Themes: Sheriffs and Outlaws, Righting the Wronged, Lone Wolves
Main Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 140 minutes
Plot
Set in Texas during the late 1860s, Rio Bravo is a story of men (and women) and a town under siege. Presidio County Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) is holding Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), a worthless, drunken thug, for the murder of an unarmed man in a fight in a saloon -- the problem is that Joe is the brother of wealthy land baron Nathan Burdette (John Russell), who owns a big chunk of the county and can buy all the hired guns he doesn't already have working for him. Burdette's men cut the town off to prevent Chance from getting Joe into more secure surroundings, and then the hired guns come in, waiting around for their chance to break him out of jail. Chance has to wait for the United States marshal to show up, in six days, his only help from Stumpy (Walter Brennan), a toothless, cantankerous old deputy with a bad leg who guards the jail, and Dude (Dean Martin), his former deputy, who's spent the last two years stumbling around in a drunken stupor over a woman that left him. Chance's friend, trail boss Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), arrives at the outset of the siege and tries to help, offering the services of himself and his drovers as deputies, which Chance turns down, saying they're not professionals and would be too worried about their families to be good at anything except being targets for Burdette's men; but Chance does try to enlist the services of Wheeler's newest employee, a callow-looking young gunman named Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), who politely turns him down, saying he prefers to mind his own business. In the midst of all of this tension, Feathers (Angie Dickinson), a dance hall entertainer, arrives in town and nearly gets locked up by Chance for cheating at cards, until he finds out that he was wrong and that she's not guilty -- this starts a verbal duel between the two of them that grows more sexually intense as the movie progresses and she finds herself in the middle of Chance's fight. Wheeler is murdered by one of Burgette's hired guns who is, in turn, killed by Dude in an intense confrontation in a saloon. Colorado throws in with Chance after his boss is killed and picks up some of the slack left by Dude, who isn't quite over his need for a drink or the shakes that come with trying to stop. Chance and Burdette keep raising the ante on each other, Chance, Dude, and Colorado killing enough of the rancher's men that he's got to double what he's paying to make it worth the risk, and the undertaker (Joseph Shimada) gets plenty of business from Burdette before the two sides arrive at a stalemate -- Burdette is holding Dude and will release him in exchange for Joe. This leads to the final, bloody confrontation between Chance and Burdette, where the wagons brought to town by the murdered Wheeler play an unexpected and essential role in tipping the balance. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
The inspiration behind Rio Bravo originated with the outrage that John Wayne and director/producer Howard Hawks both felt over the 1952 western High Noon -- neither man appreciated that earlier movie's depiction of the town marshal (played by Gary Cooper) and his desperate appeal to the townspeople for help against the band of outlaws headed their way. And so the two of them, in conjunction with screenwriters Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman, set out to do a film in response, and the result was Rio Bravo, which was a complete inversion of High Noon in virtually every detail of its plot and structure. Both movies unfold in strictly linear fashion, but where High Noon takes place in real time, covering the life and death of a western town on a single morning in 85 minutes of screen time, Rio Bravo sets a surprisingly leisurely pace across nearly two and a half hours, telling a story spread across three days. Both movies utilize the services of composer Dimitri Tiomkin; but in contrast to High Noon's use of a central ballad that only the audience could hear, the centerpieces of Rio Bravo's score include a trumpet dirge that is very much in the consciousness of the characters; and the score also contains a pair of songs (one of them, "My Rifle, My Pony, And Me," adapted by Tiomkin from his own main title music for the 1948 Hawks/Wayne film Red River) sung by two of the characters. Finally, beyond its relationship to High Noon, Rio Bravo's most notable aesthetic attribute is its marvelously neat construction. As the opening credits roll, we see the wagons led by Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond) toward the Texas border town of Rio Bravo. Those wagons, as we later learn, contain dynamite, a cargo that will play an essential role in resolving the film's central plot conflict; and we glimpse Wheeler himself, whose friendship with Chance and whose offer of help will lead to his murder, an event that will drive the plot for the last two thirds of the movie, right through to the denouement. Rio Bravo was Bond's final film and it was a fitting send-off for Wayne's longtime friend -- his character is essential to the structure of the movie, introducing the town of Rio Bravo under the credits and providing the means by which Wayne can explain what is going on and why he and his deputies have to do this job alone. "Joe Burdette isn't worth one of those that would get killed," Chance tells Wheeler, who ends up the only man on the side of the law who is killed. The care with which Brackett and Furthman's screenplay lays out its material -- in what is essentially a moral, literary, and cinematic chess game -- is reflected throughout this "opening." Every key character and plot element is introduced within the first 30 minutes, along with the relationships that drive them, leading inexorably, move after move (not without some surprise twists) to the violent denouement. Rio Bravo was one of Wayne and Hawks's most successful and satisfying vehicles, which may help explain why they liked it so much and were so impressed with its potential for further exploration, that they remade it twice, once as El Dorado and once as Rio Lobo. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Rio Bravo is generally regarded as one of Hawks' best, and is notable for its scarcity of close-up shots. Only two appear in "Rio Bravo." In the opening scene where Joe shoots an unarmed man: Joe's revolver is shown in close-up, and later when Dude pours the whiskey back into a bottle.[citation needed] It features a long opening scene with absolutely no dialogue.[2] The film received favorable reviews, and was financially successful, earning over US$5.5 million.[citation needed]
The musical score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. His score contains the haunting tune "El Degüello," which is played several times to build tension.[3] A character (Colorado, played by Nelson) identifies the tune as "The Cutthroat Song". He relates the song's historical playing on the orders of Antonio López de Santa Anna to the Texans holed up in the Alamo to signify that no quarter would be given. The tune was used in the following year, over the opening credits of Wayne's film, The Alamo. Composer Ennio Morricone recalled director Sergio Leone requesting him to write "Dimitri Tiomkin music" for A Fistful of Dollars. The trumpet theme is similar to Tiomkin's "Deguella" while the Italian title of Rio Bravo was Un Dollaro D'onore.
