Hondo

UPC: 097368876149

Studio: Paramount

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Questionable for Children, Western Violence]

Summary: Hondo is so "perfect" a John Ford western that many people assume it was directed by John Ford--or at the very least, Andrew McLaglen. Actually the director was suspense expert John Farrow, who worked with the "Duke" only twice in his career (the second film was an oddball war drama, The Sea Chase [55]). In Hondo, John Wayne plays a hard-bitten cavalry scout who is humanized by frontierswoman Geraldine Page and her young son (Lee Aaker, star of TV's Rin Tin Tin). Try as he might, Wayne can't convince Page to move off her land in anticipation of an Apache attack. He leaves her ranch, only to be ambushed by desperado Leo Gordon--who happens to be Page's long-absent husband. Having killed Gordon, Hondo returns to the ranch to protect Page from the Indians, and to rekindle the woman's hesitant love for him. The climactic attack sequence is enhanced by Hondo's 3-D photography, one of the few truly effective utilizations of this much-maligned process. Long unavailable thanks to the labyrinthine legal tangles of the John Wayne estate, Hondo was finally released to videotape in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Western

Awards: Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: ccCommentary by Leonard Maltin, western historian Frank Thompson, and actor Lee Aaker
A special introduction by Leonard Maltin
The making of Hondo
Profile: James Edward Grant
The John Wayne Stock Company: Ward Bond
From the Batjac Vaults
The Apache
Photo gallery
Original theatrical trailer
Batjac teaser
Full screen format
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Mono
English subtitles

Hondo

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/11/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 83 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Hondo
1. A Stranger Without a Horse
2. Smelling Lies
3. Civilized?
4. Memories and Good-Byes
5. Blood Brothers
6. Bad Temper
7. A Boy Needs a Father
8. Ambush!
9. Cougar or Coyote?
10. A White Lie
11. The Cavalry Arrives
12. Nothing to Be Ashamed Of
13. Circle of the Wagons!

Richard Gilliam

Hondo is one of John Wayne's best films. Unfortunately, for many years it was not easily available, so that, while Wayne's John Ford epics became canonized, Hondo was largely forgotten. Wayne's performance is outstanding, matched in intensity by love interest Geraldine Page, in her screen debut. Page would receive an Oscar nomination for her work, and then make no major film appearances for another eight years. Her Oscar, for The Trip to Bountiful, would come 32 years after her first nomination. Hondo is rarely seen today in its original, partial 3-D format, but that change has little effect on its central qualities: a classic Louis L'Amour story, fine supporting performances, and Wayne. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Lassie the Dog  Actor 
John Farrow  Director 
Robert M. Fellows  Producer 
Hugo W. Friedhofer  Composer (Music Score) 
James Edward Grant  Screenwriter 
Emil Newman  Composer (Music Score) 
John Wayne  Producer 
John Wayne  Actor 
Geraldine Page  Actor 
Ward Bond  Actor 
Michael Pate  Actor 
James Arness  Actor 
Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta  Actor 
Leo Gordon  Actor 
Tom Irish  Actor 
Lee Aaker  Actor 
Paul Fix  Actor 
Rayford Barnes  Actor 

Country: USA