Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

popcorninhell The name John Wayne immediately conjures up images of the wild west much like the name Alfred Hitchcock conjures notions of suspense. Starting on the silver screen at nineteen, John Wayne still holds the American record for the most lead roles (142) in a career spanning into the seventies. Plainspoken, strong-willed and more than willing to take a tumble or two, John Wayne's name still stands the test of time; a name ubiquitous even today.Rio Bravo begins in near total silence. Local sheriff and former gunslinger the Dude (Martin) tries to pay for a drink at the local watering hole. Already drunk and out of money, local miscreant Joe Burdette tries to roughs him up. In the chaos Marshall John T. Chance (Wayne) tries to intervene but is punched in the jaw by the Dude who's trying to save face. A man is killed and Joe is arrested by the sore Chance and the still drunk Dude. In order to bring Joe to justice, Chance must team up with the Dude, Colorado Ryan (Nelson), a young gunslinger; local codger Stumpy (Brennan), and a travelling gambler named Feathers (Dickinson). In the shadows lurks Joe's older brother Nathan (Russell) who comes to town with a posse set on freeing his brother and killing anyone who tries to stop them.Much like Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" and On the Waterfront (1954), The story of Rio Bravo was written as a response to High Noon (1952). Famed for being the western for people who hate westerns, High Noon is regarded as an allegory to Hollywood's reaction to the House Un-American Activities Committee's red- baiting. Wayne at the time, was president of the Motion Picture Alliance and set out to make a counterpoint to Gary Cooper's Marshal Kane. Sheriff Chance doesn't ask for help from the townsfolk despite overwhelming odds. In-fact at several points he refuses help from anyone he doesn't feel would be useful in a fight. He's practical and duty-bound as opposed to wry and moralistic.Each important player, comes into the film with something to prove to the world. Dean Martin's career as a nightclub crooner was on the wane and while his third billing in The Young Lions (1958) was well received, nothing thus far compared to his partnership with Jerry Lewis. Looking to become a "serious" actor, Martin ended the partnership tumultuously in 1956. Meanwhile the eighteen-year-old Ricky Nelson was hot off the billboard charts and was given the role of Colorado only after Elvis Presley dropped out. Ricky symbolized the coming era of rock & roll to some of the old timers; an attitude that was not lost on him when Wayne and Martin threw him in a pile of steer manure on-set as a "right of passage". Then there was The Duke, who had not had a surefire hit since Hondo (1953). He dabbled in a few war films since then as well as a few historically misguided films, The Conqueror (1956) being the most loathsome. He also made what's widely considered his greatest accomplishment The Searchers (1956), a film not well received during its time but has since been ranked as one of the best westerns ever.Director Howard Hawks was also trying to get out of a downward spiral since his sword-and-sandal epic Land of the Pharaohs (1955) epically tanked at the box office. The famed studio director, dubbed The Silver Fox for managing to ferret his way into every Hollywood genre met his Waterloo. After a few years living in Europe, Hawks was ready to return to the director's chair and decided on Rio Bravo's beautiful script as his comeback. To hedge his bets Hawk's had his sets built 7/8ths to scale to make the actors and characters appear larger than life; not that the 6'3'' Wayne ever needed help with that.At two hours and twenty one minutes, Rio Bravo feels much more episodic than El Dorado (1966) or Rio Lobo (1970) (two films with identical conceits, said to be indirect remakes). The story also feels stronger, grittier and more universal. Those not intimidated by the film's near-mythic status and are itching to see multiple talents reaching for redemption, you'd do well to watch Rio Bravo.

