Comments on: Rio Bravo (1959)

By: The great and debatable Red River | Piddleville

The great and debatable Red River | Piddleville — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:08:22 +0000

[...] If, like me, you tend to associate John Wayne with John Ford, keep in mind he made something like five movies with Howard Hawks, at least two of which should be on any list of best westerns: Red River and Rio Bravo. [...]

By: True Grit: the last old western?

True Grit: the last old western? — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:41:15 +0000

[...] he plays, is a synthesis of a number of characters he’s played in movies like The Searchers, Rio Bravo and even Donovan’s Reef. I suppose you could argue that the Oscar was for his career because, in [...]

By: Real-time does not negate past-time — Piddleville

Real-time does not negate past-time — Piddleville — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:56:37 +0000

[...] very particular (a movie, often searched with a particular year associated with the title, like Rio Bravo 1959) and finding it. People don’t land on the same page; they land on a wide variety of pages – [...]

By: Dave Schlom

Dave Schlom — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:41:15 +0000

I rediscovered this film recently and curiously, have been watching it a lot at bedtime as a way to relax and go to sleep. Not that the film is sleep inducing — it just has a nice familiar 1959 feel that makes me feel comfortable.

What amazes me is that I have watched this film over an over for the past few months and never seem to tire of it. Don’t know of any other western like that. This is a film that, like a great piece of music, grows upon you with the second and third (OK in my case excessive 30th!) watching.

The opening segment is worth noting for its sylistic tone — reminds me of a stage play rather than a movie. While some have objected to the Martin-Nelson duet in the latter half of the film, the song “My Rifle, My Pony and Me,” is a classic piece of Americana sung by an American icon (Martin) at the height of his powers. He soars as an actor in this film and let’s us glimpse the talent that he never fully expressed in his career because he was thought of mainly as a singer.