I love a good western and actors like John Wayne personify the western genre. Hondo Lane played by superstar John Wayne at the age of 44 is a lone cowboy travelling with what Hondo calls Sam, his independent dog who has a prominent scar running across his face and down the bridge of his snout. Most likely from fighting off a cougar or a bear. After surviving an attack by Apache Indians Hondo walks a few miles after losing his horse in the battle with the Apaches to the farm house of Mrs. Angie Lowe (played superbly by stage actress Geraldine Page in her first on screen performance). There Hondo is provided food, water, shelter and also provided with an opportunity to break a wild horse that Mrs. Lowe's absent husband has not yet broken.The film focuses on the rugged Hondo who although he remains very independent, Hondo admits to Mrs. Lowe that he had spent five (5) years living with an Apache tribe and taking on a squaw Indian as his partner, not as his love interest. Now Angie has a ten (10) year old son named Johnny (Lee Aaker) who is desperate for a male figure in his life with his father nowhere to be seen so young Johnny looks up to the rugged Hondo who teaches Johnny very quickly to be wary of his independent dog Sam who will not hesitate to bite Johnny if he gets too close, and he also shares with Johnny very quickly the tricks to fishing and swimming.There is an also excellent cast of supporting characters such as the army Indian scout Buffalo Baker (Ward Bond of the subsequent 1957 TV's Wagon Train series), Major Sherry (Paul Fix of 1958 TV's Rifleman series), Apache Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate), Apache hothead Silva (Rodolfo Acosta) who hates Hondo and wants to kill him, a mean spirited army Indian scout named Lennie (James Arness of the subsequent 1955 TV's Gunsmoke fame), and the well known hulking character actor Leo Gordon who usually plays the villain plays Angie's absentee no good husband Ed Lowe, who actually has abandoned his wife Angie and his 10 year old son Johnny. This strong supporting cast along with lead actors John Wayne and Geraldine Page provide an endless supply of great characters who are attempting to survive and thrive on land previously dominated by the various tribes of the Apache nation.Yes, there are plenty of fights between the cowboys and Apache's, and a few fights between the cowboys themselves, but what makes this another great John Wayne western are the complex personalities of Hondo Lane, Angie Lowe and Apache chief Vittorio. The scenery of the western plains is grand and director John Farrow utilizes his backdrop to the viewers benefit making us believe we are definitely on the wide open expansive spaces with sandy steep hills that the horsemen do not have the easiest time travelling over as the chases between the cowboys, cavalry and Apaches are harrowing to say the least.This film does not use romantic songs to pull us in, nor does it use excessive violence, instead director John Farrow relies on the strong performances between his two main stars Angie Lowe and Hondo Lane. Geraldine Page and John Wayne were excellent star crossed lovers who overcome early settlers adversity and the Apaches and we are provided with a sense of relief that they survive multiple Apache war raids in the open prairies and that Johnny learns to become a man with the support of a strong male figure who will remain in his life, Hondo Lane and he will be proud to call Johnny his son.I give this western classic Hondo, a very good 8 out of 10 rating.

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!

. . . 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!