Howard Hawks directs John Wayne, Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson in this classic western where the sheriff arrests a wrong ‘un, finds himself under siege and must hold the town down for a week until the marshall arrives to take the bad guy off his hands.

Of course Angie Dickinson is smoking hot in this. But there is something particularly stellar, indelible about her turn in Rio Bravo. Street smart yet coy, statuesque yet juicy. She looks like a million poker hands won and acts as a distraction to all the tension and posturing. Hawks knows exactly how to get the best out of an actress. People often accuse Wayne of being one note. Yet he has a tender generous side with his female co-stars. The arc of romance is often the same. He’ll try to dominate, but the strangeness of the feminine in his world makes him take a step back, softens him. He’ll become both befuddled and paternal, show a side less taciturn and aggressive… trip up over the right action to declare his love or be pig headed that his minor change in his tenets should be enough without all that grand gesturing, bended knee hooey. All the characters here are dressed in almost pop art block colours. And their shifts from shabby to dude, from showgirl to one of the boys says something. Only the Duke never changes from his white hat and red heart. There are different layers but each one pure and only hung up for appearances. It makes for a beautiful (almost cartoon, almost graphic art) vision of the Wild West.

Anyway, our hero doesn’t have time to change his duds, let alone go through an emotional journey. Like Jack Bauer or John McClane the mission shouldn’t allow for rest stops, toilet breaks and wardrobe changes. Except that is all Rio Bravo actually is. Filling the time before the Burdettes and their hired guns try another full scale attack. There’s lots of banter, romance, pained stand-offs, two musical numbers in a row (pop stars Martin and Ricky Nelson in the adventure’s most unlikely yet richest set piece), a sidekick sobering up and returning to glory, a woman slowly getting her man after a long time in the unkind wilderness. Wayne envisioned the project as a catty answer song to High Noon. There a hero can find no help from his town when death comes riding in. In Wayne’s rebuttal, his man of action is bogged down in offers of help. He can’t refuse them fast enough. By the last hour our man of the law has capitulated. The community is so on his side that there barely isn’t a citizen who isn’t deputised. And with his back got, guns loaded and a handy wagon of dynamite waiting near the big showdown, he gives up on being besieged and takes the war to the Burdettes’ doorstep.

Now as big action goes for this era, that last twenty is a knee slapper of peow-peow and explosions. But the middle section can feel a little draggy if you just bought a ticket to see Wayne lay down the law. The story doesn’t really progress for a long old while. The characters just hang out in different permutations. That can play pretty cool, but also a little static. Wayne is good humoured and doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Martin is given a rich subplot as he finds his feet again after a year in the gutter, drunk after heartbreak. Career best work from Dino. Walter Brennan supplies crotchety humour, which I can take or leave. Nelson is a half pint Elvis clone and never really convinces as the fastest draw in Colorado. Yet Angie Dickinson as the card sharp trying to outrun a bad reputation… her I could hole up with for days. She ignites the ensemble with her wit, poise and unforced chemistry. To modern eyes, she galvanises Rio Bravo.

9

Perfect Double Bill: High Noon (1952)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/