Review of Rio Bravo (1959) by Jon C — 17 Apr 2009

This is the twelfth movie in 52 weeks. Britnie was out of town this week, so I chose a bunch of movies other than the western that I didnâ??t think sheâ??d like. And after finishing them all Iâ??m pretty comfortable in my decision. All these movies made me realize the downside of getting rid of our Dish Network.

Rio Bravo stars Dean Martin as the town drunk Dude, John Wayne plays sheriff Chance and Ricky Nelson plays a gunslinger Colorado. One of these guys is not like the others, you you realize that as soon as Nelson breaks into a ballad right before the big showdown.

The bad guy Burdette starts beating Dude one night in the bar. Another guy trys to stop hm and Burdette kills him. The sheriff arrests him and takes him to jail, and the rest of the movie involves Burdettes men trying to break him out. along the way Chance helps Dude sober up, recruits the pretty gunslinger Colorado, and kisses hottie Angie Dickinson a few times. I like John Wayne, but this role seems so forced, he swaggers like a pretend cowboy, and there are times it seems like he forgot his lines.

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The big fight at the end is fun, especially after assistant sheriff Stumpy finds some dynamite to start throwing. I really liked Dean Martinâ??s Dude, heâ??s the only character that seems to have any life in him. The actual villain has no personality at all. I donâ??t need a bad guy that twirls his mustache and is larger than life, but I do need someone that stands out enough that I remember who he is when they show him 45 minutes after heâ??s arrested.

It has a competent soundtrack, nothing that stand out like some other great westerns, I suppose Iâ??ve been spoiled by some of the spaghetti western.