Review of Rio Bravo (1959) by Arshi R — 09 Dec 2010

Grade: A+.

The Greatest Films.

Rio Bravo is a Howard Hawks Western. As far as archetypal Westerns go, this film is pretty damn great. John Wayne plays Sheriff John t. Chance of a small western town, as he and his 3 deputies attempt to stave off a posse of bandits working for a rich rancher for six days as they hold the rancher's murderer brother in jail; the bandits would like him released. Chance intends to turn the murderer over to the marshal, who supposedly will arrive in six days.

Walter Brennan plays a cripple whose job it is to guard the cell. He does a good job of bringing a little straight humour to a sometimes overly dry film as far as dialogue (the formality is sometimes overbearing). Then there is Dean Martin who plays Dude, an extremely talented sharpshooter officer, except he has a serious vice in his alcoholism; the film basically follows Dean's character in his moral and mental struggle between upholding the law while keeping a job or falling back into alcoholic binges. Dean's character Dude is attempting to keep it together during this particularly dangerous time.

Angie Dickinson is the Sheriff's love interest, who doubles as an aid to him in some tight spots with the bandits as well. The love story is mildly interesting, and perhaps a bit risqué for a Western and it's better than most Western love stories. Thankfully though, it never gets in the way of the main plot, and invites a bit of Western style relationship humour.

The film is very deliberately paced, sometimes a bit too slow, but the pace does evoke the long haul of the six days, as they wait for the murderer's brother to arrive, and then stave him and his posse off repeatedly. A handful of tense encounters between both sides, both using dialogue and with gun slinging, add excitement to the film.

As the days wear on, a young gunslinger by the name of Colorado (Ricky Nelson) catches the eye of Chance, who feels he could use his skills to fight the bandits. Part of the plot involves the increasing trust between Chance and Colorado, and the building of their mutual respect. As the sheriff and his men speak of Colorado:

John T. Chance: [Referring to Colorado] it's nice to see a smart kid for a change.

Stumpy: Yeah, he ain't like the usual kid with a gun.

Dude: Wonder if he's as good as Wheeler said?

John T. Chance: I'd say he is.

John T. Chance: I'd say he's so good, he doesn't feel he has to prove it.

Colorado is an interesting part to the film, and pretty much represents the antithesis of Dean Martin's character, even if they both have similar qualities.

The film has a number of great sequences, including one in a bar when Chance and Dude are looking for a hiding bandit, and enter the bar looking for him. The final shootout is pretty wild and entertaining as well; its funny how all the main players show up during the climax; contrived yes, but the way they are depicted in these situations is what makes it memorable, despite any notion of implausibility.

My knowledge of Westerns is over time becoming more and more, and this is one of the better ones I have seen. With a cast like this and a Director of Hawks stature, I knew this was one I had to cross off my invisible must-see list; I was more than satisfied.