Hondo is a 1953 western film starring John Wayne. The movie is somewhat a retelling of Hamlet, in that Hondo kills a young boy's father, marries the boy's mother and becomes a father figure for the boy. The screenplay is based on the short story The Gift of Cochise by Louis L'Amour.

The story tells the adventures of a cavalry scout and his relation with a frontier woman and her son at an isolated ranch. Geraldine Page played the girl and Ward Bond played Wayne's sidekick. The main story line tells of Hondo Lane, a cavalry rider, who becomes captured by the Apache Indians under Chief Vittorio. Angie Lowe, who had been living amongst the Apaches for years, comes to Hondo's aid at his hour of need.

The script focuses on psychological descriptions and the drama of the Native Americans from New Mexico. The action scenes and the 3-D photography are also highpoints of the film.

The Australian John Farrow directed the movie.

Hondo's dog was Sam.

Hondo Lane, a despatch rider for the cavalry, encounters Angie Lowe, a woman living alone with her young son in the midst of hostile Apache territory. She presumes she is safe because the Apaches, under their chief Vittorio, have always left them alone. Later Lane has a run-in with Angie's reprobate husband and is forced to kill him, not knowing who he is. Vittorio captures Lane and to save his life, Angie tells the Apache chief that Lane is her husband, unaware that Lane has killed her real husband. In order to protect her from a forced marriage with one of the Apache, Lane reluctantly goes along with the lie, though he knows the truth must eventually come out, to Vittorio and to Angie, both. Written by Jim Beaver