Treffpunkt Honduras

Steve Corbett (Glen Ford) is given a mission to find a former Honduras president who was recently deposed in a result of a coup d'etat in order to give him money that will help him to come back to power. In order to do that he is made to join a group of prisoners who were being transported on a boat, force the captain to take them to the shore and set them free, taking as hostages an American couple (played by Ann Sheridan and Zachary Scott) and embark on a dangerous journey through Central American jungle in order to fulfill his mission whatever the cost.

Though the film has it's interesting moments, such as location shots of the jungle and it's inhabitants, the story is weak with uninteresting characters not managing to convince one to care for them. 5/10

When Howard Hughes took over RKO in 1948, there was a massive shake-up. The new boss was unhappy with key personnel that had made deals he did not approve of...he quickly fired producer Dore Schary. (Schary moved over to MGM, which led to L. B. Mayer's ouster.) But the shake-ups were not only at the top.

Hughes was not enamored with some of the starlets on contract and sought to rid himself of them. For example, he wasn't particularly fond of Barbara Bel Geddes, who had recently triumphed under Schary's guidance with the nostalgic favorite I REMEMBER MAMA. The movie mogul quickly loaned her out with Robert Ryan to MGM for its Max Ophuls-directed noir CAUGHT (which ironically featured a main character modeled on Hughes himself).

But Bel Geddes wasn't the only actress Hughes had taken a disliking to when he gained control. His other castoff was proven A-list star Ann Sheridan, who had just finished a long association at Warners and was now freelancing. Sheridan's agent had negotiated a deal for her to star in her next picture at RKO. This deal was brokered by Schary, just as Hughes was taking over the studio.

Sheridan had many perks in her new RKO deal. She was to be paid $150,000 for a romantic drama called MY FORBIDDEN PAST, plus 10% of the profits. She also had approval over casting, the script, and other important items such as who would direct. Robert Young, who was under contract with RKO at this time, was originally chosen as her costar but due to a scheduling conflict he was forced to drop out. Sheridan gave Hughes a list of five acceptable male costars who might replace Young. One of the five was Robert Mitchum, who did the picture.

But Hughes had something else in mind. Not only would he replace Young with Mitchum, he would replace Sheridan with Ava Gardner. He felt Sheridan was not as sexy as Gardner and convinced MGM to lend Gardner to him.

As a result of the switch, Sheridan was now suddenly out of a job at RKO. Except, unlike Bel Geddes, she had a much more ironclad contract. She and her agent waited until MY FORBIDDEN PAST had completed principle photography with Gardner, then they sued Hughes and the studio for $300,000 for breach of contract-- which was double the original amount she would have been paid if Hughes had kept her in the film.

Meanwhile, Sheridan starred at Fox in the hit comedy I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE with Cary Grant. She followed it up with a sharp satire called STELLA, then went to Universal for a film with director Douglas Sirk. So her movie career was not harmed by feuding with Hughes.

Hughes and his high-powered attorneys fought Sheridan, but they did not succeed. The actress prevailed and was paid for not appearing in MY FORBIDDEN PAST (the Ava Gardner picture lost money at the box office so there was no percentage of the profits to award Sheridan). Then, for the other $150,000 sum, RKO was ordered to put Sheridan in a new picture. Two years later she finally did go to work at the studio in an action adventure called APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS with Glenn Ford and Zachary Scott.

Howard Hughes learned the hard way. You do not mess with Ann Sheridan when she's holding all the cards.

On board a tramp steamer sailing of the coast of South America is Corbett – a mysterious man trying to get to Honduras. However with a revolution raging within its borders, the captain refuses to land there. Desperate to get his package to the leaders of the counter-revolution, Corbett frees some prisoners on the ship and takes control. Drifting close enough to the coast to make it into the delta and head up river, they take a rich American couple (the Sheppards) along for the ride as hostages. However none of them are really prepared for a jungle voyage that sees them face crocodiles, tiger fish, ants, pumas and the Honduran military.

When I started this film I was a bit put off by the stiff tone but I didn't know anything about the Honduran revolution and thought it would be interesting. Very quickly I found that this backdrop was no more than the background for a fairly standard jungle adventure film that sees all the usual stuff bring rolled out in regards animal attacks etc. The story is not that interesting on the surface and I did find it hard to really get into even with such a short running time; however it did have some interesting aspects at times that it could (and should) have made more of. Chiefly the power battle between Corbett and Reyes is too obvious for the most part and could have been written with more subtlety and intelligence – it produces some good stuff and a reasonable conclusion. The dynamics between Corbett and Harry Sheppard while Sylvia appears to long for the tough man over her own husband is very interesting but given too little time – but still made me wake up every so often.

Unfortunately the film tends to shy away from this stuff in favour of more crowd-pleasing stuff with all the usual animal attacks. Wrestling with pumas and shooting at stock footage crocodiles is not great fun but I did draw breath at the stock footage of a crocodile being picked bare by tiger fish. The effects for ants and flies are terrible by modern standards and may get some laughs but none of it is really exciting. The cast do OK when given the chance with the material but mostly they are pretty average. Ford is nothing special and is mostly just tough jawed and nothing more. Acosta's Reyes is by the numbers and his crew match him. Sheridan and Scott are more interesting and their tense interplay is interesting – sadly they are not the focus and they really could have bee better used than this.

Overall this is an average jungle adventure film with all the usual fare in a plot that doesn't really use its setting very well. The plot does allow some interesting stuff in the characters but these are not made the most of, leaving a film that is fairly enjoyable but is really nothing special and is certainly not comparable to the more famous films in the Jacques Tourneur back catalogue.

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."

Jim Corbett (Glenn Ford) frees four prisoners to help him navigate the Honduran jungle. He's looking for a band of rebels he intends to help. To be successful and stay alive, Corbett and Co face a number of obstacles, including: pumas, piranhas, soldiers, insects, and each other.

I know it was a mistake to do so, but I was so hoping Appointment in Honduras would be as entertaining as the similarly named Affair in Trinidad - also with Glenn Ford. I know that film has its detractors, but I always find it so much fun. Unfortunately, the similarity in names is where the comparison of these films ends. Overall, I found this one an underwhelming, fairly dull trudge to get through. Scene after scene of Corbett hitting the jungle growth with a machete or yelling at the other members of his party got old pretty quick. It didn't take long for me to stop caring about which characters were killed and which survived. The final gun battle wasn't as entertaining as it should have been. The way it was filmed, it was difficult to determine character positioning in relation to each other. Very substandard directing and editing as far as I'm concerned. Finally on my list of complaints, there's Ann Sheridan. Annoyed doesn't begin to describe my feelings toward her and her character. I know she was meant to play the Rita Hayworth role (same red hair and all) opposite Glenn Ford that had been so successful before (see the previously mentioned Affair in Trinidad for example), but she's a poor imitation.

One interesting thing for me at least was the presence of a very young Jack Elam. He doesn't do much, but it was pretty cool all the same.

4/10