Rio Bravo (film)

Rio Bravo is a 1959 American Western film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond. Written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on the short story "Rio Bravo" by B. H. McCampbell, the film is about the sheriff of the town of Rio Bravo, Texas, who arrests the brother of a powerful local rancher for murder and then must hold the man in jail until the arrival of the United States Marshall. With the help of a "cripple" and a young gunfighter, they hold off the rancher's gang. Rio Bravo was filmed on location at Old Tucson Studios outside Tucson, Arizona, in Technicolor.

Rio Bravo
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHoward Hawks
Produced byHoward Hawks
Screenplay by
Based on"Rio Bravo"
by B. H. McCampbell
Starring
Music byDimitri Tiomkin
CinematographyRussell Harlan
Edited byFolmar Blangsted
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • March 18, 1959 (1959-03-18) (USA)
Running time
141 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language
  • English
  • Spanish
Budget$1,214,899[1]
Box office$5.75 million (US and Canada rentals)[2]

In 2014, Rio Bravo was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[3][4]

Plot

In the town of Rio Bravo, Texas, former sheriff's deputy Dude (Dean Martin), who has acquired the contemptuous nickname Borrachón (pronounced [bo.raˈtʃon], Spanish for "big drunk"), enters a saloon but cannot afford a drink. Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), brother of the rich and powerful rancher Nathan Burdette, tosses a silver dollar into a spittoon. Presidio County, Texas, Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) appears and kicks the spittoon away, looking at Dude with disgust. Dude is now mad at him and takes out his anger on Chance, knocking him out with an stick of firewood. After Dude tries to attack Joe, he begins punching Dude. Joe then shoots and kills an unarmed bystander (Bing Russell) who tries to intervene.

Joe heads to his brother's saloon, where a bloody Chance comes to arrest him for the murder of the bystander. Another patron draws his gun on Chance, but Dude shoots the gun out of the man's hand. Joe is locked up in the local jail. Chance is willing to deputize Dude, provided he can stay sober. Both remember that Dude used to be good with a gun.

Chance's friend Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond) and his wagon train of supplies stop in town, with a young gunslinger, Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), riding guard. Colorado is allowed to keep his guns after he promises not to start any trouble without telling the sheriff first.

Inside the jail, Stumpy (Walter Brennan), Chance's game-legged deputy, keeps watch over the jail and Joe. Joe knows that Stumpy holds an old grudge against Joe's wealthy and powerful brother. Joe warns his jailers that Nathan Burdette will not like how he is being treated.

A mysterious woman nicknamed Feathers (Angie Dickinson) is in the saloon, playing poker. In the meantime, Dude and Chance patrol the town. Hotel owner Carlos (Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez) stops the sheriff, saying Wheeler has been talking too much about Chance needing help. In the saloon, Chance implores Wheeler to stop, as it will draw attention from the wrong people. Wheeler suggests that Colorado could be of assistance, but Colorado politely declines, saying he is better at "minding my own business".

Feathers leaves the poker game a winner. Chance follows her up to her room and confronts her as being a card cheat. With his evidence of three aces missing from the deck of cards being used in the game and a handbill indicating she is traveling with a known card cheater, Chance threatens to arrest her. Colorado intervenes, saying another participant in the game is the real cheat. Colorado confronts the card cheat and proves his guilt. But Chance refuses to apologize to Feathers for doing his job and is no longer in a hurry to make her leave town.

As Wheeler is walking back to the hotel, he is shot dead, in the back, by a Burdette man hiding in the stable. Colorado now wants to help, but is angrily turned away by Chance, who says, "You had a chance to get in this and you didn't want it." Chance and Dude flush out the shooter, who escapes into Nathan's saloon after Dude wounds him.

Chance and Dude go into the saloon to arrest the shooter. Dude claims that the man has muddy boots, but everyone in the bar has clean boots. Two of Burdette's men suggest Dude needs a drink and one throws a silver dollar into a spittoon. Dude notices blood dripping from above into the glass of beer that is on the bar. As the bartender is getting the drink, Dude walks forward, turns, fires, and kills the shooter.

Chance goes back to the hotel to sleep. Without his knowledge, Feathers sits in a chair, standing guard at his door to keep him safe. She returns to her room when he awakens. Chance discovers what she did and advises that she needs to get ready to leave on the stagecoach, that will be leaving shortly.

Nathan Burdette (John Russell) arrives in town with his men, intent on seeing his brother Joe. Dude is standing guard and is confiscating all guns. One of Burdette's men ignores him until Dude cuts one of his horse's reins with a single shot. Nathan agrees to turn in their guns until they leave.

