need anybody. I want him to stay that way. It's a good way."For a lot of the movie, Mrs. Lowe seems an amiable sop for Hondo's one-liners, yet Grant keeps her in focus, and pays this off magnificently when she reveals her true feelings for her husband and for Hondo. Yes, it is a wifely ideal she holds to, but the strength of her character when revealed is too formidable for even Hondo to buy off with one of his self-reliance quips.There's a wonderful scene early on, when Mrs. Lowe talks about "destiny" guiding love. Hondo regards this with laconic if polite amusement, but the joke's on him as we discover later on.Fitzgerald got her first of eight Oscar nominations here, oddly for a supporting role when she is actually the female lead. Her performance is off-pitch in places, too stagy as some say, but when she lands a good line, she's quite effective.The supporting cast is also excellent. Ward Bond is entertaining as always, while James Arness impresses as a more dubious character with whom Hondo must tangle.The film isn't quite a classic. The handling of the final battle scene (directed by an uncredited John Ford) is exciting but perfunctory, and the resolution of the Hondo-Mrs. Lowe relationship is brushed over too lightly. I could see a longer "Hondo" being one of Wayne's classic films, but I could also see it running out of steam, which this compact production never does.As far as Wayne is concerned, this is one of his most assured performances, light in tone but with the sort of shadings he was beginning to master. You see him coming out of the screen in the opening moments of the film, making for the best 3-D effect. It stays like that for the rest of the picture, Wayne giving us a layered, tactile performance both enjoyable and deep. "Hondo" is a keeper for Wayne fans, and anyone else not scared of cowboy movies.

It's best to watch the Leonard Maltin introduction before watching this film. Then the viewer will understand why the shots are done the way they are as well as some scenes being out of focus.Basically Maltin informs the viewer that Hondo was made as a 3D film when 3D was suppose to be the next big thing, which it wasn't at that time. The funny part of it is that 3D has resurrected from the grave and is very popular now. Hondo would be a fun film to watch at the theaters now in 3D.John Wayne is always great with pretty much any part he plays, and he's great in this one. Wayne and Geraldine Page have good chemistry and the story is enough to keep your interest. But mainly this film is for the die-hard John Wayne buffs like me. Not a bad one to watch, but not the Duke's best.