Revisiting roles that give the Duke his due

Hondo:

Special Collector’s Edition

McLintock!: Special Collector’s Edition

(Paramount, $15)

Hondo

JOHN WAYNE has been dead 26 years, but his popularity has never waned. His films air frequently on television and have proven to be bestsellers on DVD. Though he was a superstar for nearly 40 years and won an Oscar for 1969’s “True Grit,” Wayne is one of those actors critics turn up their noses at, proclaiming he was just playing himself. But as Leonard Maltin and western historian Frank Thompson state in their audio commentary for “Hondo,” Wayne may have been a “personality,” but he was also a highly underrated actor.

Wayne demonstrates just how good he was in this poetic 1953 western, based on the Louis L’Amour story. He’s strong, caring, knows his way around a rifle and kisses costar Geraldine Page with breathtaking passion.

Produced by Wayne and Robert Fellows, “Hondo” finds Wayne playing a part-American Indian, part-white Army dispatch rider with an antisocial dog named Sam. Wayne’s character becomes the protector of a plain-looking woman (Page, in her starring debut) and her young son (Lee Aaker, who would go on to star in “The Adventures of Rin Tin Rin”), who are living on a small, isolated spread amid warring Apaches.

As is the case with a lot of Wayne westerns, the Indians in “Hondo” are shown in a much more sympathetic light than in most movies of the period.

The film was shot in 3-D, but by the time it was released, interest in the format had cooled considerably, and “Hondo” was released briefly in just a few theaters in the format.

Page received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance.

Extras: Incisive commentary from Maltin and Thompson with added thoughts from Aaker, an introduction to the film by Maltin, a comprehensive retrospective on the making of “Hondo,” a profile of scribe James Edward Grant, an overview of the history of the Apaches and an enjoyable documentary narrated by Maltin on one of Wayne’s favorite costars, Ward Bond.

McLintock!

Besides making serious westerns such as 1960’s “The Alamo,” which he also directed, and the John Ford 1962 classic “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” Wayne showed off his lighter side in the early 1960s with the comedic 1960 western “North to Alaska”; the 1962 safari romance “Hatari!”; the broad 1963 Ford comedy “Donovan’s Reef”; and this western romp also from 1963.

Penned by Grant, this slapstick take on “The Taming of the Shrew” finds Wayne playing a two-fisted cattle baron whose estranged wife (frequent Wayne leading lady Maureen O’Hara) wants a divorce.

There are plenty of brawls -- the stars end up in a mud pit and O’Hara runs through the town in her undergarments with Wayne on the case -- along with romance and fun. “McLintock!” certainly isn’t subtle, but it was and is one of Wayne’s most popular vehicles.

The late Michael Wayne, the Duke’s eldest son, produced the film, and Andrew V. McLaglen, the son of the late Oscar-winning actor Victor McLaglen, directed. A young Stefanie Powers, Chill Wills, Jerry Van Dyke and Patrick Wayne also star.

Extras: Fact-filled and nostalgic commentary with Maltin, Thomson, O’Hara, Powers, costar Michael Pate, McLaglen and Michael Wayne.

Also: an introduction by Maltin, retrospective interviews with the still-vibrant O’Hara and Powers, a fun history of the corset, a look at the fight sequences in the film and a two-minute course in the art of throwing movie punches.