Hondo (Full Screen)

Buy This Item Hondo (Full Screen) by Paramount  Available from Amazon  $12.99  on 11-29-2008     Based on the Louis L'Amour story "The Gift of Cochise," this sparkling western has Wayne as a half-Indian Cavalry scout who, with his feral dog companion, finds a young woman and her son living on a isolated ranch in unfriendly Apache country. A poetic and exciting script, outstanding performances, and breathtaking scenery make this an indisputable classic. Page's debut. Reader Reviews This had been among one of the least seen of Wayne's best films because it had been locked away for a decade and a half. I remember the "Married With Children" episode when Al wanted to catch a rare showing of this movie and, of course, his desires were thwarted. Now you can see it any time you wish on this really good DVD. The extras provide a good commentary on the film, some shorts on the making of the film and on Ward Bond. The film has a couple of really different aspects to it. The most famous is that it was made in 3D, which was a big fad the year it was made. This version of 3D was more sophisticated than the red-green glasses we get every now and again today, but I have never experienced this technology and have no idea what it is like. For this film, very few people have seen it in 3D because it was only shown that way for the first week or two it was in very limited release. The rest of the world saw it as it is presented on this DVD, in beautifully presented 2D. One of the reasons this 3D film still works so well in 2D is that despite all the problems of filming in 3D (and they are explained in the extras), Farrow and Wayne only have a couple of concessions to the usually 3D gimmickry (the titles, the knife fight coming right at the camera, an arrow being shot, and maybe a couple of others). Most of the time the extras explain that they used 3D to add depth to the shots which still work well when flattened. The other odd part of Hondo is casting Geraldine Page as the female lead. She isn't particularly beautiful and in some way this makes her more believable. We learn some things about her from the other cast members that add to the strangeness. Apparently, she went to great lengths to stay in character including not bathing or brushing her teeth. She was also very liberal and appalled by the conservative views of John Wayne and Ward Bond. All this aside, what gets on the screen is very good and quite convincing. That she was nominated for an Oscar(tm) for this role does seem a bit odd today, but not completely crazy. The story is set in Apache lands when the whites have yet again broken a treaty and the Indians are pushing back. Hondo (Wayne) walks into Angie Lowe's (Page) ranch where she lives alone with her son, Johnny (Lee Aaker). She won't leave her ranch even though the Army is evacuating all whites living in the Apache lands because too many are being killed. She claims her husband will return soon, but Hondo is suspicious. In return for a horse, Hondo does many domestic chores that need doing around the ranch. One of the more famous scenes is his teaching Johnny how to swim and then finds out Angie can't swim either. He and Angie quickly develop a strong affection, but she is married after all so he leaves and heads into town to report to the military. He meets Angie's husband in the local saloon and learns that he is not what Angie portrayed him to be. In fact, he has betrayed and abandoned her and is an all around bad individual. Wayne's friend, Ward Bond, also has a very good role in the film as Buffalo Baker. I won't bother explaining how the plot develops, but there is a lot of interesting action with surprisingly sensitive plot developments. The Indians are presented very sensitively for 1953 and we sympathize with them (except when they are after Hondo). Their chief, Vittorio, is played quite convincingly by the Australian actor, Michael Pate. The key action sequences at the end were, we learn from the extras, directed by John Ford and they are quite good. This is a very good Waynestern and you should see it. And if you have seen it recently, well, find an excuse to enjoy it again! Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Hondo (Full Screen) Available from Amazon Price: $12.99 Updated on 11-29-2008.

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