Good concept, poorly executed.

Better Late Then Never

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Hondo and the Apaches is directed by Lee H. Katzin and adapted to screenplay by Andrew J. Fenady, which is based from a work by James Edward Grant, from a story titled A Gift of Cochise written by Louis L'Amour. It stars Ralph Taeger, Noah Beery Jr., Robert Taylor, John Smith, Kathie Brown and Michael Pate. Music is by Richard Markowitz and cinematography by Lester Shorr.Not released theatrically in America, this is two episodes of the TV show "Hondo" spliced together for a release in Europe. Derived from the John Wayne character that headed up Hondo (1953), the plot pitches Hondo (Taeger) as a frontier scout who has a justifiable affinity with the Native Americans. He is sent to broker peace with the Apaches, but a renegade band want no part of it and Hondo must do all he can to avert a war.It actually is better than it had right to be, because it's nicely performed, has pleasant scenery, and the characters in the main are not just throw away types. Throw in some decent action, a grumpy canine partner for Hondo and a musical score lifting from Bernstein's Magnificent Seven classic, and yer good to go. Taeger is appealing, the character fun (he punches a lot of people out/the rapport with the dog), whilst Taylor is on hand to add a bit of reassuring quality.It is what it is really, a safe enough production for Western fans to enjoy while it's on. 6/10

John Wayne's Batjac productions decided to go into television for a change and they adapted one of the Duke's classics for television. The Hondo series ran for a year and wasn't renewed, but can still be seen on any number of cable channels who specialize in westerns. Ralph Taeger fills the boots of John Wayne and he's certainly credible as a small screen Duke. He's also a kinder, gentler version of Wayne. But then again who wouldn't be.This film was a compilation of two Hondo episodes, the pilot which was a remake of the original Hondo movie. albeit cut down a mite and another episode which had Robert Taylor as a guest star with Michael Rennie also. Hondo and the Apaches is certainly acceptable Saturday afternoon entertainment for the kiddies. Michael Pate is the only one from the original Hondo movie who repeats his role from it. He's Chief Vittorio there and here. Of course he's good in both versions.Michael Rennie's role is not clear. I get the impression that he appeared in more than one episode because his role in the film's events is left somewhat up in the air. And since John Wayne produced this, this marked the only time he ever worked with both Rennie and Robert Taylor. Taylor plays a mine owner who's facing bankruptcy and who also is reunited with his son played by Randy Boone. Taylor did a whole lot of westerns late in his career and he should have done more. This unfortunately was his last trip to the American west.

If it would be only for Robert Taylor in his last western (and last of 33 years movies for MGM), this one has to be seen. Of course it's not one of the great westerns of all times, and the TV style of the sixties is quite obvious, but Ralph Taeger was as good as possible playing the character of Hondo after John Wayne in the 1953 John Farrow's classic. But for me, the real star here is Robert Taylor, bringing with him so many western's memories, from "Billy the Kid" to "Return of the Gunfighter", including highlights as "Ambush", "Westward the Women", "The Last Hunt" and "The Law and Jake Wade". This one was for him a farewell to the Old West, and he didn't miss it.

This feature, made up of material from the short-lived TV series, HONDO, may be just good enough to earn the adjective "competent" but it's such standard stuff done in such a routine way that it's unlikely to linger in the memory. (The TV series might have been more successful had it come along in the mid-1950s rather than the mid-1960s.) Leading man Ralph Taeger has a wry quality which is refreshing and he looks pretty good with his shirt off but, for some reason or other, his career quickly faded after this point and he hasn't been heard from in years. Too bad. He had "potential." A highlight comes when he's staked-out by a vengeful Apache who's about to pour hot coals on Taeger's bare chest when a rescue intervenes. Bring staked-out and left to die under a scorching sun had become something of a routine torture in TV westerns. It happened to Richard Boone in "Have Gun Will Travel," Robert Horton in "Wagon Train," and both Peter Brown and William Smith in "Laredo." Modesty prevailed, however, and in none of these cases were the men's legs spread very far apart. Taeger's legs, however, are spread apart and tied to stakes -- he still wears boots! -- at such an extreme angle that his stance inevitable draws attention to his crotch and gives the scene a homoerotic quality which might shock those who think of these TV westerns as "family entertainment."