Review of Rio Bravo (1959) by Adam U — 03 Jul 2010

It's not hard to recognize a classic when you'll see one. In most cases the great movies are established with great characters. It shows also in this 50's piece of US Wester brilliance.

Sheriff Chance is the main character -who played by John Wayne- has a very minimalistic approach on everything, a sturdy presence of a man who mostly communicates only when needed and even then with only simple lines or complete one-liners. That is enough because he (both Wayne and his character) suit the movie really well and it's easy to see there's good chemistry between the leading man and the supporting acts.

But supporting acts are really the ones that steal the show here. Stumpy (Brennan) is one of the most memorable characters I've witnessed on the screen in a long time. A grumpy old man who has crippled leg but is still the most reliable foe when needed. He deliveres some really good dialogue and is also the welcomed comic relief (still not in a corny way!) amonside the drama and action. "Feathers", the woman in the centre of the movie (Dickinson) stays a bit distant at times but that is good as the westerns are not about romance. She still stands her ground with cleverly delivered dialogue and is equipped with nice looks suited well for this era. Colorado (Nelson) is a good characted also as a "trigger happy youth" but I'm not sure about the casting of Nelson as he seems a bit too polished with his white smirk amongs the more grittier characters usually spotted around the West.

Last centric character, "Dude", is played by Dean Martin. Martin of course more known as a singer and part of the "Rat pack" that included Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. I will just tell you that I'm sure he surprises a lot of people with his performance, at least the uneducated ones who are not familiar with his acting side. It was usual for the stars in the early-midst 20th century to both sing and act (Elvis, Sinatra all did it) but if you forget for a while that he is a singer you just notice his delivering a really good performance. He has a sort of problem with the alcohol to say the least ;).

Having seen a bunch of westerns I think Rio Bravo stands on it's own table in it's own saloon. It isn't the usual American Western with the indians and trains etc, nor does it have the artistic touch and feel of the Italo Westerns a'la Leone. Even being situated in a singe town the movie has everything to be worth of one's free time; action, drama, good dialogue, great characters and even some western type singing. I'm glad I have a couple of more westerns still waiting to be watched as Rio Bravo has set the bar pretty high for the non-Leone classics I haven't seen yet.