Exploring Hondo’s lessons on truth, respect, and simplicity amidst today’s crisis of character.
“A man ought to do what he thinks is right.”
—Hondo Lane
This morning, I watched a movie I hadn’t seen in a long time: 1953’s Hondo starring, of course, John Wayne as the protagonist. The classic movie was dismissed as simply another cowboy flick.
Shocked Face: The critics were wrong.
It’s western with surprising depth and critical thinking on honor, masculinity, self-reliance, and truth-telling. Hondo was a warning shot to our society that willingly traded grit for grievance and moral courage for curated cowardice.
The movie shared three lessons for living like a man: truth, simplicity, and respect. Each has been under cultural siege for decades and may now, for the first time in generations, be reaching a crisis point.
America is desperately in need of people like Hondo Lane.
When duty called, Hondo didn’t flinch. He rode alone, except for Sam, his dog, facing danger without theatrics and telling hard truths without apology. Hondo didn’t need validation; he needed purpose.
Contrast that with the modern American man, paralyzed by cultural suspicion and medical apathy, and repeatedly told that his very nature is toxic.
So thoroughly have we pathologized masculinity that men are withdrawing from college, delaying adulthood, and seeking solace in online echo chambers offering affirmation, not accountability.
Those ingredients have left us with a generation that is more emotionally vulnerable but less emotionally resilient: crying more, fighting less, posting more, but not stepping forward as leaders. And, worst of all, those men don’t have any idea why they feel so bloody lost.
The answer has been the same for years; we’ve stopped celebrating men like Hondo. Instead, we cancel them.
In each of his movies, one singular trait John Wayne consistently shares is expressing the unvarnished truth, harshly yet fairly.
There is a pivotal scene in the movie when Hondo breaks the news to Angie Lowe that her husband is dead. There were no soft words; he didn’t try spinning it; he simply said, « he’s dead. »
Mrs. Lowe is angry and hurt, and eventually, she’s grateful because the truth matters, especially when it hurts.
