An Unusual John Wayne Western
Added 10/28/2009
Most other John Wayne westerns show the Indians as faceless attackers. Not this one! Cavalryman Hondo Lane (John Wayne), himself part Apache, has a working relationship with one of the Apache chiefs. He alludes to the fact that the US government had broken a treaty with the Apaches.
Hondo gets to know a solitary-living pioneer woman, Angie Lowe, and her six year-old son Johnny. The absence of her husband leads to problems, such as an Apache chief wanting to take her as his wife. At one point, the six year-old shoots an Apache in defense of his mother. The plot unfolds in more ways than one, as Hondo and Angie develop feelings for each other, and Hondo has to acknowledge what he knows about her husband's death. For her part, she has to realize the fact that the Apaches will soon kill her if she does not flee, and deal with the fact that her husband had been a lout and cheat, and how her little son is to remember his father. Dying an honorable death is paramount in that culture.
There are several savage battles shown between the Apaches and the settlers. Only the death an Apache leader will cause the Apache warriors to disperse.
WARNING: Some of the scenes are quite violent, even by the standard of westerns, which may upset sensitive viewers. There is a scene of Hondo's faithful dog impaled by a pole. There is a mortal knife fight, and a scene of Hondo being staked to the ground and in the act of being tortured by fire.
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Hondo with John Wayne
Added 9/27/2009
Perfect DVD sent to me by Amazon. Of course not surprised since Amazon is as close to perfect as any organization/department can achieve. The movie was outstanding. Sound, color and of course John Wayne is my hero. Althoug the DOG almost upstaged John Wayne.
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Hondo was the best one yet
Added 9/25/2009
they never play this one on the western channel so I bought it. I recommend it to those of you who are John wayne fans
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Wish today's actors were more "men men" as in the past years!! Only John Wayne could excel in Hondo, The Quiet Man, Hatari, for example. Must admire those like Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, Bob Hope, etc., who were married to the same woman for many years!!!
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A Fine Additon to the John Wayne Legacy
Added 11/16/2008
Thirty years after his death, John Wayne remains an enigma. Many books have been written about him, none of which I've read, and so I know little of his personal life other than he has been both praised for embodying traditional American ideals and reviled for his archconservative bigotry.
Yet he remains today perhaps this country's biggest movie star. Today's actors - Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, Jack Nicholson - are more accomplished actors with greater range; while from Wayne's era, Clark Gable was more handsome, James Cagney more talented, Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda more eclectic. But for sheer screen charisma, I can't think of another actor from any era who brings more to the screen. Whenever Wayne is onscreen the viewer is simply compelled to watch him. Often described as ruggedly handsome, his face isn't particularly expressive. Some of his mannerisms, particularly his walk and some of his posturing, one suspects are contrived, yet a generation of men in the 40s and 50s aspired to be just like him. Heck, I knew some women in the 60s who patterned themselves after the Duke.
In Hondo, based on a Louis L'Amour novel and directed by John Farrow, Wayne plays a half-breed Apache. His sidekick is Sam, a dog as surly as Hondo. Hondo befriends Angie Lowe, a New Mexican farmwoman and mother of a young son whose husband deserts her for extended periods of time. Geraldine Page is well-cast as the "handsome" Angie, and was nominated for an Oscar for her first starring role, despite a performance that can best be described as wooden. Character actor Ward Bond and a young James Arness ably lend support.
Setting aside the rather cliché depiction of the Apache and several historical inaccuracies, Hondo can perhaps best be described as a morality play, a study of the power of lies and when, or if, it is beneficial to tell one. Hondo laments the lies the white man tells the Apache and tells Angie that the Apache language contains no word for "lie." Page's soliloquy on the subject of lies - those she endured at the tongue of her husband as well as those she told herself - near the end of the movie is a telling moment. Although delivered somewhat mechanically, the words speak for themselves.
Not ranked in the top ten best all time westerns or even one of Wayne's best films, it is still recommended viewing.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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An Unusual John Wayne Western
Added 10/28/2009
Most other John Wayne westerns show the Indians as faceless attackers. Not this one! Cavalryman Hondo Lane (John Wayne), himself part Apache, has a working relationship with one of the Apache chiefs. He alludes to the fact that the US government had broken a treaty with the Apaches.
Hondo gets to know a solitary-living pioneer woman, Angie Lowe, and her six year-old son Johnny. The absence of her husband leads to problems, such as an Apache chief wanting to take her as his wife. At one point, the six year-old shoots an Apache in defense of his mother. The plot unfolds in more ways than one, as Hondo and Angie develop feelings for each other, and Hondo has to acknowledge what he knows about her husband's death. For her part, she has to realize the fact that the Apaches will soon kill her if she does not flee, and deal with the fact that her husband had been a lout and cheat, and how her little son is to remember his father. Dying an honorable death is paramount in that culture.
There are several savage battles shown between the Apaches and the settlers. Only the death an Apache leader will cause the Apache warriors to disperse.
WARNING: Some of the scenes are quite violent, even by the standard of westerns, which may upset sensitive viewers. There is a scene of Hondo's faithful dog impaled by a pole. There is a mortal knife fight, and a scene of Hondo being staked to the ground and in the act of being tortured by fire.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Hondo with John Wayne
Added 9/27/2009
Perfect DVD sent to me by Amazon. Of course not surprised since Amazon is as close to perfect as any organization/department can achieve. The movie was outstanding. Sound, color and of course John Wayne is my hero. Althoug the DOG almost upstaged John Wayne.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Hondo was the best one yet
Added 9/25/2009
they never play this one on the western channel so I bought it. I recommend it to those of you who are John wayne fans
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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