Rio Bravo — guest movie review
Rio Bravo, directed by Howard Hawks (Bringing Up Baby, The Big Sleep, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), is one of the most well-executed movies I have seen in a long time and is now one of my favorite westerns. It was enjoyably stylized right down to the poster art. I enjoyed it from maybe about 5 minutes in till the 2 hour and 20 minute mark. Usually movies have me constantly looking up at the time counter on my DVD player, but I did that very few times. It is highly memorable for its very exciting yet contained action as well as its colorful characters. It stars John Wayne (The Searchers) as John T. Chance, a sheriff of a small town in Texas who with the help of his drunken deputy known as Dude (Dean Martin) captures a wanted man named Joe Burdette who happens to have a brother with a lot of money and a lot of power. Chance has another deputy named Stumpy, who is old, missing teeth, and has a bum leg like his namesake (played by Walter Brennan). Brennan is one of the best things about this movie and steals practically every scene he’s in with his spot-on and hilarious portrayal. The three of them have to guard this criminal for about a week while they wait for the marshal to come and pick him up. The problem is that his brother wants him out and will stop at almost nothing to get him out. The rest of the movie is one big stand-off with pauses in the middle for comedy, romance, and music. There is room for a talented, self-assured two-gun whiz kid (played by Rick Nelson), a remarkably beautiful love interest for Chance (played by Angie Dickinson), and a Mexican hotel owner and his wife. Because the action could come at any time, the suspense is palpable at almost every moment and while a lot of the action and characterization plays itself out somewhat predictably, it is never less than enjoyable to watch.
There is a lot of star power in this movie. You have the biggest star of American Westerns, one of the biggest stars of TV, music, and film, and you have the biggest selling rock and roll artist behind Elvis. Hawks uses these actors to good effect by having them play to their strengths: Wayne as the stoic all-man sheriff, Martin as the lovable drunk, and Nelson as the youthful hot-shot. Hawks also utilizes their musical talents in a very charming scene that has Martin and Nelson singing and Nelson playing guitar on old West style songs and Stumpy playing his harmonica and singing harmony.
There are certainly some caricatured performances in the hotel owner and his wife and the Chinese undertaker (played by a Japanese American most likely). While
there is nothing in the film on the level of the famous Mickey Rooney role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez’s hotel Carlos is still reminiscent of Speedy Gonzalez (the height didn’t help that) although not as clever and in fact almost useless in anything but a servile role. It is interesting to note that Gonzalez’s grandson recently appeared in Capote as one of the killers where he enjoyed a much bigger and more nuanced role than any of the ones that his grandfather was offered.
While this movie was a reaction to High Noon, it also was remade a few times and was the inspiration for Assault on Precinct 13, another potent movie worth checking out. So if you see this movie at the library or at your local video rental store, it is worth the 4 bucks and/or the 2 ½ hours.
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