Hondo (1953)

I chose this from my YouTube list partly for its short runtime, 84 minutes. Imagine my surprise to see "Intermission" about halfway through. No, there's no several-minute segment for music, much as I like the John Williams-esque scoring.

In an unspecified Old West setting, unhorsed, somewhat notorious soldier Hondo Lane (John Wayne) arrives at a remote homestead to fuel up and buy a horse. He meets Angie Low (Geraldine Page) and her young son, Johnny (Lee Aaker), but not her long-absent and unaccounted-for husband, Ed (Leo Gordon). Hondo warns that local Apaches are gearing up for war on the frontiersmen. Angie feels confident that if a recent treaty doesn't dissuade the Apaches from attacking her, her benevolent past will, but Hondo wisely disagrees. He keeps a close watch, gradually hoping to fill the void Ed left behind.

Yes, the main antagonists are natives. Fortunately, between their code of honor and their understandable motivation, they have some nuance. On several occasions, they choose not to kill when they easily could. But Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate, a frigging Aussie) may be the main factor keeping them in check, and he can't do it forever.

Hondo claims to be "part Indian" himself, without saying which tribe. This does not stop him from harboring some ideas that would not fly far today. He even claims that his canine companion, Sam, can smell differences by race. (I won't say "his dog," because Sam is half-wild, much the way Hondo likes his horses.) Alas, what happens to Sam might get you rooting more strongly against the Apaches.

As my citation of Gordon implies, Ed is not dead when we finally see him. His role does thicken the plot, more than once. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a romance if Angie stuck with him to the end....

Not that a film this brief can afford much buildup on that point. Hondo even comments in surprise on how quickly Angie is willing to move on. I'll note that the screenplay comes from a Louis L'Amour short story, which, despite the pen name, probably didn't allow any more time for that.

I'd rather focus on the action. That actually benefits from a good clip. Director John Farrow did pretty well with early scenes, but the grand finale let an uncredited John Ford take over with expectedly deft results.

I get why Hondo is an apparent cult classic. The aspects that haven't aged well tend to give way to the ones that have. For my part, I basically enjoyed watching, but I plan to wait much longer before my next Wayne western.