I feel like Rio Bravo is the forgotten classic Western. The Searchers is the definitive John Wayne western. High Noon is the one that's the favorite movie of several Presidents. The Magnificent Seven has the connection back to Kurosawa. Leone's Spaghetti Westerns have their own place in pop culture. Stagecoach more of less marks the beginning of the western movie genre. The Wild Bunch is when the genre really lost its innocence. Latter day westerns like Unforgiven or Tombstone mark the attempts to resuscitate the never truly dead genre. As I started pursuing the best westerns in earnest, Rio Bravo is by far the highest regarded one that I'd never heard of. Some of that is certainly a coincidence of my exact circumstances. I assume it's also because Rio Bravo has no grand legacy. It's not the first or final role of anyone. It didn't win someone their Oscar. I can't think of any famous lines or shots from the movie. It's not emblematic of an era. The closest comparison I can find for it is Tombstone, because both Rio Bravo and Tombstone are just fun westerns.
I just plain enjoyed watching this movie. John Wayne is "the Duke". Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson are charmingly anachronistic. The characters are all familiar types who bounce off each other well. I love the "defending the outpost" story. It's why The Two Towers is my favorite of the Lord of the Rings movies.
Most of my issue
with the movie a baked into the genre and the era. Like, the age gap between
John Wayne and Angie Dickinson is pretty absurd, but I'm about 60 years too late
for that complaint. I wish Howard Hawks had ratcheted up the tension a little
more. It kind of dragged in the middle. Overall, this is among the best
westerns I've seen yet, especially of the classics.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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