John Wayne Produced A Swiftly-Canceled Western Series Based On One Of His Movies

In 1953, John Wayne starred in one of the earliest major 3D movies. "Hondo" was a 3D Western based on Louis L'Amour's short story "The Gift of Cochise," which appeared in Collier's magazine in 1952. That same year, Wayne founded Wayne-Fellows Productions alongside his producing partner and friend Robert Fellows. The pair bought the rights to L'Amour's tale, drafted in writer James Edward Grant to expand the story, and tapped John Farrow to direct. The result was "Hondo."

The film stars John Wayne as U.S. Army soldier Hondo Lane, who arrives alongside his dog, Sam, at the homestead of Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her son Johnny (Lee Aaker). Hondo had his horse taken by a group of Apaches and urges Angie and Jonny to accompany him to a nearby Army fort. They refuse, but Hondo sticks around, earning his keep and the chance to take one of the family's horses by working on the ranch as Angie awaits the return of her husband Ed (Leo Gordon). Later, after returning to the Army fort, Hondo encounters Ed and is forced to kill him when the suspicious husband attempts to shoot Hondo in the back. He then returns to Angie, but when the cavalry arrives a soldier threatens to expose his secret, jeopardizing the burgeoning love between Hondo and Angie.

The film was Wayne-Fellows' most successful project at the time and has since maintained its standing as one of the Duke's finest Westerns. According to Turner Classic Movies, "Hondo" was also Wayne's personal favorite of all the Westerns he ever made — which would explain why the character's name cropped up in several subsequent Wayne films, and why his production company attempted to continue the story of Hondo via a TV series that was ultimately short-lived.

"Hondo" debuted in November 1953 alongside a novelization of the film also written by Louis L'Amour. But this wouldn't be the last time John Wayne and co. tried to wring as much out of "The Gift of Cochise" as possible.

"Hondo" was a hit, earning $4.1 million domestically and topping anything Wayne-Fellows Productions had made prior to its release ("Big Jim McLain," "Plunder of the Sun," and "Island in the Sky" were all fairly dire in comparison to "Hondo"). Of course, following its debut Wayne would star in some of his greatest films, including 1956's "The Searchers" which stuck with Wayne due to its darkness. But it seems "Hondo" stuck with him. In 1967 his production company, which had been renamed to Batjac Productions (after a company from Wayne's 1948 film "Wake of the Red Witch"), debuted a TV show based on the book and movie.

The "Hondo" TV series premiered on ABC on September 8, 1967. Ralph Taeger takes Wayne's place as the lead, who in the show is said to have married a Native American only for her to be killed by U.S. Army officers. In this version of Hondo's backstory, he then joined the Confederacy to take revenge on the Army before wandering the frontier with his dog, Sam, and eventually accepting an offer to join the U.S. cavalry. Taeger's Hondo then settles at Arizona's Fort Lowell, which in the show is home to the Lowes, or as the show renames them, the Dows. Angie Dow (Kathie Browne) runs Fort Lowell's general store, where she lives with her son, Johnny Dow (Buddy Foster, brother of Jodie), and husband, Ed Dow (John Smith) — until their family suffers a tragedy in the pilot.

The "Hondo" pilot sees Hondo Lane save Angie and Johnny from renegades only to receive nothing but disdain from Angie's husband, Ed. Of course, in the movie, Ed is an absentee father and husband who's killed by John Wayne's Hondo. In the "Hondo" pilot he also tries to take out Hondo and once again ends up dead, clearing the way for a slow-burn romance between Hondo and Angie. Outside of that storyline, the show follows Hondo as he tried to keep the peace between the Arizona settlers and the Native Americans. 

Interestingly enough, "Hondo" also featured Jim Davis, who would later become known for his portrayal of Jock Ewing on "Dallas," as a recurring villain named Krantz. Davis also went on to appear in another Western series based on a beloved John Wayne movie, "The Cowboys." Like "Hondo," that series lasted just one season.

Though he wasn't on-screen, Wayne was never far away from the TV version of "Hondo." Batjac produced the series and Wayne's younger brother, Robert Morrison, was listed as an associate producer. Sadly, his involvement wasn't enough to keep the show going. "Hondo" was up against "Star Trek" on NBC, which already put it at a major disadvantage. It also debuted more than a decade after the original film on which it was based, and didn't even get a filmed introduction from the Duke. Wayne had found time to introduce "Gunsmoke" to the masses in 1955 but was nowhere to be seen when "Hondo" debuted.

The show was, perhaps unsurprisingly, canceled after just 17 episodes, wrapping up in December of 1967 and fading into obscurity thereafter. Two episodes of the show were edited together and released as the TV movie "Hondo and the Apaches," but that didn't seem to help, either.