Shane ripoff?

Not at all. "Shane" is a force for good that takes action only when the farmers stand up to the ranchers. After Alan Ladd kills Jack Palance, he leaves, as he is no longer needed. The most similar western to this I have seen is "Warlock" (1959)

On the other hand, the theme of "Hondo," is isolation. Hondo has cut himself off from close relationships with others. "Sam" the dog that that travels with him "doesn't belong" to Hondo and Hondo "doesn't pet him". The turning point in "Hondo" is Vittorio, the Apache Chief, returning the wounded Hondo to the Lowe Farm. Had Mrs.Lowe, not lied to Vittorio, Hondo would have been killed by the Apaches. Thus, in that instant, Hondo's path to reintegration into society was sealed, which is also symbolized by the murder of Sam by Vittorio's rival chief. The most similar western to this I have seen is "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976).

This is superior to Shane. Alan Ladd was a lightweight next to Wayne. This is one of Wayne's most overlooked great films. I never could understand the appeal of Shane. Ladd just wasn't very good in anything and had NO screen presence.

There are a few similarities, but I don't see where the stories are similar at all.

I don't remember what I thought the first time I saw HONDO (on TV, decades ago), but when I saw HONDO again this past Friday on the big screen (in 3-D) at the Museum of Modern Art, I immediately thought of SHANE because of the boy character looking up to the wandering gunslinger as a father figure and the character of Angie (Geraldine Page) looking and sounding and behaving a lot like Jean Arthur in SHANE. It's as if the screenwriter thought, what if the husband in SHANE had been a bad guy and Shane had killed him.

HONDO came out seven months after SHANE so it's quite possible that there was some thought given to these elements by the makers of HONDO. I find it hard to believe it was purely coincidental. The arguments made in some of the other replies in this thread simply don't wash with me.

In any event, SHANE is a much better movie than HONDO. While I don't consider SHANE a great western or even a great film, it is a glossy, well-crafted Hollywood genre piece, with strong work by all involved (esp. Ladd) and deserves some praise. HONDO, on the other hand, has a most contrived script that had me shaking my head all through it. (E.g., Vittorio's coddling of Hondo, who'd killed several of his men already, throughout the film made no sense to me.) And that whole maneuver with the wagons uncircling at the end baffled the hell out of me. How did taking the wagons out of the circle constitute some kind of victorious strategy for the soldiers and settlers fighting the Indians? Wayne is very good in the film, of course, and truly cements his "John Wayne" image in it, but the film itself is not very good.

Hondo was Louis L'Amour's first novel, not a "Shane ripoff". Some movies are from works of literature.