Rio Conchos (1964)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Joseph Landon (screenplay) and
Clair Huffaker (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

27 November 1964 (West Germany)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Two Army officers, an alcoholic ex-Confederate soldier and a womanizing Mexican travel to Mexico on...

Plot Keywords:

Apache | Confederate | Knife Throwing | Post Civil War | Burning Building

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Boone	...	Maj. James 'Jim' Lassiter
Stuart Whitman	...	Capt. Haven
Anthony Franciosa	...	Juan Luis Rodriguez / Juan Luis Martinez (as Tony Franciosa)
Jim Brown	...	Sgt. Franklyn
Wende Wagner	...	Sally (Apache girl)
Warner Anderson	...	Col. Wagner
Rodolfo Acosta	...	Bloodshirt (Apache chief)
Barry Kelley	...	Croupier at Presidio
Vito Scotti	...	Bandit chief
House Peters Jr.	...	Maj. Johnson
Kevin Hagen	...	Maj. Johnson / Blondebeard
Edmond O'Brien	...	Col. Theron 'Gray Fox' Pardee

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:16 | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Film debut of Jim Brown. He gave up his football career, at its peak, to try acting.

Quotes:

Bloodshirt: You know I speak true. Here
[hand on his heart]
Bloodshirt: we are like brothers. Same death, same alone, no wife, no child, only left to kill, to die.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jim Brown: All American (2002) (TV)

Crepuscular western.

This is an offbeat work which cinematography is very intriguing.An autumnal light,landscapes which borders on ochre (even the river is not blue),in short,a crepuscular western ,with elements we used to find in John Ford's work and a character (O'Brien) whom John Huston would not disown but also,in the shadow,clues which directly lead to violent bloody Peckinpahesque westerns.

Take the sequence when Boone discovers the baby:at first sight,it looks like a "three godfathers" rip-off.Like in Ford's movie,we do not see the woman,but here Boone is forced to finish off the mother;and as for the baby,his fate is sealed as well.The connection with John Huston? O'Brien 's character, a confederate general who's still waging a war which is already lost:see him command his ludicrous army,rebuild the desirable mansions of the south;this kind of person is unusual in westerns.Too bad this soldier's part should be so underwritten,he's much more interesting than Whitman's and Franciosa's rather conventional characters - Franciosa whose actor's studio "method" acting is not suited to westerns-.

The violence of the final scenes with the Indians when the three men are tortured is particularly stunning,and the directing is ruthless.But the most significant scene shows the baby's bloodstained clothes (his mother's blood).

Although too long and sometimes tedious ,its several incredible moments make it all worthwhile.

As O'Brien's Henchman, we find Kevin Hagen ,who will be good doctor Baker in "little house" series in the seventies.