The U.S. cavalry wants to get Apache Chief Vittoro to the treaty table, and they figure former Rebel Hondo Lane (Ralph Taeger) is the man for the job.
After all, Hondo lived with the Apache for a while. He was even married to Vittoro’s daughter at one point.
He begrudgingly accepts the assignment and soon finds himself dealing with a renegade Apache named Silva looking for war and revenge, a junior officer (Gary Clarke as Capt. Richards) determined to avenge his brother’s death by killing as many Indians as possible; and a mine owner (Robert Taylor as Gallagher) determined to get his men back to work, cavalry protection of not.
Then there’s lovely Angie Dow (Kathie Browne). Hondo rescues her and her son Johnny from marauding Apache, but later winds up killing her husband.
She forgives him in a heartbeat; she never loved the man. But her son Johnny takes an immediate liking to Hondo, who dispenses frontier wisdom and tall tales in equal helpings and whose Indian name translates to “bad temper.”
When Silva heads out on the warpath with his followers, Hondo finds himself facing a new complication in his efforts to keep the peace between the whites and the Apache.
Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane with his dog, Sam, in Hondo and the Apaches (1967)
Review:
This film was made by combining the first two episodes of the short-lived “Hondo” TV series into a feature film. The series was created by John Wayne’s production company and based on his 1953 film of the same name.
But Taeger makes for a poor John Wayne. He isn’t helped by a shortened run time that gives the film a just-the-highlights feel or by a script that makes him sound like an uneducated frontiersman one minute, a Shakespeare of the West the next.
The series aired opposite Star Trek and Gomer Pyle and lasted just 17 episodes. Robert Taylor, featured here, was a guest star. Michael Pate, who also played the same role in the 1953 film, was a series regular.
So was lovely blonde Kathie Browne, who had already appeared on multiple episodes of “Bonanza” and played Captain Kirk’s love interest in a 1968 episode of “Star Trek.” She’d later marry fellow actor Darren McGavin, best known for his role as the dad in “A Christmas Story” (1983).
Robert Taylor as mine owner Gallagher with Noah Beery Jr. as Buffalo Baker and Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane in Hondo and the Apaches (1967)
Directed by:
Lee Katzin
Cast:
Ralph Taeger … Hondo Lane
Kathie Browne … Angie Dow
Robert Taylor … Gallagher
Buddy Foster … Johnny Dow
Michael Pate … Vittoro
Michael Rennie … Tribolet
Noah Beery Jr. … Buffalo Baker
Gary Clarke … Capt. Richards
Randy Boone … Sean Gallagher
Gary Merrill … Gen. Phil Sheridan
John Smith … Ed Dow
Victor Lundin … Silva
Jim Davis … Krantz
John Pickard … Lieutenant
Steven Marlo … Reese
William Bryant … Col. George Crook
Runtime: 85 min.
Kathie Browne as Angie Dow, Buddy Foster as Johnny Dow and Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane in Hondo and the Apaches (1967)
Memorable lines:
Hondo Lane, after punching out a man in a bar: “Any of you other blue bellies want to try knockin’ off this Confederate hat, get at it.”
Phil Sheridan: “Colonel Crook, (meet) Honda Lane. Part panther, part Apache and the man for what we’ve got in mind.”
Hondo Lane to Angie Dow, about why he doesn’t feed his dog, Sam: “Sam’s independent. He doesn’t need anybody. I want him to stay that way. It’s a good way.”
Angie Dow: “Everyone needs someone.”
Hondo Lane: “Yeah, just about everyone does. It’s too bad.”
Hondo Lane: “Buffalo, what for do you play (poker) with bad losers?”
Buffalo Baker: “Well, it do beat playing with winners.”
Apache warrior: “Your dying will be slow and hard. Today, two white dogs will die.”
Hondo Lane, to his dog: “Beat it, Sam!”
Apache warrior: “Then you will die two times as slow.”
Hondo Lane: “The Indian is a peculiar institution and still he’s a human being… A good many other human beings seem anxious to forget that.”
Capt. Richards, preparing to pursue marauding Apache: “We sweep to the southwest. I’ll leave a skeleton force here.”
Hondo Lane to scout Buffalo Baker: “You’re all likely to end up skeletons.”
Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane with Robert Taylor as Gallagher in Hondo and the Apaches (1967)
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