"Hondo" is a very-well-liked and much-admired western. I appreciate its qualities for many reasons--its script, its direction and its presentation. But I must also argue that it is being admired most for all the wrong reasons. For instance, some reviewers have found a pattern for future John Wayne western roles in the central character, Hondo Lane. But the figure is taciturn, half-Indian, and like Nahan Battles or his role in "The Horse Soldier", this is a variation on his future role as a stalwart but violence-prone ethicist. Also, Geraldine Page as the frontier woman in the film has been lauded for her work, but as an actor I find it is not as cinematic as are her later roles. Also the story line, much-praised, seems a bit stretched-out or thin in a few laces; what is laudable about the narrative, I suggest, is the realism of the characters' psychology and actions as people ans as westerners. The film was adapted from a short story by Louis L'Amour. Its setting is the desert; it was filmed in Mexico, although its locale is Arizona, near the lands ruled by the Mescalero Apaches. Mrs. Lowell is unhappily married, and her husband has been missing. He is a gambler, cheat and an adulterer. Hondo and Mrs. Lowell are attracted to one another; the very gradual beginning of their relationship from this attraction is one of the main strands of the narrative; thanks to director John Farrow, the gradual build of tensions is very well handled. Hondo has been married, briefly and happily, to an Indian woman. He is "earthy'; he uses his sense of smell and compliments her on her scent; they are able to talk easily and with mutual restraint at the same time. And her young son likes having Hondo on the place as much as he enjoys teaching the boy. He is a gunfighter, but a man of ethics. Their relationship is complicated by a mutual kiss, his need to pose as her man before the curious Apaches, the Indians' interest in her brave son, and the fact that he has to kill her husband, in self-defense. The other major strand in the tale, apart from the very-well-handled interest of Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate) and some of his hotheads in her, the boy and Hondo, is an Indian uprising. As a half- Indian himself, Hondo must decide where his loyalties belong. Vittorio makes a blood brother of Mrs. Lowell's son; yet there is always tension when the Apaches interact with the leads. This was also a three-d offering originally, so the film has gimmicked shots of missiles hurled and the screen and so forth. John Wayne also has a knife fight with Rodolfo Acosta, as Silva, the inimical Apache sub-chief. This is a film of telling moments, such as Mrs. Lowell's donning of a colorful dress for Hondo's benefit, words spoken in Apache, Vittorio's interest in his new neighbors, and comments about the Indians' way and its all-but-inevitable suppression. There are scenes of Indians circling pioneer wagons, intimate suggestion-filled scenes between male and female, surprises, and Ward Bond as Buffalo Baker, an old friend of Hondo's. Some disapprove of Hondo (James Arness), but that is because he lives by the gun. There is a fine dog that follows Hondo, his scenes teaching the boy, and much more in this atmospheric and very realistic film. Most of the film script by James Edward Grant, except the final battle with the Indians, faithfully followed a strong narrative in the original prose treatment. The cinematography for the film was provided by Robert Burks and Archie Stout with art direction by Alfred Ybarra. The very good music was composed by Hugo Friedhofer. The film's scenes are I find of a single style without anyone imposing any style onto the landscape, colors, sky and lighting that give the film its authentic feel. I have lived in Arizona-Sonora's desert, and this is a very nostalgic film for me, much-better-realized than many others set in the same conditions and geography. The cast in addition to Wayne who is very good and the interesting and intelligent Page, included Australian Michael Pate and Rodolfo Acosta, Ward Bond, James Arness, Lee Aaaker as Mrs. Lowell's son, Tom Irish, Leo Gordon, Paul Fix, Rayford Barnes and Frank McGrath. This is a very good movie experience for most, I suggest, occasionally leisurely but quite memorable and unusually honest as a western, thanks to L'Amour's researches and knowledge of the country. Highly recommended.
Review of Hondo