After Nathen leaves the jail, Carlos tells Chance that Feathers did not get on the stagecoach. She tells the sheriff she did not want to leave, then gives him a kiss. He indicates if he were not in such a fix at this time, things between them might be different.

Colorado visits the jail to tell Chance the meaning of a song, "Degüello", or "The Cutthroat Song", that Nathan is paying men to play at his saloon. The song, reported to have been played by Antonio López de Santa Anna's men at the siege of the Alamo, indicates that "no quarter" will be given to one's enemy, no mercy. Dude is trying hard to stay sober. He is given back his guns (the ones he had before he left town, sold by Dude, but bought back by Chance), as well as some clothes he left behind.

The next morning, while Dude is standing guard at the town entrance, four Burdette men attack him from behind and tie him up in the stable. Then three of the men ride into town and get the drop on Chance, whose rifle is just out of reach. From inside the hotel, acting on Colorado's instructions, Feathers throws a flower pot through a window just after Colorado steps out on the porch. The window breaking distracts the Burdette men. Colorado quickly throws Chance's rifle to him and the two men kill the three Burdette men. Because Colorado has helped him, Chance tells Colorado that he is now in the fight and deputizes Colorado.

Chance decides to have his men hole up in the jail, as it will take several more days for the United States Marshal to arrive to take Joe to the Presidio. Dude's nerves are shot, but as he is about to take a drink, the sound of "The Cutthroat Song" played by Burdette's musicians steels his resolve.

Dude and Chance go to the hotel to round up additional supplies and for Dude to take a bath. Meanwhile, Carlos and Consuelo, Carlos’ wife, have been captured by Burdette's men. The men trick Chance into charging and falling over a rope tied at the bottom of the stairs. After Chance is knocked out, Dude and Feathers are unable to help, as Chance is revived.

Chance is ordered to take the men to the jail to let Joe go. He is reluctant to do so, but Dude implores Chance to cooperate, saying that Stumpy is all alone and he has no food or water. Therefore he will not be able to hold out for very long, none of which is true. After three of Burdette’s men take Chance to the jail, Stumpy opens fire and kills two of Burdette's men. Colorado, who is also at the jail, wounds the third Burdette man.

The remaining Burdette men at the hotel take Dude hostage and Nathan Burdette offers to trade him for Joe. Chance and Colorado then take Joe to make the trade for Dude at a warehouse, leaving Stumpy behind because of his bad leg. During the trade, While walking in opposite directions, Dude tackles Joe and they scuffle and a gunfight erupts. Stumpy and Carlos turn up and help even the odds. Dude overpowers Joe.

As Stumpy is throwing dynamite sticks at the warehouse where Burdette and his men are holed up, Chance and Dude are shooting the sticks to detonate them. After a few explosions rock the warehouse, the final blast destroys the front of the warehouse and the criminals surrender.

All is quiet in town as Chance visits with Feathers in her hotel room. Feathers is putting on a skimpy costume that she will be wearing in her new job, singing at the hotel. Chance does not approve of anyone seeing her in that outfit unless it is him, implying he and Feathers will soon be wed.

After Feathers takes the skimpy costume off, Chance throws the pair of sheer tights out the window. As the tights comes floating down from the window to the street, a delighted Stumpy retrieves them. But Dude cautions Stumpy to mind his own business, if Stumpy hopes to ever become Sheriff.

Cast
John Wayne and Angie Dickinson in Rio Bravo

Malcolm Atterbury and Harry Carey Jr. also receive a screen credit in the film's opening, but their scenes were deleted from the final film.[5]

Production
Ricky Nelson performing the song "Get Along Home, Cindy" in Rio Bravo

Exteriors for the film were shot at Old Tucson Studios, just outside Tucson.[6] Filming took place in the summer of 1958, and the movie's credits gave 1958 for the copyright; the film was released in March 1959.

Rio Bravo is generally regarded as one of Hawks' best, and is known for its long opening scene which contains no dialogue. The film received favorable reviews, and was successful, taking in over US$5.5 million.

The musical score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. His score includes the hauntingly ominous "El Degüello" theme, which is heard several times.[7] The Colorado character identifies the tune as "The Cutthroat Song". He relates that the song was played on the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna to the Texans holed up in the Alamo, to signify that no quarter would be given to them. The tune was used in Wayne's film, The Alamo (1960). Composer Ennio Morricone recalled that director Sergio Leone asked him to write "Dimitri Tiomkin music" for A Fistful of Dollars. The trumpet theme is similar to Tiomkin's "Degüello" (the Italian title of Rio Bravo was Un dollaro d'onore, A Dollar of Honor).[8]

Because the film starred a crooner, Martin, and a teen idol, Nelson, Hawks included three songs in the soundtrack. Before the big showdown, in the jail house, Martin sings "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" (which contains new lyrics to a Tiomkin tune that appeared in Red River), accompanied by Nelson, after which Nelson sings a brief version of "Get Along Home, Cindy", accompanied by Martin and Brennan. Over the closing credits, Martin, backed by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, sings a specially composed song, "Rio Bravo", written by Tiomkin with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Nelson later paid homage to both the film and his character, Colorado, by including the song "Restless Kid" on his 1959 LP, Ricky Sings Again.

