The important thing to remember about Rio Bravo above all else, in my mind, is that it exists largely because director Howard Hawks and star John Wayne both hated the politics of High Noon. High Noon was the allegorical story of Will Kane, almost completely abandoned by the town he protected for so long and was set up as a stand-in for the political turmoil of how McCarthyism ruined a lot of careers in Hollywood. As men whose careers were decidedly not ruined by McCarthyism and who were dyed in the wool, commie-hatin’ conservatives, Wayne and Hawks (especially Wayne) just did not like the idea of a town abandoning a lawman in his time of need out of a variety of selfish reasons. That just didn’t happen in Westerns, and as far as those guys were concerned, it didn’t happen in America, at least perhaps not to people who didn’t deserve it.
None of that has anything to do with whether or not Rio Bravo is a good movie.
Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) arrests Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) for murder. Joe is the kid brother to a wealthy land baron named Nathan (John Russell), and Nathan basically runs this town and has a lot of hired guns. Initially, all Chance has is Dude (Dean Martin) his formerly crack shot deputy who lost his edge as he descended into the bottle and became the town drunk, and Stumpy (eternal old man in movies Walter Brennan), an old timer with a bit of a limp who watches the jailhouse. More help will come with fresh-faced youngster Colorado (Ricky Nelson) and brash newcomer Feathers (Angie Dickinson). Together, the group will need to keep Joe locked up for about a week until the Marshall can come get him. In the meantime, Nathan has a lot of hired guns hanging around looking for openings.
Now, described that way, this sounds like it must be an exciting and tense movie. And, in many scenes, it is. Dude walking into a saloon full of potential killers, looking for the man who ran past him after he just took a shot at Chance, is a prime example of that. The scene plays out logically and tensely, and Dude’s drinking habit may be the thing that helps him find the guy at the exact right moment to prevent further tragedy. But honestly, this isn’t a very tense movie. I’ve heard it referred to as a “hang out” movie, meaning it seems to be mostly there as an excuse for the characters to just hang out with each other and enjoy each other’s company. And, if it’s done right, the audience will enjoy it too. Here, it is done right. There’s no need for Martin and Nelson to share a duet partway through the movie except to allow the two actors, with Martin in a rare dramatic roll, other than to allow the two to show off their singing voices, and quite frankly, it fits the sort of movie this is.
Indeed, for all that the situation is as dire as it should be, everyone seems to be very relaxed about what’s going on. Chance has time to go over to the local hotel and flirt/spar with Feathers, and since this is a Howard Hawks movie, she’s about as independent as a female character can get in 1959–Hawks was known for his strong women, after all–and the closest drama comes from whether or not Dude can stay on the wagon long enough to help his old boss out. Stumpy is almost entirely there for comic relief, and Colorado is in no rush to actually sign up for duty, simply coming across to issue a timely warning here or there. It’s not a bloodless movie, but most oft he deaths, aside from Ward Bond as a long time friend of Chance’s who can’t keep his mouth shut around town, comes to various minions and gunslingers as even both Burdette brothers survive the movie, with the heroes even coming out it without so much as a scratch. Dude gets knocked around a bit, and both he and Chance spend time unconscious, but neither of them ever seem to be in any danger of actually dying.
And yet, I had fun with this one. To be sure, High Noon is in many ways a much better movie, but there’s a lot of fun to be had with something like Rio Bravo as a group of people just hang out, enjoy each other’s company, and make sure that a murderer is brought to justice. Sure, it ends with Stumpy and Dude taking a walk and Chance and Feathers basically getting together, but this was never going to be a deep meditation on morality during the Cold War. It’s just meant to be fun, and it is quite a bit of fun at that.
Grade: A-
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