Certification. U
Running Time. 1 hour 23 mins
Director. John Farrow
Cast. Ward Bond, Geraldine Page, Michael Pate, John Wayne.
Rating. 22%
For a film that routinely resides in the definitive lists of John Wayne westerns, Hondo, for me, is a major disappointment.
Wayne plays Hondo Lane, a civilian scout with the United States Cavalry, who stumbles upon a desolate ranch in Apache territory. Abandoned by her husband, the ranch is home to Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her young son. The respected stage actress received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in this, her first film role.
For the most part, the film meanders with scant storyline, merely existing as a series of now cliched set pieces alongside the laboured and implausible, burgeoning romance between the two main characters.
The Apache are given a degree of three-dimensional treatment, at least by 1950s Hollywood standards [Delmer Daves' Broken Arrow aside]. Vittorio, the Apache Chief, is portrayed as a just leader, concerned for the welfare of his people. This sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans perhaps wasn't properly addressed until the revisionist westerns of the 1970s, such as Soldier Blue and Ulzana's Raid.
Released six months apart, comparison with George Stevens' Shane is almost inevitable. The commonality of hero-worship towards the virtuous gunfighter and the main character who considers truth and honour the most important thing a man has. But whereas Shane produces a subtle balance between light and shade, Hondo is flawed, never rising from the mire of generic westerns Hollywood was churning out in this era.
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