Appointment in Honduras (1953)

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Fantastic!

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Glenn Ford is on a mission. He must get to Honduras at all costs. We get the feeling he's smuggling something or is a contact person for something going down. He's on a steamer with husband-and-wife passengers Zachary Scott and Ann Sheridan. Just why they're there, I forget. But of course, they get dragged into Glenn's mission as hostages, so they have to brave the elements, too. Stuart Whitman and Jack Elam costar in this colorful and exotic film about danger at every corner and in every swamp, with alligators, crocodiles, snakes, tiger fish abound. Don't get in Glenn's way or else, because he means business here! This does have a very campy feel to it, making the viewer feel that they're not to take things too seriously. I had a lot of fun just imagining that, as they are all battling through the brush and the rain on this island, they are really on a movie set! It also helps that Ann and Glenn are practically sweating on each other, even though Ann's married to Zachary. And, the shots of a jungle and the apparent on-location outdoors helps fit the mood. I see that the rating on this is on the poor side, but I've seen worse. If you happen to come across this and want some entertainment for 75 minutes, then this over-the-top film should fulfill your adventure fix with some good company. Just watch out for those tiger fish!

For a Glenn Ford junkie, which is easy for me to be with the films he made in the late Forties and early Fifties, Appointment in Honduras is a temptation hard to resist. Ford hadn't become a superstar yet. Most of his movies during this period had decent budgets and solid co-stars. A lot of them were adventures and westerns. Appointment in Honduras, however, has a lot of clichés to overcome before you can decide if Ford makes it worthwhile. In fact, next to Ford, the best thing about the movie is Rodolfo Acosta who plays Reyes, a murdering bandito who has charm and ruthlessness. Compared to Ford's stalwart integrity and firm- jawed decisiveness, Acosta's cheerful lack of conscience makes the movie interesting. Ford co-stars with Ann Sheridan and Zachary Scott. They re passengers on a tramp freighter carrying five prisoners to Nicaragua. Jim Corbett (Ford), a tough guy with more grease on his hair than your car needs for an oil change, frees the prisoners, takes over the ship and then lands on the coast. They'll head inland. They take fellow passengers Harry and Sylvia Sheppard (Scott and Sheridan) with them as hostages. Corbett is carrying a money belt stuffed with currency. As they start to hack their way through the jungle toward Guatemala, we learn Corbett is bringing the money to help overthrow a ruthless dictator. What he hasn't counted on is Reyes' determination to come out ahead, or that Harry Sheppard, weak, sleazy and sniveling, is rich enough to tempt the criminals. It doesn't help that Sylvia Sheppard didn't have time to pack when they left the ship. For most of the movie Ann Sheridan has only a nightgown, cut low, to wear. Corbett may avert his eyes, but Reyes enjoys the view. The jungle is strictly back-lot make believe. One can almost see the potted banana plants being shifted around for each new scene. Every menace that every jungle movie ever had shows up...piranhas, pumas, crocodiles, an anaconda, biting ants, bats, malaria, and a cloud of what were either locusts or really sturdy mosquitoes. Ford's grim determination and Scott's sneering become tiresome. The emerging romance between Corbett and Sylvia is intriguing but unlikely, since after two days of sweating in the fetid jungle neither probably wants to stand downwind from the other, much less embrace. But the movie has enough of Ford's underplaying to justify staying with it. Ann Sheridan, in my book one of the best of the Forties movie stars, doesn't have much to do except look worried. Sheridan's film career was just about over, but she still was a star who was sexy, good-humored, intelligent and warm-hearted. For those who also like this period in Ford's career, even if the movies weren't always very good, try Lust for Gold (1949), The White Tower (1950), The Secret of Convict Lake (1951), Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Green Glove (1954) and Plunder of the Sun (1953.

Unfortunately, disAppointment in Honduras does a good job of wasting talent. The only thing worth watching in this movie is Ann Sheridan, who looks fabulous but is given much too little to do.On a minor side note, it was interesting to see Ann Sheridan and Zachary Scott teamed up again as a couple with marital problems, as in the 1947 release The Unfaithful.Leonard Maltin's 1987 movie guide pretty much summed up this movie when it said, "Sheridan is not focal point, and a pity."

This movie has an interesting plot. A wealthy couple is taken hostage and taken through the jungle of Honduras by bandits and Corben, a man that tries to set the group to his hand with promises and lies if necessary. They don't only have to fight the dangers of a jungle, but there's also a strong film noir element going on with the characters. They are all different and have all different plans with their future, but have to put up with each other to survive the jungle. It's a bit like how the characters in Ford's Stagecoach are played out against/for each other. The movie feels somewhat dated since it's so obvious it is recorded in studios, but like most Tourneurs, it's fine for a late rainy night at home. APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS couldn't get my attention throughout the whole movie though, but I'll keep the video tape still. 5/10