Members of the Western Writers of America chose "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[9]

A brief clip from Rio Bravo was among the archive footage later incorporated into the opening sequence of Wayne's last film, The Shootist, to illustrate the backstory of Wayne's character.

As was often the case in a John Wayne Western, Wayne wore his "Red River D" belt buckle in the movie. It can be clearly seen in the scene where Nathan Burdette comes to visit his brother Joe in the jail where he is being held for the U.S. Marshal about 60 minutes into the film.

The story was credited to "B.H. McCampbell." According to Todd McCarthy's 1997 biography, "Howard Hawks: The Silver Fox of Hollywood," this was actually Hawks' eldest daughter, Barbara (McCampbell was her married name).

High Noon debate

The film was made as a response to High Noon,[10] which is sometimes thought to be an allegory for blacklisting in Hollywood, as well as a critique of McCarthyism.[11] Wayne would later call High Noon "un-American" and say he did not regret helping run the writer, Carl Foreman, out of the country.[12] Director Howard Hawks went on the record to criticize High Noon by saying, "I didn't think a good sheriff was going to go running around town like a chicken with his head cut off asking for help, and finally his Quaker wife had to save him."[13] According to film historian Emanuel Levy, Wayne and Hawks teamed up deliberately to rebut High Noon by telling a somewhat similar story their own way: portraying a hero who does not show fear or inner conflict and who never repudiates his commitment to public duty, while only allying himself with capable people, despite offers of help from many other characters.[14] In Rio Bravo, Chance is surrounded by allies—a deputy who is brave and good with a gun, despite recovering from alcoholism (Dude), a young untried but self-assured gunfighter (Colorado), a limping "crippled" old man who is doggedly loyal (Stumpy), a Mexican innkeeper (Carlos), his wife (Consuelo), and an attractive young woman (Feathers)—and repeatedly turns down aid from anyone he does not think is capable of helping him,[13] though in the final shootout they come to help him anyway. "Who'll turn up next?" Wayne asks amid the gunfire, to which Colorado replies: "Maybe the girl with another flower pot."

Reception

In the United Kingdom, Rio Bravo was not originally even reviewed for Sight & Sound;[15] Leslie Halliwell gave the film two out of four stars in his Film Guide, describing it as a "cheerfully overlong and slow-moving Western" that was nevertheless "very watchable for those with time to spare".[16] The film was taken more seriously by British critics such as Robin Wood, who rated it as his top film of all time and wrote a book on it in 2003 for the British Film Institute, publishers of Sight & Sound. Pauline Kael called the film "silly, but with zest; there are some fine action sequences, and the performers seem to be enjoying their roles."[17]

It now has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating and was the second highest-ranking Western (63rd overall) in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the greatest films ever made.[18]

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top 10 Western Films list.[19]

Remakes and inspirations

Remakes

Howard Hawks went on to make two loose variations of Rio Bravo, on both occasions under a different title. Both of these remakes were directed by Hawks, both starred John Wayne, and in each case, the script was written by Leigh Brackett. All involve lawmen working against an entrenched criminal element, partially by "holing up" in their jailhouses.

  • The first remake, El Dorado, was filmed in 1966, but it was not released in the United States (by Paramount) until the summer of 1967. In this film, Robert Mitchum played the Dean Martin role, Arthur Hunnicutt the Walter Brennan character, and James Caan the Ricky Nelson role. Hawks again named the Nelson/Caan character after a state (in this case, Mississippi) and in a wry, humorous twist on the original film, Hawks made him inept with firearms, but skilled with a knife.
  • The second remake, Rio Lobo, was made in 1970 with a plot much further off the original mold, starting with the absence of a lawman-turned-drunkard character. This began with a Confederate train robbery of a Union gold shipment during the American Civil War, then moved to a postwar Texas county thoroughly controlled by a rich, arrogant rancher. The heroes, with the exception of an old man similar to Brennan and Hunnicutt's characters in the previous pictures (Jack Elam here), were complete outsiders. Along with Wayne and Elam, this movie starred Mexican film star Jorge Rivero (as Frenchie), Christopher Mitchum (Robert Mitchum's son), and Jennifer O'Neill.

