Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

Hondo Overview:

Hondo (1953) was a Action - Drama Film directed by John Farrow and produced by John Wayne and Robert Fellows.

Academy Awards 1953 --- Ceremony Number 26 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActressGeraldine PageNominated
Best WritingLouis L'AmourNominated

Hondo BlogHub Articles:

John Wayne in 3D in Hondo!

John Wayne as Hondo. With John Wayne's 1953 3D Western Hondo, you actually get two movies in one. The first is an interesting love story between an tough dispatch rider for the U.S. Cavalry and a lonely woman--with a worthless husband--who operates a ranch deep in Apache territory. The second "movi... Read full article


"Hondo"

When John Wayne made Hondo in 1953, his masculine all-American tough guy persona was already well-established. Rumor has it that after a screening of Hondo Wayne himself said, “I’ll be damned if I’m not the stuff men are made of.” Presumably he was joking (he had a great se... Read full article


See More Hondo Articles

Hondo Quotes:

Hondo Lane: A man oughta do what he thinks is right.

Angie Lowe: Anyway, I don't believe a dog can smell Indians. I mean, as different from anyone else. You and me, for instance.
Hondo Lane: Well they can. As a matter of fact, Indians can smell white people.
Angie Lowe: I don't believe it.
Hondo Lane: Well it's true. I'm part Indian and I can smell you when I'm downwind of you.
Angie Lowe: That's impossible.
Hondo Lane: No, it isn't impossible, Mrs. Lowe. You baked today. I can smell fresh bread on you. Sometime today, you cooked with salt pork. Smell that on you, too. You smell all over like soap: you took a bath. And, on top of that, you smell all over like a woman. I could find you in the dark, Mrs. Lowe, and I'm only part Indian.

Hondo Lane: Before I go, I wanna explain somethin'.
Angie Lowe: Yes?
Hondo Lane: It didn't happen in the low way you heard it. I didn't bushwack him
Angie Lowe: I never for a moment thought you did, but you've killed him.
Hondo Lane: I didn't have any choice. He cut loose at me.
Angie Lowe: I should have known that. I should have known you were lying to make me think well of you. Poor Ed. I guess he wasn't the sort of man to die well. Sorry now I hated him so much. I guess he couldn't help being weak and selfish.
Hondo Lane: I just didn't have any choice.
Angie Lowe: I know that.
Hondo Lane: Are you going to feel differently about me?
Angie Lowe: No one has any control over the way they feel. I'm never going to change the way I feel about you. But, well what about him?
Hondo Lane: Yeah. I guess there's some things that just can't... He's gonna be a good man. Good spread to his shoulders. Head works, too. The other night after you went to sleep, he crawled up into my bunk and put his arms around my neck. Made me feel kind of funny, like he was dependent on me. A lot of things I'd rather do than this.
Angie Lowe: You're going to tell him?
Hondo Lane: If I don't, somebody else will. And I got a belly full of lies.
Angie Lowe: No! Your ranch in California: it's too far for gossip to travel. You and your silly ideals. You think truth is the most important thing.
Hondo Lane: It's the measure of a man.
Angie Lowe: Well, not for a woman. A man can afford to have noble sentiments and poses, but a woman only has the man she married. That's her truth. And if he's no good, that's still her truth. I married a man who was a liar, a thief and a coward. He was a drunkard and unfaithful. He only married me to get this ranch and then he deserted Johnny and me for good. And that's your fine truth for you. Could I bring Johnny up on that?
Hondo Lane: Well, I guess you couldn't.
Angie Lowe: And then you come along and you're good and fine and everything that Ed could never hope to be. And now in your vanity, you want to spoil Johnny's chances and mine.
[she starts to cry]
Hondo Lane: Varlabania.
Angie Lowe: What?
Hondo Lane: When the Indians finish up their squaw-seekin' ceremony, they only say one thing: "Varlabania." It means "forever." Forever.

Angie Lowe: I love you. I suppose I shouldn't have said that with my husband dead so short a time.
Hondo Lane: I don't guess people's hearts got anything to do with a calendar.
Angie Lowe: You were so wonderful, refusing to lie for Vittorio.
Hondo Lane: Oh, he was testing me. Indians hate lies. And I guess I got to feelin' the same way, but once in awhile a fella's got to lie if it'll make it easier on someone else.

Hondo Lane: Mrs. Lowe, you're a liar. And an almighty poor liar.
Angie Lowe: I don't understand.
Hondo Lane: These horses haven't been shod in a couple of months. It's a cinch that ax hasn't had an edge on it in two months. And your tea can - a five-pound tea can in your house - is empty. Your husband's been gone a long time.
Angie Lowe: Now look here, Mr. Lane, I don't think you have any right to talk...
Hondo Lane: I'm not talkin' about rights, I'm talkin' about lies. Why'd you lie to me, Mrs Lowe? Were you afraid that maybe you wouldn't be safe here with me with your husband away? That it?
Angie Lowe: That's partly it.
Hondo Lane: Women always figure every man comes along wants 'em.
See More Quotes from Hondo
Hondo Facts
John Ford directed the climactic battle scenes at the end of the movie, according to a special feature on the 2005 DVD release. Apparently director John Farrow had to leave to start another film commitment and Ford took over. His work was uncredited.

Pal, the dog that played Sam, was the son of Lassie. In the movie, he is supposed to be vicious and ill-tempered, but the temperatures during filming were so hot, he simply panted instead of snarling when on camera. In order to overcome this, he was kept in a special air-conditioned crate while on set and was only brought out for his shots.

John Wayne attributed the film's moderate performance at the box office to its similarity with Shane.

Geraldine Page, a left wing liberal actress from Broadway, was horrified by the right-wing views of John Wayne, Ward Bond, James Arness and John Farrow.

Originally filmed in 3-D.

See More Facts about Hondo >>