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 contained 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 RiddleOrchestra, sings a specially composed song, "Rio Bravo." 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.
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.
Plot
Scene from Rio Bravo's trailer: Chance and "Feathers".
In the town of Rio Bravo, Dude ("Borachón"; played by Dean Martin), the town drunk, enters a saloon wanting a drink. Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), seeing Dude eying his glass, throws a silver dollar into a spittoon to mock him. Just as Dude goes for the spittoon, Presidio County, Texas, Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) kicks the spittoon away, looking at Dude with pity and disgust. As Chance turns to face Joe Burdette, Dude grabs a small piece of firewood and clubs Chance on the head, knocking him unconscious. Dude then starts toward Burdette, but two of his hired cow punchers grab Dude. Burdette starts to beat Dude with the two men holding him. A bystander grabs Burdette's arm so he can't swing on Dude again. Burdette draws his gun and shoots the bystander in the stomach. The close-up of Joe's revolver discharging is the first close-up in the film. Burdette then leaves the saloon and heads for another one thinking that he can do no wrong.
In the second saloon, after Burdette has another drink, Sheriff Chance enters with his Winchester aimed at Burdette, to arrest him for the murder of the bystander. One of Burdette's men then draws his Colt revolver on Chance and creates a stalemate. Dude enters behind two of Burdette's men and then takes the revolver of the man standing in front of him and shoots the gun out of the hand of the Burdette man. Chance then whips Burdette across the face with the rifle, knocking him unconscious. Chance and Dude drag Burdette out of the saloon, headed for the jail.
Joe Burdette is the brother of a powerful rancher, Nathan Burdette (John Russell). The rancher's men then quarantine the town in preparation to breaking Burdette out of jail. The only help Chance has are his deputies Dude and Stumpy (Walter Brennan), an old cripple. Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), a wagoneer, enters town with a wagon load of supplies from Fort Worth. Tensions are further strained by the presence of a young gunslinger hired by Wheeler to guard his wagons, Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), and the arrival of a mysterious woman, Feathers (Angie Dickinson), who becomes romantically involved with Chance.
High Noon debate
The film was made as a response to High Noon, which is sometimes thought to be an allegory for blacklisting in Hollywood, as well as a critique of McCarthyism, according to Graham.[4] Wayne teamed up with director Howard Hawks to tell the story his way. Hawks and Wayne were offended by High Noon; Johnson quotes Hawks as saying he didn't believe the marshal, played by Gary Cooper, would "go running around town like a chicken with his head off asking for help."[5] They were offended too that Kane was abandoned by almost everyone (except at the last minute his Quaker bride, played by Grace Kelly). In Rio Bravo, Chance is surrounded by allies—a deputy recovering from alcoholism, a young gunfighter, an old man, a Mexican innkeeper (Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez), his wife (Estelita Rodriguez), and an attractive young woman—and repeatedly turns down aid from anyone he doesn't think is capable of helping him, though in the final shootout they come to help him anyway.
Remakes and inspirations
John Wayne as Sheriff John T. Chance in the opening scene.
Remakes
The film has been informally remade twice as a Western, although on each occasion 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.
The first remake, El Dorado, was released in 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 farther 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 post-war Texas county thoroughly controlled by a rich, arrogant rancher. The heroes, with the exception of an old man similar to Brennan's 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
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.
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.
L'homme à l'étoile d'argent (The Man with the Silver Star), a 1969 comic from the French comic 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 morally less challenged Feathers, while instead of the Burdettes here we have the Bass brothers.
Footnotes
^ Harry Carey, Jr., was hired for Rio Bravo, but angered Hawks by calling him "Howard" rather than "Mr. Hawks." Carey was paid and received a screen credit, but his scenes were cut.[citation needed]
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