Rio Bravo, 1959.
Directed by Howard Hawks.
Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, and Estelita Rodriguez.
SYNOPSIS:
Warner Bros.’ 100th anniversary celebration continues with their release of the classic 1959 western Rio Bravo. It looks and sounds great, of course, and it comes with a code for a digital copy, but fans will want to hold onto their older discs since this edition only has a commentary track.
Hollywood westerns began to fade as the middle of the 20th century ended and the old studio system began to fall apart in the 1960s and 70s, but 1959’s Rio Bravo proved that the genre still had plenty of life left in it.
Starring stalwart John Wayne and crooners Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, with Angie Dickinson in a breakout role and a script by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackets (the latter name is well-known to many Star Wars fans; she wrote the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back), this is a small-town western helmed by the always dependable Howard Hawks.
Wayne plays Sheriff John T. Chance, who arrests the brother of a wealthy rancher for murder and must keep him secure from the men who want to release him until a US Marshal can arrive. His support group consists of a crippled old deputy known as Stumpy (Walter Brennan), a former deputy struggling to stay sober who goes by Dude (Martin), and a young gunslinger known as Colorado Ryan who’s trying to prove himself (Nelson).
Dickinson enters the film as “Feathers,” the widow of a gambler who’s trying her own luck at playing cards. Chance tries to get her to leave town, but she sticks around to help in any way she can, and of course the two begin to fall for each other. However, they won’t be able to have much of a relationship if they can’t hold off the men trying to break into the jail and free a killer.
Warner Bros. commissioned a remaster of Rio Bravo that returns the film to its Technicolor-infused glory. As with so many films on 4K Ultra HD, you’re getting the pinnacle of presentation for a classic movie. This should be the last edition of this film that fans have to buy.
Unfortunately, they’ll want to hang onto their older discs, since Warner only included a code for a digital copy of the film. There’s no Blu-ray containing the movie and the legacy extras, which has started to become a trend with the studio’s recent 4K Ultra HD releases. Even when that extra Blu-ray is the same disc that’s been issued before, at least we still get the bonus features.
In this case, the lone extra is a legacy commentary track featuring director John Carpenter and film critic Richard Schickel. Carpenter may seem like an unusual choice for a Rio Bravo commentary track, but he’s actually a big fan of the movie who used it as inspiration for his own film Assault on Precinct 13.
Carpenter is the kind of filmmaker who never shies away from voicing his opinions, and he’s on point here as he and Schickel discuss the film, its place in Hollywood history, the particulars around its production, and much more. It’s a worthwhile track for Rio Bravo fans, but it’s a bummer that the older extras, which included a documentary about Hawks, aren’t found here.
I should note that if you redeem the digital copy on Movies Anywhere, you get the trailer and the 8.5-minute featurette Old Tucson: Where the Legends Walked. It’s better than nothing, but it does make me wonder why Warner Bros. didn’t toss digital copies of the rest of the legacy extras in there too. Oh well.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published August 3, 2023. Updated April 22, 2024.
