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Rio Bravo

Sound (1)
2.5
Plot (1)
2.5
Cast (1)
2.5
Special Effects (1)
2.5
Length & Pace (1)
2.5
Cinematography (1)
2.5

Directors: Howard Hawks,

Writers: Jules Furthman (screenplay) and, Leigh Brackett (screenplay) ...,

Release: 4 April 1959 (USA)

Tagline: and Dean and Ricky sing, too! "Rio Bravo" "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" "Cindy"

Plot: A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a cripple, a drunk, and a young gunfighter...

Cast: John Wayne - Sheriff John T. Chance, Dean Martin - Dude ('Borach�n'), Ricky Nelson - Colorado Ryan, Angie Dickinson - Feathers, Walter Brennan - Stumpy, Ward Bond - Pat Wheeler, John Russell - Nathan Burdette, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez - Carlos Robante (as Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez), Estelita Rodriguez - Consuela Robante, Claude Akins - Joe Burdette, Malcolm Atterbury - Jake (stage driver), Harry Carey Jr. - Harold (scenes deleted), rest of cast listed alphabetically:, Sheb Wooley - Cowboy (scenes deleted)

Runtime: 141 min

Country: USA

Language: English

Company: Armada Productions

Links: IMDb Profile

Categories: Drama, Romance, Western

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2.5

Rio Bravo (1959)

Genre: Western

Starring: John Wayne (The Searchers • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), Dean Martin (The Cannonball Run • Ocean's Eleven (1960))

Directed By: Howard Hawkes (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes • The Big Sky)

Overview: A sheriff keeps a murderer in jail, awaiting the marshal's arrival. When it's discovered that the murderer's brother wants to spring the prisoner, the sheriff must make a stand, enlisting a rag tag group of men, namely a drunk, a cripple and a greenhorn.

Though Wayne and Martin get top billing in this production, it's nothing but a jail tale without Angie Dickinson. What a dish she was in '59, not to mention being a convincing actress too.

Before I say anything else about Rio Bravo, let me clarify that it is a good movie. By 1959 standards I'd bet it was excellent. What Rio Bravo suffers from most is the trend that the Western has walked away from in this post-modern world. There's two camps for Westerns as I see it: the happy-go-lucky pioneering spirit that is prevalent in the older pictures - black hat versus white hat, honour, chivalry, dying for what's right and all that. Then there's the Leone type tale, with murky-moraled men, most brutally represented in High Plains Drifter (a film Wayne took such issue with that he personally wrote Eastwood to complain).

The Westerns I've most enjoyed have a dark turn in their tales - brutality as rule. With hard-hearted shows like "Deadwood", with gory and amazing Western-perspective-changing films like The Proposition, and even with older, less fluffy fare like Dead Man, it's hard to immerse oneself in the world that is Rio Bravo.

The sets are nice, but clearly sets. The characters are rugged, but with enough comedic relief to still be civilized and likable. Most enjoyable, and truly worthy was the character played by James Dean, a town drunk who's trying to go sober and whose lowly reputation makes his deputy's badge a heavy burden. We explore his alcoholism quite a bit, and its effect on his team and himself is by far the most poignant of the characters' developments.

With a climax that's too easy (though fun) and a plot that wraps itself up in a nice little package, Rio Bravo delivers exactly what one would expect from a 'nice little Western', and given that it's in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, well it's probably one of the better ones.

The only thing I had real issue with was the cardboard cut-out acting of the meek Mexican saloon owner and his histrionically-directed overbearing Mexican wife. Their comic melodrama was a wonderful change from the enjoyment I was experiencing from the main plot. Next time you write a script, don't ask your kid for advice.

You hear me Lucas?!

Angie Dickinson on set with Hawkes

Performance: 8 Cinematography: 7 Script: 7 Plot: 7 Mood: 6

Overall Rating: 70% (Though Not Worthy Of An Encore)

Aftertaste:

I first learned of Rio Bravo thanks to Quentin Tarantino, specifically because of a quote in True Romance:

"Do you know what films are? They're for people who don't like movies. Mad Max, that's a movie. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, that's a movie. Rio Bravo, that's a movie. Rumble Fish, that's a fuckin' movie." – Clarence Whorley

And by that standard, yes, Rio Bravo... that's a movie.

P.S. Highly recommended addiction tales of this era include Days Of Wine And Roses and Man with The Golden Arm.

Recommendations: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), Requiem for a Dream, Dawn of the Dead

Last updated: 2010-05-16 02:02:35 by user07

2010-05-16 02:01:44

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