<\/span><\/h2>\nWhat can we say that hasn\u2019t already been said about \u201cRio Bravo\u201d? Whereas \u201cThe Searchers\u201d, magnificent though it is, can be an intense film to watch in certain parts, it feels with \u201cRio Bravo\u201d as though you\u2019re dropping in to visit a group of old friends and you want to spend as much time with them as you possibly can.<\/p>\n
The opening sequence to the movie plays almost like a silent movie with no real dialogue to speak of right up until the moment Chance arrests Joe Burdette.<\/p>\n
The slow strumming of the guitar in the background as Dude slinks in through the rear of the saloon looking for his next drink. The first full shot of Duke as he tries to save Dude from further degradation, kicking a spittoon away as Dude goes to retrieve a silver dollar thrown into it by villain Joe Burdette, played by Claude Akins.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a superior example of classic filmmaking from one of the few directors to match John Ford in both cinematic style and mastery of film language.<\/p>\n
The film is a complete delight from the minute Dean Martin steps furtively through the back door of the saloon looking for a drink right through to the end when he and Walter Brennan walk down the street with Angie Dickinson\u2019s tights wound around Brennan\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n
Despite a running time over 140 minutes, \u201cRio Bravo\u201d has a very basic story. Chance (Wayne) and his compatriots Dude (Dean Martin), Stumpy (Walter Brennan) and Colorado (Ricky Nelson) are besieged by a group of outlaws wanting to get their friend out of jail before the marshal arrives.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the whole plot in a nutshell but it\u2019s the amazing array of aforementioned characters that beguile, on top of which you get a marvellous group of supporting actors as well to round things out including John Russell, Claude Akins and the ever-dependable Ward Bond.<\/p>\n
![\"Angie](\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Angie-Dickinson-3.jpg\")
Let\u2019s not forget Angie Dickinson as card-sharp Feathers either.<\/p>\n
On the face of it the actress would, these days anyway, be considered a bit too young to play Wayne\u2019s love interest, but the disparity in age between Chance and Feathers doesn\u2019t really register that much, mainly due to the directing talent of Howard Hawks, who more often than not showcased strong female characters in his films.<\/p>\n
After all, Lauren Bacall was only nineteen when she appeared opposite Humphrey Bogart in \u201cTo Have and Have Not\u201d, yet carried herself convincingly in a rather more mature manner.<\/p>\n
Hawks pulls off the same trick with Dickinson in \u201cRio Bravo\u201d, the relationship between her and Wayne a cause for celebration rather than a questionable liaison between an older man and a younger woman.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a palpable sexual chemistry between the two of them that you rarely witness in other Wayne films, so it comes as no surprise within the context of the story when they both end up in bed together midway through the film.<\/p>\n
The action is sporadic, to say the least, but when it happens it happens quickly, after which the rhythm of the film settles once again into a slow, almost meandering examination of the dynamics of the group, a theme Hawks explores in quite a few of his other movies.<\/p>\n
Our favourite moments are those that catch the audience off-guard: Chance suddenly kissing Stumpy on the forehead, the impromptu singing session in the jailhouse, Stumpy offering up an exaggerated, and what appears to be an unscripted impression of Chance, which prompts Dean Martin to almost dissolve in a fit of giggles, Dude clumping Chance with a piece of wood when denied the opportunity to retrieve a silver dollar from a spittoon, then Chance whacking Joe Burdette, in the same manner, a few moments later, although everyone knows damn well it\u2019s Dude he\u2019s mad at.<\/p>\n
We could go on in a similar manner for quite a while but we know all of you are just as familiar with the film as we are so do yourselves a favour and go put the movie on right now and spend some time with those friends of ours. You won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n
So, no surprise that \u201cRio Bravo\u201d takes the number one spot in our trawl through the films that John Wayne appeared in for director Howard Hawks. Next up we\u2019ll be taking a look at JWs body of work with the four-times Academy Award winning director John Ford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Howard Hawks was more of a \u201cgenre-hopper\u201d as opposed to a director known for working in one specific type of movie. He made screwball comedies (\u201cBringing Up Baby\u201d, \u201cHis Girl Friday\u201d), gangster and crime thrillers (\u201cScarface\u201d, \u201c The Big Sleep\u201d) … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5782"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5792,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5782\/revisions\/5792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}