JohnHowardReid The finest 3-D film ever made, Hondo, unlike all the other 3-D movies (with the exception of Kiss Me Kate) which preceded it, was made with tremendous care by some of Hollywood's top craftsmen. Their idea was not to use 3-D merely as an exploitation gimmick with spears, lances, arrows and other menacing missiles thrown directly at the audience, but to get beyond the novelty value of the system into involving the audience more directly and excitingly in the story. A strong script with interestingly three-dimensional characters was worked up by James Edward Grant from a short piece by Louis L'Amour. The job then was to find suitable locations and to build sets to enhance suspense, build up atmosphere and increase audience rapport. Suitable terrain was found in Camargo, Mexico. These locations not only had the sweepingly rugged beauty necessary for the script and the further advantage of being previously unseen by most picturegoers, but the requisites for really effective 3-D presentation. The landscape had either to be reasonably flat but slightly undulating (a stream would help) with hills and mountains in the medium distance; or built up on multiple levels that were well-defined but reasonably close, like a series of ridges for example, or a plain with a number of flat foothills. The sets were constructed with painstaking ingenuity to utilize as many jutting angles as possible in an unobtrusive, seemingly realistic way. Rough-hewn fence rails were ideal for this purpose, as were roof posts and the slope of the roof itself, a balancing rod for the well, the corral, and other fairly lengthy, angular props likely to be found on a farm. Even clothing was chosen with both eyes firmly on the camera, - right down to the singularly effective brim on Wayne's hat.With all these "innocently" natural devices to enhance the 3-D effects, it was decided to minimize the number of objects hurled at the audience; not to eliminate this expected novelty altogether, but to confine the stratagem to moments that were dramatically effective. Forsaking his usual directorial style with its fluid camerawork and breathtakingly long takes, director John Farrow has worked on the script to enhance the 3-D effects. To take just one instance, the scene in which Lee Aaker shoots Rodolfo Acosta. Normally, Farrow would handle this sequence with a tracking shot holding Acosta's rapid advance on the boy. But here, to take full advantage of the 3-D potential, the shot is broken up. Knife raised, Acosta menaces a stationary camera. We cut to the boy, vulnerable and diminutive as he stands between two roof posts on the porch, - a superb 3-D shot. The whole film has been meticulously constructed in this same painstaking way. Every camera set-up has a 3-D punch that heightens involvement and dramatically increases tension. It all comes to a vigorously-staged chase-and-pitched battle climax with horses, stuntmen and wagons pounding across and pitching into the desert sands. In danger of being dwarfed or even pushed aside by 3-D, the players subtly make up for their disadvantage by giving performances slightly larger than life. Seen flat, all the acting, with the one exception of Lee Aaker, seems slightly exaggerated, but in 3-D it's exactly right. (Cleverly, Farrow does not have Aaker compete with 3-D, the comparative restraint of his performance increasing his vulnerability and thus heightening tension). The 3-D camerawork is divided between Robert Burks and Archie Stout. No doubt Stout did a great deal of the location work and 2nd unit vistas where the sun and the terrain itself dictated what 3-D effects could be obtained, whilst Burks had the equally difficult job of arranging his lighting not just to flatter the players but all the 3-D props as well! As said, a magnificent job all around, Hondo is absolutely first-class 3-D entertainment.

Hot 888 Mama . . . of that 1953 John Wayne outing, and is about 10 seconds short of 20 minutes. It is lumped together on the disc menu with two other documentary shorts (PROFILE: JAMES EDWARD GRANT--about HONDO's screenwriter--and THE JOHN WAYNE STOCK COMPANY: WARD BOND, about the actor who plays "Buffalo Baker" in HONDO and participated on-screen in 23 of John Wayne's films). The three items actually are SEPARATE, self-contained things of uneven quality, best addressed and rated individually. THE MAKING OF HONDO itself features two cast members who lived to see the Turn of the 21st Century, "Indian Chief" Vittorio (Michael Pate) and his "Small Warrior" Blood Brother (or Blood Son) Johnny (Lee Aaker). Leonard Maltin introduces THE MAKING OF HONDO, which includes comments from a couple of other film historians, as well. It's alleged here that John Wayne only spoke six words of Spanish, which I suppose makes sense, given that all three of his "beards" or "wives" were Spanish, and why should he wish to converse with THEM? THE MAKING OF HONDO also informs us that the drawn-out (if not tedious) "Circle and Wagons!" and "Re-Circle the Wagons!!" and "Re-Recircle the Wagons!!!" scenes which close HONDO were shot by Oscar glutton John Ford, as HONDO's original director John Farrow tired of Circling the Wagons!

