Rio Bravo (1959)
Genre: Western / Drama
Duration: 141 minuten
Alternative title: Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo
Country:
United States
Directed by: Howard Hawks
Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson
IMDb score:
8,0 (73.162)
Releasedate: 17 March 1959
Rio Bravo plot
"They fought back to back... No quarter given... No quarter asked... No way in... No way out... of Rio Bravo!"
John T. Chance, sheriff in a small town in the Wild West, has put a murderer in prison. However, he fears that the villain's influential brother will come to free him. Chance gets help from Stumpy, a crippled old man, and Dude, an alcoholic, to guard the prisoner until the marshall arrives who can deliver the killer to the nearest judge.
Actors and actresses
John Chance
Dude
Colorado Ryan
Feathers
Stumpy
Pat Wheeler
Nathan Burdette
Carlos Robante
Consuela Robante
Joe Burdette
Reviews & comments
Shadowed
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- 11421 messages
- 6719 votes
hmm.
Last week I saw The Searchers and it was not too bad for me. Because of this I also had faith in Rio Bravo, a western that also has Wayne. The plot description also sounded quite interesting. Still, this didn't quite work out for me.
The overwhelmingly slow pace is especially the knot around the neck of the film. It doesn't really get going anywhere. We're looking at a lot of dialogue between characters that don't really captivate. You hope that there will be another Leone moment somewhere, but they can't be found here either.
The dialogues are just not that interesting. Wayne is okay acting and the other roles are not bad at all, but there is just something unique or peculiar missing. The villains are pretty boring and the good guys don't really want to get off the ground either.
The setting is very successful, nicely constructed decor again, but that is also necessary with this kind of westerns. Often well portrayed, although it is all safely orchestrated. The director takes little risk to shoot a really special shot. But there's enough color and enough detail to make up for that a bit.
The action is a bit slow, despite a fairly spectacular final. Everything in between is a bit easy and above all quickly over. You're looking at the story for 141 minutes, but with characters that just don't get off the ground. The story gets a bit boring after an hour. It is also not very special, so such a long playing time is not really necessary.
I miss something unique about the film. All nicely colored, good acting and a decent finale, but the dialogues are a bit weaker, the pace is too slow and the characters themselves a bit boring. Brennan is supposed to be the odd bird, but his type is also somewhat repetitive. Too bad, because it could all have been fun.
Translated from Dutch · View original
T.O.
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- 2427 messages
- 2805 votes
I thought the first half was very good, nice opening scene and then a very entertaining pace with a big pass in all areas. Somewhere around the singing of the songs it starts to become very conventional 50s work. That Stumpy is also getting more annoying and Angie Dickinson has a pretty dull character despite her nice presence. Anyway, that's not all that bad, it's just a fun movie.
Translated from Dutch · View original
blurp194
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- 5543 messages
- 4226 votes
Rio Bravo - the first part in the triptych Rio Bravo - El Dorado - Rio Lobo, and probably the best of the three, although I have to say that I still have to review the other two. For what I remember at least the thinnest story of the three, but also a textbook example of how little story a western needs to fill 141 minutes without it seeming long. Halfway through another piece of musical without it being annoying, Angie Dickinson who is dragged in with her beautiful hair for a completely unbelievable romance, and of course the biggest western cliché of all: the bad guys don't hit a barn just a step away, but become like tin ducks put down at the fair. And the dynamite cart is also a bit obvious, thanks to Howard Hawks' daughter who wrote the script. Hawks and Wayne made the film in response to High Noon, because they disagreed with what they thought was an un-American story in that film. Still, the question is whether that really turned out differently in this variant - all things considered, the strength of the strong arm of the law is mainly based on the pen with which the script is written, and not on reality.
Still, it really is a piece of craftsmanship. The timing with which the whole rolls on without too many outliers, the soundtrack with the genius use of El Deguello, the annoying whinny of Stumpy and the trembling hands of Dean Martin, and the flower pot at Colorado's intervention. And of course Angie Dickinson. How you can still make a strong film with a handful of empty elements.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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