Rio Bravo (1959)
Country: US
Technical: col 141m
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan
Synopsis:
The sheriff of a frontier town and his deputies fight against a scheming rancher to uphold the rule of law.
Review:
Like the eponymous river, only referenced by Dean Martin in the closing frames of the film, this leisurely western ambles gently along, charting the at once tough and sensitive dynamics between professional men of action in a way which Hawks had made his own (cf. Only Angels Have Wings, To Have and Have Not). The focus on relationships and dialogue at the expense of robust action (though there is some of that too) make it an almost European Western - no wonder the French love it so much! The tenderness exhibited between male characters is indeed feminine - emphasised by the soft-voiced and frankly pretty Ricky Nelson - and as usual it is with the leading lady that the hero is tongue-tied, leading her to adopt the dominant, masculine role. The film was so successful with the formula that Hawks re-worked it again in El Dorado, and Rio Lobo (both q.v.). Highlights are the unstoppably loquacious Feathers (Dickinson) and the similarly querulous Stumpy (Brennan); Tiomkin delivers his characteristic musical punctuation and the colour has a cosiness that chimes perfectly with the settings and spirit of this impeccably re-watchable movie.
Country: US
Technical: col 141m
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan
Synopsis:
The sheriff of a frontier town and his deputies fight against a scheming rancher to uphold the rule of law.
Review:
Like the eponymous river, only referenced by Dean Martin in the closing frames of the film, this leisurely western ambles gently along, charting the at once tough and sensitive dynamics between professional men of action in a way which Hawks had made his own (cf. Only Angels Have Wings, To Have and Have Not). The focus on relationships and dialogue at the expense of robust action (though there is some of that too) make it an almost European Western - no wonder the French love it so much! The tenderness exhibited between male characters is indeed feminine - emphasised by the soft-voiced and frankly pretty Ricky Nelson - and as usual it is with the leading lady that the hero is tongue-tied, leading her to adopt the dominant, masculine role. The film was so successful with the formula that Hawks re-worked it again in El Dorado, and Rio Lobo (both q.v.). Highlights are the unstoppably loquacious Feathers (Dickinson) and the similarly querulous Stumpy (Brennan); Tiomkin delivers his characteristic musical punctuation and the colour has a cosiness that chimes perfectly with the settings and spirit of this impeccably re-watchable movie.
Country: US
Technical: col 141m
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan
Synopsis:
The sheriff of a frontier town and his deputies fight against a scheming rancher to uphold the rule of law.
Review:
Like the eponymous river, only referenced by Dean Martin in the closing frames of the film, this leisurely western ambles gently along, charting the at once tough and sensitive dynamics between professional men of action in a way which Hawks had made his own (cf. Only Angels Have Wings, To Have and Have Not). The focus on relationships and dialogue at the expense of robust action (though there is some of that too) make it an almost European Western - no wonder the French love it so much! The tenderness exhibited between male characters is indeed feminine - emphasised by the soft-voiced and frankly pretty Ricky Nelson - and as usual it is with the leading lady that the hero is tongue-tied, leading her to adopt the dominant, masculine role. The film was so successful with the formula that Hawks re-worked it again in El Dorado, and Rio Lobo (both q.v.). Highlights are the unstoppably loquacious Feathers (Dickinson) and the similarly querulous Stumpy (Brennan); Tiomkin delivers his characteristic musical punctuation and the colour has a cosiness that chimes perfectly with the settings and spirit of this impeccably re-watchable movie.