Rio Bravo

film by Hawks [1959]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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Article History

Rio Bravo, American western film, released in 1959, that was one of the most enduring collaborations between director Howard Hawks and star John Wayne.

Sheriff John T. Chance (played by Wayne) presides over the small Texas town of Rio Bravo. When Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) is arrested for murder, his wealthy brother Nathan (John Russell) assembles a virtual army to free him. Chance transforms the jail into a fortified refuge while awaiting help from other lawmen. Turning down assistance from well-meaning but inexperienced locals, he joins forces with Dude (Dean Martin), a former deputy who is now the town drunk; Stumpy (Walter Brennan), an elderly cantankerous deputy; and Colorado (Rick Nelson), a charismatic teenager who is more than adept at handling a gun. They are also aided by Feathers (Angie Dickinson), a local girl of dubious repute. Chance is eventually captured by Nathan and his men, who threaten to kill him unless a prisoner exchange is implemented. While enacting the swap, Chance breaks free, and a spectacular shoot-out ensues, with Nathan and his men ultimately surrendering.

Rio Bravo deftly mixes tension with overt humour. Among the first-rate cast, Martin was particularly good in this early dramatic role, and Brennan practically stole the picture as the cantankerous deputy. The film was made in response to High Noon (1952), which centres on a lawman who spends much of the movie asking for, but being denied, help by cowardly townspeople. Both Hawks and Wayne were angered by the film, with Wayne calling it un-American. Rio Bravo was a commercial success, and the two men all but remade the movie twice, in El Dorado (1967) and in Rio Lobo (1970), Hawks’s final film.