Rio Bravo (1959 film)

Río Bravo (original title: Rio Bravo) is a 1959 American film in the western genre. produced and directed by Howard Hawks, and with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, Claude Akins, Angie Dickinson and Ricky Nelson in the lead roles.

Plot

A bandit, Joe Burdette, has been arrested in Rio Bravo by John T. Chance, the town's sheriff, for murder with the help of his deputies, a murder that the Sheriff John T. Chance and one of his deputies, Dude, witnessed. Nathan Burdette, the wealthy landowner and brother of his, wants to save him from the gallows and therefore lays siege to the city and the city jail with the help of his henchmen. He also kills anyone who wants to help the sheriff in his quest to prosecute Joe.

The sheriff and his deputies notice over time how the pressure from their enemies grows greater the closer the day approaches when the state authorities must arrive in the city to take away Joe, realizing that they must stick together and overcome their personal limitations if they want to get out of the situation. Finally, after two failed attempts to free him, his henchmen manage to kidnap Dude and are willing to exchange him for Joe. Aware that they cannot allow it because the rich landowner would kill them for having witnessed everything that happened in order to end up saving Joe, they decide to face them to the death once they manage to free Dude.

After freeing Dude in that exchange and preventing Joe from escaping to his brother, the fight to the death begins and after a long shootout between the two parties, the sheriff and his team manage to defeat them and arrest them thanks to the advantage of having dynamite. The victory causes the remaining henchmen of the landlord to flee and thus the siege of the city and the jail are ended, which restores peace to the city.

Cast

• John Wayne: The Sheriff. John T. Chance.
• Dean Martin: Dude.
• Ricky Nelson: Colorado Ryan.
• Angie Dickinson: Feathers.
• Walter Brennan: Stumpy.
• Ward Bond: Pat Wheeler.
• John Russell: Nathan Burdette.
• Pedro González González: Carlos Robante.
• Estelita Rodríguez: Consuelo Robante.
• Claude Akins: Joe Burdette.
• Malcolm Atterbury: Jake.

Production

When writing the script, there were almost always a couple of good options available to resolve each situation, and this allowed years later to use part of the discarded material to film El Dorado (1966), a twilight film by Howard Hawks that takes up the theme of the sheriff "alone in the face of danger".

The film was shot between May and July 1958. The film also had the alternate title A Bull by the Tail. The song "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" was the melodic main theme of another Western film, from 1948: Rio Rojo (Red River), also with a main performance. by John Wayne and directed by Howard Hawks. Ricky Nelson (a youthful musical star of the moment) stars in the film. This publicity quip allowed the film to be seen by a young audience who did not know Howard Hawks.

Rio Bravo was a reaction by Hawks to another western of the time, Alone in the Face of Danger (High Noon, 1952) by Fred Zinnemann. In Zinnemann's film, a beleaguered sheriff (Gary Cooper) desperately pleads for help and no one provides, unprofessional behavior according to Hawks. In Hawks' film, the sheriff in danger does not ask for help to protect friends and neighbors, he acts professionally and yet everyone offers it selflessly, something that would later be very valuable to him. films are radically different approaches and Howard Hawks shows once again in his films the hero as a strong man (usually accompanied by strong women) who must get himself out of his problems, a character who knows how to behave and what he should do at all times.

Reception

The film was released in the United States on April 4, 1959 and in Spain on November 23, 1959. The film was a box office success and is considered one of Howard Hawks' best works. The film is considered one of the best westerns in the history of cinema, so complete that it has been frequently imitated by other filmmakers. Hawks himself repeated the film scheme in El Dorado (1966) and Río Lobo (1969).

Awards

• The film was second in the Golden Laurel prize list in the drama category. Also, Dean Martin stayed second on this list as the best actor.
• Howard Hawks was a candidate for the Directors' Union Awards awarded by the United States Directors' Union (U.S.)Directors Guild of America).
• Despite being considered one of the best westerns from the history of cinema and counting names as illustrious as Howard Hawks or John Wayne, the film was left out of the Oscars race.