Rio Bravo

1959 Western

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Ranch thug Burdette is pissed when his brother is arrested for murder and decides to bust him loose. John Wayne, a guy named Stumpy, an alcoholic, and a cocky kid have to fend them off. And some floozy named Feathers is also involved.

I saw this one at my local theater. Before the movie, there was a brief introduction in which a guy said that there wasn't a bigger star in Hollywood than John Wayne. At that, an elderly guy behind me answered, "That's damn right!" There was loads of appreciation with almost all of Wayne's lines from that guy. He also repeated a lot of Walter Brennan's lines, something that I really appreciate in a trip to the theater.

Why the hell isn't Walter Brennan on that poster, by the way? This movie got itself a bonus point because of him! He takes pedestrian lines and turns them into gold with his deliveries.

I enjoy the writing with this one, succinct lines delivered by tough characters. There's not many words wasted here, and although I might have thought about cutting out the romantic subplot entirely, there's not much in the 2 hour and 20 minute running time that feels superfluous.

I really enjoyed the Dimitri Tiomkin score. It's boisterous where it needs to be, and it's completely silent at a couple of key moments, too, just about perfectly. And since they had Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, they just had to include a pair of back-to-back musical numbers where they sing "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" and "Cindy," the latter with Brennan joining in. You could argue that that whole scene is a complete waste of everybody's time. John Wayne, standing around watching it all with nothing to do, appears to think it was. But I kind of liked it.

I liked John Wayne in this, too. He was a larger-than-life movie star anyway, and on the big screen, he seems even larger. There's a humor to his characters that I think I appreciate more and more as I get older. His delivery never changes, and as an actor, he had almost no versatility whatsoever. But the delivery for the lines he's given in this Howard Hawks movie is really perfect, and Sheriff Chance was just a character I could believe in. Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson were also good, though Brennan really did steal the movie.

The guy who introduced the movie said this movie was Hawks and Wayne's response to High Noon, a movie I really love, because they didn't think a sheriff should be begging the locals for help with a threat to the town. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I think it would be the kind of attitude that would really appeal to Trump voters. I did read once that High Noon was one of Bill Clinton's favorite movies.

I would have bumped this up another point if there would have been more attention placed on Angie Dickinson's legs.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the little Hispanic guy played by Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez. I loved him. Really, I wanted to pick him up and hold him.

Anyway, I enjoyed this movie, especially on the big screen and with commentary by the old guy behind me. I really did think that he was going to start Paul Reubens-ing some of those shots where John Wayne. It's why I moved over a few seats actually.