CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

Rio Bravo

Director

Howard Hawks

Year

1959

Rating

Reviewed by

Gon C Curiel a.k.a. Groucho

Review date

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) finds himself in real trouble after he captures the brother of a corrupt cattle ranger who’s also a part of a fierce gang. Since the US Marshals will arrive in some days, the prisoner, who was caught killing a man in cold blood, must be kept in the town jail, but his gang will do anything to free him. Chance finds himself mostly alone in a fight against a brutal enemy, for no one is willing to help… or is it? Oh yeah, there are helpers: a recently sworn drunkard (Dean Martin), a trigger-happy youngster (Ricky Nelson), a gorgeous showgirl (Angie Dickinson) and a limping older man (Walter Brennan). They are an unlikely team all right, but they might as well hold the prisoner a prisoner, though it won’t be easy...

This very entertaining western is very peculiar in the way that no aspect in it is really extraordinary: the shots are plain and straightforward, there are no close-ups, the score by Dimitri Tiomkin is not exactly ground-breaking, the pace is kinda slow, the action scenes are good but not great, and the performances are average, except for Dean Martin, who’s spectacular, and Walter Brennan, who’s also a standout... BUT there is something hard to explain about this movie, a combination of little, sometimes hard to spot factors, that make it so great. In the end, it turns out to be something completely unique and grandly entertaining, though it’s hard to name the reasons. Did you notice I found it hard?

Let me try: the story makes you think it will all be tension, but instead, there’s place for comedy, and music. And poignancy. And drama. And comedy again. There’s no way Chance can go back to that jail without Brennan saying something incredibly funny; and there’s no way Martin’s character does not touch your heart. Even Wayne’s romance with Dickinson rings true. The whole team becomes one of cinema’s greatest teams, one of those bumbling teams that isn’t really, but is remembered as such. I really can’t think of a way to catalogue this movie, but it is a western indeed, and a good one too, with lots of action and drama, that simply works... to perfection.

“If I ever saw a man holdin' the bull by the tail, you're it.”

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