You know, even when I was reading Hondo and looking at the films atop my video cabinet for something to watch, it took me several passes to realize that this John Wayne movie which I bought in in 2023, a year before I bought the book, is the film version of the book. And after I finished the book and clearly after I made the connection, I popped in the videocassette.
I won’t recap the plot of the film as it does closely track with the plot of the book, although it does cut out some of the interiority of the characters, especially Hondo. In the book, he’s a rougher character at the outset. In the film, he’s John Wayne.
I will comment on some of the places where the film would have differed had it been made in the 21st century. Uh, spoilers below the fold (but no pictures of Geraldine Page, the only woman in the film):
- They kill the dog. In the book, Silva, the bad guy Indian subchief, vindictively kills Sam the dog. This is shown in the film; in the 21st century, it’s a commandment somewhere that you can kill millions, but you cannot kill the dog.
- Hondo kills the husband. Perhaps a couple of years later, but maybe not the 21st century, the script would have been doctored to make an Indian kill the husband. But I guess that would require further doctoring including making up a way to get the boy’s picture to Hondo so that Vittorio, the Indian chief, would spare him. Or they could have eliminated that altogether, I suppose, but then you’re getting into a different story altogether.
What was cut?
- The massacre of Company C by the Apaches does not appear in film–the only mention is that Hondo does bring back the company guidon. In the book, the company gets a chapter, so you get to know some of them before they’re massacred.
- The book implies that Hondo and Mrs. Lowe spent the night together on one occasion which is just a kiss in the film.
- The end chase where the remnants of the calvary and the settlers fleeing the Apaches is handled differently.
- The ending shows a reconciliation between Hondo and a scout who tried to blackmail him which I am pretty sure was not in the book.
The film has a short runtime–under an hour and a half–and it captures enough of the story and translates it to film pretty well. And it does not sacrifice the book’s balanced view of the natives–Vittorio is still presented as a fair chief looking out for Little Warrior, and Hondo still expresses that the Apache way of life is a good one. So maybe this is an above average oater. Or maybe those who stereotype westerns as simple morality plays where the white man is good and the Indian is bad are themselves simple morality plays for the simple.
