Rio Bravo

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.

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.

If you like Westerns and have not yet seen "Rio Bravo" - buy/rent it today - you will not be disappointed. Yes, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson costar with John Wayne and Walter Brennan, but it works. Howard Hawks directs this diverse cast in his usual masterful way. The basic plot was so good that it was remade by Hawks as "El Dorado" 8 years later, and others - one example "Assault on Precinct 13". Watch and Enjoy! WP

This was such a hard film to rate. On one hand you have a Howard Hawkes classic western, starring John Wayne, and with a great supporting cast. And yet, there are a couple of things that do detract from the movie. So after vacillating between 4 and 5 stars, I settled on 4. In reality, I rate it a 4.5.

Rio Bravo is the first, and arguably best, of a trio of western films from Hawkes that many say the latter two (El Dorado & Rio Lobo) were remakes of. While calling those two later films remakes isn't accurate Hawkes did manage to steal many scenes and situations from Rio Bravo to insert into the other two. John Wayne stars as John T. Chance, the town sheriff who has arrested the brother of a wealthy cattle baron, Nathan Burdette, for murder. Burdette has vowed to spring his brother from jail by any means necessary so he's bottled up the town and hired murdering gun hands to be successful. Chance has two deputies as support, a recovering drunk name Dude (Dean Martin) and a crippled old man named Stumpy (Walter Brennan). Along the way he gets help from an old friend named Wheeler (Ward Bond), a young gunslinger named Colorado (Ricky Nelson) who works for Wheeler, and a woman gambler (Angie Dickenson). The situation is already tense as the movie opens then the stakes are raised when Wheeler is gun-downed by one of Burdette's hired killers. What follows is a classic chess match between the sheriff and the cattleman as Burdette gets more & more desperate to free his brother.

What makes this film great, besides a great cast, is the pace of the film. Hawkes keeps turning up the tension as Chance and his deputies are forced to retreat into the jailhouse. When you add Dude's detoxified-driven anxiety, Stumpy's stubbornness, and Chance's growing attraction to the woman gambler, known only as "Feathers", it seems Burdette has them right where he wants them. Things begin to change for the better as Colorado joins the sheriff to avenge his boss' murder.

Where I think the movie struggles a little is in the Colorado character. It's obvious that Ricky Nelson was cast to attract the "teen" crowd. Although he does an OK job portraying the laid-back gunslinger, overall his character becomes a little annoying at the end. And I'm sorry, but the jailhouse scene where Nelson & Martin do a duet on one song and then is joined by Walter Brennan in a second, was so Gene Autry-ish that it really stuck out like a sore thumb. I understand why it's there but I could have done without it. It was just so out of place.

But all-in-all it is a great western. Not as good as Hawkes'Red River but still a great ride. I would highly recommend it to ANY western fan.

I hadn't seen this movie for... well, decades. In fact, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. Sure, I smiled at the reference in GET SHORTY, but I'd pretty much forgotten this one. Then I saw it at Wal Mart for a price too nice to pass up. I bought it and watched it with my wife who had never seen it before. We both loved it.

A little while later I watched my dvd of TRUE GRIT, the film Duke won his only Academy Award for. Good movie, but I thought he was MUCH better in RIO BRAVO (and BIG JAKE for that matter). I watched RIO BRAVO again and was so impressed by the subtlety of his performance. That's something people don't remember John Wayne for. Usually we point out his swagger and his whole "tough guy" persona. I think that sells him short- especially in RIO BRAVO. Is it Duke's best? Tough call. It's hard to top THE QUIET MAN and THE SEARCHERS. I think... yes, I must say it. RIO BRAVO is, in my opinion, his best performance.

Bt BIG JAKE is still my favorite of his films.

The bonus features on this dvd are well worth it as well. In all I think this is a very nice package.