The Hondo Premiere

On Thursday 31st August, 1995, there was a special screening of HONDO starring John Wayne at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts theatre in Piccadily, London, to coincide with the release of HONDO on Video for the first time in the UK.

Michael Wayne and his wife Gretchen were present, with their three children and Michael's first granddaughter. Included in the invited audience were Dave & Patrick Cutts, Jean & Maurice Kirby, along with six other members of the JWFS. Eammon Holmes of GMTV was also present (he is a big fan of John Wayne).We would like to point out at this stage, that we were invited, having been approached by Ken Law of VCI Video, to help with the sleeve notes on the HONDO Video, and to help with any background information on John Wayne.

The evening started with a reception in the lounge-bar of BAFTA, where we were introduced to Michael Wayne and his family. Accompanying Michael was the Hollywood Film Producer Marvin Schwartz (Producer of The War Wagon).You could not miss Michael as he stood head and shoulders above virtually everyone present; He was very friendly, easy to approach and willing to talk to anyone as he stood in the centre of the room chatting and signing autographs. With a little bit of imagination you could believe it was John Wayne himself commanding all the attention.

Dave & Patrick presented Michael with a large framed still of his father in a scene from the Documentary 'The Spirit of the Alamo", and Jean & Maurice gave Gretchen a beautiful Nottingham Lace Tablecloth. Quite unexpectedly Michael reached for a holdhall and presented us all with a Replica of the Congressional Medal of Honour that was given to his Father. To say the least we were quite taken back by his generosity.

He seemed very interested in what we did at the JWFS and at our Conventions. Dave therefore gave him a copy of our first Newsletter, and asked if he would like to be a Honorary Member of the Society. At 7 o'clock we were asked to take our seats in the Princess Anne Theatre for the showing of Hondo.The Chairman ofVCI Video then got up on stage and welcomed Michael Wayne and his family to London on behalf of VCI ,and hoped that they would enjoy their stay here.He said a few words about the film, then introduced "Hondo".

As the lights went down in the theatre, the audience went very quiet as the music resounded from the speakers and the main titles appeared on the screen.We all sat there in total silence apart from the laughter that rang out at the funny one liners and the comical banter between the characters.When the film had finished the audience stayed very quiet for a few moments, then burst into spontaneous applause. After the screening, Michael Wayne was invited onto the stage by George Perry of The Sunday Times to talk about his father's career in films. George Perry started off by asking Michael about the history of the film which we had just seen. Michael sat back in his chair and told us that;

"Hondo was the first film to be produced by his father's own company of Wayne/Fellows Productions, and that John Wayne had a lot to say in the character of Hondo, which included much of what he believed in himself - Honesty, Integrity and Courage".

Michael told us that his father felt he was at his best in "Hondo", old enough to look manly, but still young enough to play the Leading Man.

The location for the film was chosen because of its arid vista, mainly due to the fact that it had not rained for nine years. As soon as the shooting started there was a deluge of rain and the script had to be changed to accomodate the prevailing weather conditions, hence the hasty addition of the scene in which John Wayne is thrown to the ground ,at the feet of Geraldine Page, by the Indians. George Perry then remarked that Geraldine Page did not look like the typical leading lady, Michael replied that his father believed that beauty came from within and that you would actually find a woman like her on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. The line "I'm a homely woman." spoken by Geraldine Page was added because of her plain looks.

Mr Perry then asked Michael about John Wayne's big break in the movies, his role in "Stagecoach " Michael replied that John Ford had always had his father in mind to play the lead role in the film as the Ringo Kid,but he had to go through the rigmarole of screen testing other actors for the part,amongst whom was Bruce Cabot. John Ford had him riding horses, driving the stagecoach and leaping about to and from the stagecoach .onto horses and back again.When he had finished, Bruce Cabot went up to Ford .asked how good he was and if he had got the part, of course John Ford replied, "You were excellent,but John Wayne has got the part already."

The audience were then invited to ask Michael any questions, some of which are listed below:

Dave Cutts. "Are you planning to release any more John Wayne films on Video?"
Michael Wayne."Yes,there are two more films in the pipeline that Batjac still own the rights to, "The High & The Mighty" and "Island in the Sky", the first of which is marked for release in 1996, followed later by "Island in the Sky".

Question: "Why has it taken so long to release "Hondo" on Video?"
Michael Wayne: "The reason was because although the prints of the film were being stored in a specially designed, humidity and temperature controlled vault, the area suffered a bad storm & shortly afterwards I was informed that the vault where the films were being stored was inches deep in water. There then followed a massive rescue operation, each frame of the "Hondo"print had to be painstakingly cleaned and restored.We even used cotton buds to clean the print.and once the film was in better condition we digitally cleaned it up utilising the latest computer technology."

Question: "Was it true that John Wayne had turned down the role of 'Dirty Harry'?"
Michael Wayne: "Yes.it was true; and the reason was because my Father did not like excessive violence and said that the character was "too dirty ". Although after seeing Clint Eastwood in the lead role, my Father remarked that "Clint will be around for a very long time to come."

Question: "Why after turning down "Dirty Harry", did your Father go on to make films like "Brannigan" & "McQ"?"
Michael Wayne: "We felt that the Western genre was dying out, and my Father was persuaded to do more contemporary films, so he decided to do "McQ" ,which had originally been written for Steve McQueen, hence the title."

Question: "What is your favourite film of your father's?"
Michael Wayne: "Although I don't have a favourite film as such, I did prefer my father playing a strong character as in "Sands oflwo Jima" or "The Searchers"."

Question: "Did your Father teach you to swim, the same way as Hondo teaches Johnny to swim in the film, by just throwing him into the river?"
Michael Wayne: "Exactly the same way! A famous swimmer was teaching me to swim, and we were up at one of the Beverley Hills Clubs one day,and she just threw me into the pool.My Father had to come and rescue me with one of those long poles! I think that this was probably the inspiration for the scene in the film."

Eammon Holines asked the last Question of the evening: "When you see one of John Wayne's films,do you see your Father,or a movie star?"
Michael Wayne: "When I see one of the films, it's always my Father that I see."

With the questions finished, we were once again requested to adjourn to the reception room for refreshments, which were wine and a finger buffet. Michael Wayne was again present, signing autographs and talking with the guests. VCI were distributing "Goodie Bags" to everybody, which included a video of "Hondo" and a T-Shirt.

Michael Wayne then said his farewells,as he and his wife and family left the reception with the representatives of VCI. Soon after, the four life-sized cut-outs of John Wayne as "Hondo" were quickly snapped up by the attending fans as a momento of the occasion.

All ten of us from the JWFS that were lucky enough to have been invited had a very enjoyable and memorable night indeed.our only regret being that not more of us could have attended this special night.and met Michael Wayne in person. We would like to thank Ken Law, Amanda Morgan and VCI for allowing us the privilege of being involved with the release of the HONDO Video.

Gretchen Wayne wrote a very nice letter dated October 2nd, 1995. She wrote;

"Michael and I were thrilled that so many of you made the long trip to London to see "Hondo", that was a lovely gesture of support for Michael's father. Once again thank you for your warmth and friendship."

Fondly,
Gretchen Wayne