Bill Slocum A gripping action-romance, "Hondo" showcased Hollywood's newest gimmick, 3-D, but scores instead as a centerpiece for a much older cinematic device, John Wayne in a cowboy hat.Wayne is Hondo Lane, a scout and dispatch rider for the U. S. Cavalry who comes upon a woman and her son in hostile Apache territory. Hondo tells her to pack up, but she doesn't want to leave her family farm or her missing husband. Hondo protects them instead, both on his own volition as well as that of the Apache leader making war with the white man, Vittorio.Despite adhering to many of the day's cinematic conventions involving westerns, "Hondo" is a modern film. The woman, Mrs. Lowe (Geraldine Fitzgerald), is no afterthought but the center of our emotional engagement. And while hardly the first western to question the legacy of western expansion, "Hondo" presents the Apache side of the story with bracing sympathy."There's no word in the Apache language for 'lie,' and they've been lied to," Hondo tells Mrs. Lowe in explaining why the treaty she counts on to protect her and her son is no good anymore.In fact, the most honorable character in the film may be Vittorio (Michael Pate), who demonstrates great concern for both Mrs. Lowe and her son, the latter a reminder of his own sons the white man killed. He's as much her savior as Hondo is, when you look at the arc of the movie, yet Pate plays him without any of the "noble savage" ahistorical stylings common with revisionist westerns of later vintage. "Hondo" finds a way to make its points without weighing down a taut, 84- minute film.Director John Farrow deserves credit for keeping matters economical (and the 3-D tricks to a minimum), but the true force behind the scenes is screenwriter John Edward Grant, working from an early Louis L'Amour story which he augments nicely. Grant was Wayne's usual writer, and his screenplays could get awful woolly, but here he's on point and lifts the film with a kind of terse wisdom that hangs with you after the gunplay is over."Sam's independent," Hondo says, talking about his canine companion. "He don't need anybody. I want him to stay that way. It's a good way."For a lot of the movie, Mrs. Lowe seems an amiable sop for Hondo's one-liners, yet Grant keeps her in focus, and pays this off magnificently when she reveals her true feelings for her husband and for Hondo. Yes, it is a wifely ideal she holds to, but the strength of her character when revealed is too formidable for even Hondo to buy off with one of his self-reliance quips.There's a wonderful scene early on, when Mrs. Lowe talks about "destiny" guiding love. Hondo regards this with laconic if polite amusement, but the joke's on him as we discover later on.Fitzgerald got her first of eight Oscar nominations here, oddly for a supporting role when she is actually the female lead. Her performance is off-pitch in places, too stagy as some say, but when she lands a good line, she's quite effective.The supporting cast is also excellent. Ward Bond is entertaining as always, while James Arness impresses as a more dubious character with whom Hondo must tangle.The film isn't quite a classic. The handling of the final battle scene (directed by an uncredited John Ford) is exciting but perfunctory, and the resolution of the Hondo-Mrs. Lowe relationship is brushed over too lightly. I could see a longer "Hondo" being one of Wayne's classic films, but I could also see it running out of steam, which this compact production never does.As far as Wayne is concerned, this is one of his most assured performances, light in tone but with the sort of shadings he was beginning to master. You see him coming out of the screen in the opening moments of the film, making for the best 3-D effect. It stays like that for the rest of the picture, Wayne giving us a layered, tactile performance both enjoyable and deep. "Hondo" is a keeper for Wayne fans, and anyone else not scared of cowboy movies.

gavin6942 Army despatch rider Hondo Lane (John Wayne) discovers a woman (Geraldine Page) and her son (Lee Aaker) living in the midst of warring Apaches, and he becomes their protector.Some of this is your standard Western fare, with the white settlers at odds with the Apache warriors. And then you have the "half breed" Hondo, who is able to walk between both worlds with some level of success. The angle of Hondo being both a surrogate father and a murderer is a nice touch.While perhaps not his finest acting, any John Wayne fan will enjoy this film. Heck, it is not like he is really known as a great actor anyway.