Rio Bravo
1959
Director: Howard Hawks
Starring: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan
Howard Hawks didn’t like High Noon. Apparently, he didn’t like how the character of the sheriff played by Gary Cooper was dependent on the townspeople, the ones who turned their backs on him. Hawks held fast to the idea that a sheriff in a classic western should be strong, dependent on no one. So he made Rio Bravo to have a similar situation to High Noon, but a different leading character.
Sheriff Chance (Wayne, playing Wayne), has arrested Joe Burdette, the brother of an infamous wealthy criminal Nathan Burdette. Figuring that Nathan will come gunning for his brother, he enlists the help of Dude (Martin), an alcoholic trying to go straight, Colorado (Nelson), a young gunfighter, and Stumpy (Brennan), a crippled prison guard.
This is straight-up classic western, down to the good guys wearing white and the bad guys wearing black. There’s no attempt to make it any more than what it is, which is exactly what makes it fun. It’s just a tale of good versus evil in the idealized American west. I really can’t fault it for that; personally, I tend to like my westerns with more bite, more of a message, or with more characters who have shades of grey. But y’know, sometimes, you just want a classic western, and that’s what Rio Bravo is.
