Strong Cinematic Western

HONDO is a solid Western in the best tradition of the genre. Based on the story "The Gift of Cochise" by Louis L'Amour, John Wayne brings the character Hondo Lane to the screen juxtaposed with his familiar screen presence yet true to L'Amour's spirit of the literary "Western." James Edward Grant's script is impressively sympathetic to the American Indian given the period when this film was produced. Geraldine Page as Angie is perfectly naïve as the homesteader living alone with her son in the open wilderness of rock and dust (artistically captured by Robert Burks' cinematography). However, it is John Wayne's portrayal as the enigmatically tough yet unemotionally tender survivor of this barren country that is the strength of this film. The music for HONDO is credited to both Emil Newman and Hugo Friedhofer and their impressive melody for HONDO majestically reflects the honorable and brave stature of the man.

Great but underrated by many

I supposed to any John Wayne fan, this movie have to be one of his best ever. To an non-John Wayne fan and you haven't seen this movie, you will be very pleasantly surprise. It proves to be a finely crafted film, well directed, scripted and fill with interesting characters. John Farrow directed this film and he did a good job. The movie was based on Louis L'Amour novel and having read the book, I thought the movie did great justice to it.

John Wayne played his role well although most people will never believed him to be "half-Indian". His support of Indians' position proves to be quite enlightening considering when this movie was made. Wayne managed to bring out his character with skills which often belied many critics who only believed that Wayne can only be Wayne. Geraldine Page is perfect as Wayne's love interest. She's supposed to be "homely" looking and I supposed she had to "downgrade" her looks to play the part. The movie proves to be well supported by a good cast such as Ward Bond, James Arness and Michael Pate.

The movie initially came in 3-D effect and the VHS tape I owned is in that effect. So everytime I played the movie, I have to put on those silly 3D glasses which create some eyestrain after a while. Good thing the movie is only 84 minutes long. The 3D effects isn't that bad but I thought the movie could have gone without it. Some of the scenes were made for the 3D like the knife coming toward you and such things you see when you go and watch Terminator 3D at Universal Studios. Without the 3D, these scenes looked pretty awkward and weak.

Despite of that, Hondo Lane would be one of the greatest characters played by Wayne. Its too bad that DVD release on this movie haven't been done yet and if it does come out someday, it should be release in its original 3D format with the 3D glasses enclosed inside the DVD container.

Movie come highly recommended for anyone who likes western.

Hondo classic John Wayne, classic western

Hondo ranks among the best of Duke's work and is a classic among classics. It my be my all time favorite John Wayne movie even though i have not seen it for decades. it left such an impact with its simple yet compelling story