Rio Bravo
HOWARD HAWKS, 1959
3 STARS OUT OF 5
If anything has changed in my estimation of Rio Bravo, considering this is my second viewing and the first was a month and a half ago, it might be that I previously underestimated how wholesome it is. It's a strange thing to say for a film with so much gunplay, and, when all is said and done, so much killing, but my buddy who dropped by (the one allowed to come through during quarantine) said it felt like a "family western". Considering the faces, including Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, who I was schooled on the first time around, as well as the many considerations that had to be made to portray a wild west without making it too wild, it may not be too far off-base. It's bloodless, sexless, and curse-less; the good guys are clearly defined, if also a crew of misfits, on the side of law-and-order, and win at the end with a flourish. I had a lot of fun with it this second time around, as I did with the first, but just feeling a little more aware of it, especially since I've seen Blazing Saddles and The Wild Bunch in the interim.
John Wayne and Walter Brennan are major highlights, both thriving in roles simply made for them. Wayne always seems to be carrying a few skeletons around with him, as if John T. Chance, as a sheriff, always carries a bit of irony in it. Brennan as Stumpy is just A+ comic relief throughout. Every word that comes out of his mouth is golden, and the banter between Chance and Stumpy is always bitter and hilarious. It's too fitting that Stumpy turns up to throw the dynamite that Chance shoots and blows up to finally bring the sinister Burdette clan to its knees at the climax. They've been doing that in one form or another the entire film.
There's more to Rio Bravo than the banter, though that's my favorite part. There are also the action scenes that propel things forward and bring them to the final shootout. I will not lie, I'm a little more conflicted by the random bodies being blown away this time around, no matter what side they are on. This is very much a film about a western town under siege by a lawless clan, so you'd expect John T. to get a little creative, for bullets to fly, and Hawks and his crew piece it together with continuity and pace. The Dean Martin character, Dude, is a bit more of a wildcard. He's a fairly standard redemption story that caught my interest a little more the first time. This time, I still rooted for him when he decided to take the lead pursuing a killer at a saloon full of Burdette's people, but the scene where he pushes the whiskey away once and for all is fairly contrived. Like everyone else, he's at his best when he's bullshitting with Stumpy. Feathers as John T.'s much younger love interest is portrayed in a playfully seductive manner by Angie Dickinson, and is a bit of a mystery for much of the film outside of her devotion to the sheriff. She came into town and John T. fits her description to a handbill he has fairly quickly, adding another misfit to the pot, but her presence isn't all so consequential to the direction of the film.
Rio Bravo is entertaining fare and has played an important role in my foray into westerns. It's fluid, energetic, and has at least a few memorable personalities. However, I've found myself getting a lot more out of the out-and-out high-minded The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the revisionist The Wild Bunch, or the satirical Blazing Saddles. Even the depravity written on much of Once Upon a Time in the West rings truer. Then, it feels a little harsh to bury Rio Bravo, though other westerns expose it as a bit too wholesome for what it is. At its best, it's a fun, engaging ride with a crew of flawed, but still obviously good guys putting up for their sense of right and the sake of their town.