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Rating:  -
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
I've heard a few times that Rio Bravo was an ultra-right-wing response to High Noon. I'm not terribly sure about all that, but having watched the two films without a month or so of each other now, High Noon is the clear winner from the simple standpoint of being a good movie. Because of the back-and-forth, I feel like blaming the message. Problem is, there's not really much of a message to blame; while Rio Bravo certainly isn't a bad movie by any standards, both John Wayne and director Howard Hawks were capable of far superior work, and showed that many times.
John T. Chance (Wayne) is the sheriff of your typical small western town besieged by bad guys, in this case the Burdette Brothers, Nathan (John Russell) and Joe (Claude Akins), and their string of hired guns. The trouble starts when Chance, his all-but-useless deputy Borrachon (Dean Martin-- "Borrachon" is a nickname, of course, the word is Spanish for "drunk". An inspired piece of casting, there!), and their old-geezer flunky Stumpy (Walter Brennan) lock Joe up. Nathan responds by killing a local rancher, and one of his hands, a young firebrand named Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), wants in on the revenge. This, of course, sets up musical numbers with Nelson and Martin (and who knew Walter Brennan could sing?). It also sets up the big gunfight at the climax. It's not a spoiler. How often do you see a western that doesn't have a big gunfight at the end?
It's certainly not a bad movie; I'm not sure Hawks was capable of making a bad movie. Nor was Wayne, once he got out from under the heel of Lone Star in the thirties. And while this is a well-acted and well-paced movie, it's pretty typical genre stuff, save the musical numbers. Howard Hawks is not Vicente Minnelli, and I'm not sure he should've ever tried to be. Still, if you're in the mood for a wetsern, and all your library's copies of High Noon are out, give this a shot. (I should say, by the way, that I'm as much a conservative as either Wayne or Hawks ever were-- and I still prefer High Noon). ***
Rating:  -
The two-disc special edition of Rio Bravo is a classic
"American Western." John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson,& Walter Brennan spin this classic western yarn. Howard Hawks gives outstanding direction with his artistic expertise. A glimpse into America's golden movie era. You won't want to miss the insightful glimpse through Howard Hawk's genius, as he takes you behind the scenes into movie making. Your western movie collection is incomplete without Howard Hawk's Rio Bravo.
Rating: -
Very good service, the dvd in mint condion and arrived just a few days after I ordered.
Rating:  -
I ordered two different copies of this collectors edition. Both times Amazon sent defective products. There were two of the same discs in the set and one disc was missing.
Rating:  -
The movie Rio Bravo is one of the all time greats in my opinion, but I am specifically reviewing the Blu-Ray version of the movie here.
This Howard Hawks Rio Bravo with John Wayne and Dean Martin is one of the all time best western movies. Make no mistake, if I were to be rating the movie alone, it would receive 5 stars. It is the strength of this movie that gets 4 stars for this review, but I could not award 5 stars for this Blu-Ray version since that is presumably the reason a person would be reading this review. That is, they are considering spending the few extra dollars to purchase this Blu-Ray version.
In a nutshell, I would stick with this Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition) version of Rio Bravo if I had it to do all over again. It just seems that the transfer for this Blu-Ray version is not all that crisp. It does not really seem an improvement upon the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD that is close to half the price. This is not to say that the transfer is awful. It just seems that the picture and audio are about as good as it's going to get with the DVD version. That is, short of a complete rework of the master for transfer.
Now back to the movie. Anyone who loves westerns and/or John Wayne would likely appreciate having the movie Rio Bravo in their collection. I think Dean Martin's performance is exceptional. He shows a depth of character in this role. Dean Martin shows that he was more than just a singer who was doing some acting. It appears to me that he had much talent. John Wayne does his typical excellent performance. There is more to this movie than would meet the novice eye. The opening scene provides an ode to the silent era where Dean Martin demonstrates his talent. Also as a background, this movie was a response of sorts by Howard Hawks and John Wayne to the communist movement in Hollywood of that era. For students of history and this genre, there are some rather interesting historical dynamics and background to this excellent and entertaining film.
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