Inspirations
  • Feathers' dialogue was occasionally inspired by the character of "Slim" (Lauren Bacall) in the 1944 To Have and Have Not, as when, after the first kiss, she says: "It's better when two people do it," recalling the phrase "It's even better when you help;" and again later when she says, "I'm hard to get—you're going to have to say you want me," recalling Slim's "I'm hard to get, Steve—all you have to do is ask me."
  • L'homme à l'étoile d'argent (The Man with the Silver Star), a 1969 album from the French comics series Lt. Blueberry was directly inspired by Rio Bravo. The plot is virtually the same. Blueberry plays the role of sheriff John T. Chance; McClure, a whiskey-adoring old man, combines the roles of Dude and Stumpy; Dusty plays the role of Colorado; Miss March, the teacher, plays the role of a less morally challenged Feathers; and instead of the Burdettes, it has the Bass brothers.
  • John Carpenter's 1976 film Assault on Precinct 13, though not a remake of Rio Bravo, was inspired by the film. Carpenter borrowed some elements from the earlier film's plot, but set it in 1970s Los Angeles. He also paid homage to the original film by using the pseudonym "John T. Chance", the name of Wayne's character, for his editing credit. This film was also remade in 2005 by Jean-Francois Richet, moving the film's setting to Detroit.
  • Ghosts of Mars, a 2001 film also by Carpenter, retains many of the elements that were developed in Rio Bravo and Assault on Precinct 13, but takes place in a science-fiction setting.
  • The Nest, a 2002 film by Florent Emilio Siri, starring Samy Naceri, Benoît Magimel, Nadia Farès, Pascal Greggory, and Sami Bouajila, is a quasi-remake of Assault on Precinct 13.
  • Borrachón: A Prequel to Rio Bravo, by Kevin Cullen, 2016. This book is a prequel to the Rio Bravo story and film and provides the complete background leading up to the classic tale.

Music

Comic book adaption
gollark: Turns out it was just accessing some process manager logic which wasn't available in the specific context it was running.
gollark: So I had to screen-record it and play it back slowly.
gollark: There was a fun issue in potatOS a while ago where it errored at startup, but some other process cleared the screen after initialization so I couldn't read the error.
gollark: I've got a reasonably functional "orbital laser" control system, just no actual orbital lasers on any visited server, because they tend to randomly shoot each other (and my important stuff) because I can't make the claims work out properly.
gollark: I really ought to deploy that on CNLite or something and tie it to the orbital lasers.

See also

References
  1. Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd (1975). "The Economic Imperative: Why Was the B Movie Necessay?". In Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd (eds.). Kings of the Bs : working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism. E. P. Dutton. p. 29.
  2. Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. Penske Business Media, LLC.: M182.
  3. "Cinematic Treasures Named to National Film Registry". National Film Preservation Board. Library of Congress. 17 December 2014. ISSN 0731-3527. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  5. Hawks, Howard (2006). Breivold, Scott (ed.). Howard Hawks: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 38. ISBN 9781578068333.
  6. Commemoration: Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, Warner Bros. DVD supplement.
  7. The Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (retrieved on November 22, 2006).
  8. "Un dollaro d'onore". Wikipedia (in Italian). 2016-10-31.
  9. Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014.
  10. Munn, Michael (2005). John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth. New York: Penguin. p. 190. ISBN 0451214145. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  11. Blacklist Archived 2009-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Manfred Weidhorn. "High Noon." Bright Lights Film Journal. February 2005. Accessed 12 February 2008.
  13. Stafford, Jeff. "Rio Bravo". TCM Film Article. Turner Entertainment Network. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  14. Levy, Emanuel. "High Noon: Why John Wayne Hated the Film". Cinema 24/7. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  15. The Movie article by Phil Hardy, 1980
  16. Halliwell, Leslie (1979). Halliwell's Film Guide to 8,000 English Language Films, Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, Granada.
  17. http://www.geocities.ws/paulinekaelreviews/r3.html
  18. "Critics' top 100". British Film Institute. 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  19. "AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2016-08-19.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  20. "Dell Four Color #1018". Grand Comics Database.
  21. Dell Four Color #1018 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)

Further reading
  • Byman, Jeremy (2004). Showdown at High Noon. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4998-4.
  • McCarthy, Todd (2000). Howard Hawks. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3740-7.
  • Roberts, Randy (1997). John Wayne. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8970-7.
  • Wood, Robin (2006). Howard Hawks. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3276-5.
  • Wood, Robin (2003). Rio Bravo. London: BFI Pub. ISBN 0-85170-966-4.
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