Tad Pole . . . than his character does here in RIO BRAVO, as this was the last feature film for Ward Bond before a massive heart attack in a hotel shower gave rise to one of the baseball terms for a starting pitcher getting knocked out of the box too early (that is, "sent to the shower"). Though the DVD bonus feature I'm actually reviewing (and rating 9 of 10 here)--THE JOHN WAYNE STOCK COMPANY: WARD BOND--actually appears on the 2005 Paramount HONDO release (another of the 23 movies, like RIO BRAVO, featuring BOTH Wayne and Bond), it makes more sense to talk about it on the RIO BRAVO page (since neither Paramount, IMDb, or the Wayne and Bond families cared enough about Ward Bond fans to acknowledge the existence of this 10 minute documentary short). Bond was in 250 movies (a number his drinking buddy Wayne often conflated as his OWN filmography, in his later CTE-racked years), including 26 of director John Ford's and 6 of director Frank Capra's (who can forget his Bert-the-Cop in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE?). Bond and Wayne played chess, dominoes, and poker together, also serving as "Best Man" at each other's weddings. They both played football for the University of Southern California, though Bond was three years ahead of Wayne. Bond was about the same size as John Wayne--6' 3", 220 pounds--but did NOT wear elevator shoes in his later years, as did Wayne. This short mentions 30 of Bond's films by name, and states that 1935 was his biggest year, when he appeared in 30 flicks! This "bonus feature" also notes that he (unlike Wayne) had a doctor's note to avoid fighting in WWII--Bond was 4F because of epilepsy.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . this three-hour snooze-fest (or chick flick) is no HIGH NOON. Which is not a surprise, since nearly all the cast and crew involved here in RIO BRAVO were REAL CRAVO witch-hunting bullies or their cowardly craven enablers, and NOT right-thinking Americans such as Gary Cooper's U.S. Constitution-loving really brave sheriff in HIGH NOON. John Wayne's RIO BRAVO character is once again named "John," probably because "Il Duce" had a few too many grid-iron concussions at Southern Cal. This gave him more trouble remembering to answer to a third name (layered on top of his childhood handle "Marion" and his studio flunky tag "John") than any other actor in cinema history. Why else are there nearly 100 movie credits in Mr. Wayne's IMDb filmography where his characters are named either "John" or "Hey, you!"? Though "Feathers" (teenager Angie Dickinson) parrots teen Lauren Bacall after kissing John a second time on-screen here ("It's better when TWO people do it"), RIO BRAVO cannot even rise to the level of second-rate Bogart, such as the lame TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT flick in which director Howard Hawks goes on his scavenger's hunt. (And Ms. Dickinson was too sharp to follow Ms. Bacall's Real Life lead in breaking up a Real Life marriage and saddling herself with a geezer for the rest of his Real Life, despite Mr. Hawks attempts to play a Real Life Cupid again.) John, as "John," references THE ALAMO here, a mendacious vanity project then in the planning stages that would temporarily bankrupt Il Duce a few years after RIO BRAVO was released. When talking about RIO BRAVO composer Dimitri Tiomkin's fake version of the Mexican Army's "No quarter" Deguello dirge foreshadowing the eventual fate of Texas Race War Terrorists Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, and their ilk, the RIO BRAVO characters never explain that the reason for the heroic Mexican Freedom Fighters taking such an understandable dislike to the self-proclaimed "Texicans" was that the latter bunch of lazy racists were Hell-bent upon Re-enslaving all of the Free Black People of Mexico's Texas Province!

bankofmarquis If I were to put one Western of this era in a time capsule as an example of this genre, RIO BRAVO would be the one I would put in there.This is the quintessential Western of the 40's & 50's with all the elements working wonderfully together to bring a very entertaining film to the screen.As with most of these Westerns, the place to start is JOHN WAYNE. He embodies this genre. Tough but fair. Hard but gentle. Willing to kill, but not liking it. Rio Bravo has Wayne at the top of his game. He is ably aided by a strong supporting cast - Dean Martin as the drunken deputy (he can act!), Ricky Nelson as the young kid learning life lessons from Wayne. Angie Dickinson, though about half Wayne's age at the time of filming, as the love interest and good ol' Walter Brennan as the sidekick, Stumpy.Throw in Howard Hawks strong direction and this movie is what it is. A WESTERN where the good guys take on the bad. No middle ground, no grey area. Just good versus bad.And darn entertaining.9 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)