79
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleThere's no shortage of well-staged oater action by director John Farrow (including some trick 3-D effects lost in this otherwise 2-D version) as Wayne and his buckskinned pal Buffalo Baker (Ward Bond) ride out to save a band of settlers from marauding Indians. [23 Oct 2005]
- 90The Observer (UK)The Observer (UK)An excellent 1954 John Wayne Western, in which he plays a cavalry scout with Indian sympathies fighting Apaches in New Mexico.
- 83Portland OregonianTed MaharPortland OregonianTed MaharThis is one of the Duke's better Westerns. [14 Oct 2005, p.47]
- 75Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleySlant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyHondo is a mash of the usual tropes, a whirlwind of Native American war paint, cavalry stripes, a sawdust-saloon poker game, a few fistfights, plenty of gunfire, and every moral equation coming to a satisfactory balance by the time the credits roll.
- The film is partly inspired by SHANE, accentuating the close relationship of hero-worshiping youngster to virtuous gunfighter, and its exterior shooting has the look of a John Ford work, but HONDO stands tall on its own.
- 70Time OutTime OutPage won an Oscar nomination for this, her first film role, but Wayne's guileless performance is even better: gently self-mocking, while still every inch the embodiment of the conviction that "a man ought to do what he thinks is best."