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Hondo (1953)

Immediately following completion of Island in the Sky, Wayne had to fly to a remote location in Mexico to star in Hondo. Not for the last time, he found himself in difficulties attempting to function solely as a producer. Star Glenn Ford and director John Farrow had made Plunder of the Sun for his production company and were set to continue the association on Hondo. But Ford had not enjoyed working with Farrow and, since Wayne liked the script James Edward Grant had written for Hondo, he took on the leading role himself. He was not wrong in his judgement. Although almost every critic at the time compared it unfavorably to Shane, the film is an excellent Western by any standards and one of the films to be really enhanced by the use of 3D, it was able to bring out the vastness of desert country tremendously well but CinemaScope quickly came along to dislodge it for good.

Comparisons with Shane occurred because Wayne plays an ex-gunfighter, Hondo Lane, who turns up at a ranch occupied by a woman, Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page), and her small son Johnny (Lee Aaker), much as Alan Ladd's gunfighter arrived at the homestead of Jean Arthur and young Brandon De Wilde in George Stevens' film. But there the similarities really end. Wayne's first appearance is a memorable one as he walks out of the desert with a saddle over his shoulders, followed by his dog, Sam. He is a dispatch rider and scout for the U.S. cavalry (the year is 1874) and he soon spots from the state of the place that it has been without male attention for some time and that Angie is lying when she says her husband is expected back at any moment. As the abandoned wife, Geraldine Page sensitively depicts the affection she develops for the tall and capable figure who helps her restore the ranch to good order. He breaks in a horse and buys it from her, preparing to leave. He warns her that trouble with the Apaches is imminent but she declares that the Indians are her friends and refuses to leave with him. He tells her that she reminds him of his dead Indian wife and rides off after kissing her fiercely.

In town, he runs across Angie's husband, Ed Lowe (Leo Gordon), finding him in a poker game; the two men fall foul of each other and twice brawl, with Wayne eventually obliged to kill Lowe after the latter ambushes him on his way back to Angie and the boy. He then falls into Apache hands and is tortured with hot coals placed in his palms. His courage in withstanding the pain earns him the respect of the Apache leader Vittoro (Michael Pate), and the discovery that he is carrying a tintype of Angie's boy on him decides the chief to spare his life, since the boy has become Vittoro's blood brother. However, Vittoro's second in command, Silva (Rodolfo Acosta), is incensed at this decision and challenges Wayne to a knife duel. 3D enhances the resulting fight, staged with great vigor, the combatants kicking sand into the camera, and Wayne overcomes his opponent, sparing his life.

When Vittoro and his men escort Wayne to the ranch, Angie quickwittedly identifies Wayne as her husband and thereby avoids marriage to one of Vittoro's braves since the chief thinks his young blood brother needs a father. Wayne awkwardly admits to Angie that he has killed her husband but she accepts his explanation and agrees to move on with him to land he owns in California. Silva has become the Apache leader following Vittoro's death and is conducting merciless raids. Eventually, when he attacks the wagon train Wayne is leading, there is a pitched battle which enables Wayne to gut Silva with a lance much as the blackhearted Indian had earlier speared his dog Sam. Wayne is thus free to continue his journey to a new life in California with Angie and Tommy.

The film is interesting for its sympathetic depiction of Vittoro as a chief justly angered by treaty violations, but it is otherwise simply a superior version of a routine story. The casting of Broadway actress Geraldine Page in her first film role pays off well, giving Wayne not only a fresh face to respond to but also a strong performance that supports his own work, showing it to better advantage. (The part of Angie Lowe had first been offered to Katharine Hepburn, but I suspect that she would have been too overpowering for it.) Hondo lacks the extra depth that John Ford brought to the slightly similar The Searchers (1956) (though the director did some odds and ends of second unit work when he paid a visit to the Hondo location), but it remains a distinct plus in Wayne's career and one of the best of his producing ventures.

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