Rio Lobo (1970)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

Leigh Brackett (screenplay)
Burton Wohl (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 December 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Western | Romance | War

Tagline:

Give 'Em Hell, John.

Plot:

After the Civil War, Cord McNally searches for the traitor whose perfidy caused the defeat of McNally's unit and the loss of a close friend.

Plot Keywords:

Sheriff | Texas | Traitor | Colonel | Civil War

Cast

John Wayne	...	Col. Cord McNally
Jorge Rivero	...	Capt. Pierre Cordona aka Frenchy
Jennifer O'Neill	...	Shasta Delaney
Jack Elam	...	Phillips
Christopher Mitchum	...	Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips
Victor French	...	Ketcham (boss of Rio Lobo)
Susana Dosamantes	...	Maria Carmen (Tuscarora's girlfriend)
Sherry Lansing	...	Amelita
David Huddleston	...	Dr. Ivor Jones (Rio Lobo dentist)
Mike Henry	...	Rio Lobo Sheriff 'Blue Tom' Hendricks
Bill Williams	...	Blackthorne Sheriff Pat Cronin
Jim Davis	...	Rio Lobo Deputy
Dean Smith	...	L / Cpl. Bide
Robert Donner	...	Whitey Carter (Rio Lobo deputy)
George Plimpton	...	4th Gunman

Also Known As:

San Timoteo

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 (new rating) | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:G | Australia:M | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

Film debut of Peter Jason.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Leaving Ketchum's home, a body double is used for John Wayne. There seems to be no reason for it as it is a benign scene requiring very little physical exertion.

Quotes:

Shasta: [after McNaly slugs a bad guy from behind] Well you certainly *took* long enough! I was running out of things to *say*!
Cord McNally: *That*, I *can't* believe!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Daria: Camp Fear (#5.4)" (2001)

RIO LOBO (Howard Hawks, 1970) ***

While hardly the most auspicious of swan songs, Hawks’ underrated final film sees a reprise of some of his favorite themes – including the siege/hostage exchange situation from RIO BRAVO (1959), a Western he had already partially remade as EL DORADO (1966); incidentally, John Wayne starred in all three titles.

It opens with an elaborate gold shipment robbery from a moving train by Confederate soldiers; Wayne is a Unionist Colonel who goes after the culprits but, the war over, befriends ‘enemies’ Jorge Rivero and Chris Mitchum when they reveal the identity of a couple of Yankee traitors – one is a deputy sheriff and the other an unscrupulous landowner (Victor French). The film shares its partnership-between-Union-and-Confederate-soldiers angle with Wayne’s earlier Western THE UNDEFEATED (1969) – but, Hawks being Hawks, it’s presented here in a far more complex (and rewarding) manner.

As is usual for the director, a spirited female protagonist is thrown into the fray – in this case, Jennifer O’Neill as a traveling-show performer who falls foul of French and his dastardly sheriff (Mike Henry); of course, she becomes romantically involved with Rivero – a situation Wayne observes with bemusement. Jack Elam is a delight as Mitchum’s trigger-happy coot of a foster parent, making him an ideal replacement for the Walter Brennan of RIO BRAVO. The film also features an unusually wistful score for a genre effort courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith.

All things considered, however, RIO LOBO still emerges as the least of the loose Wayne/Hawks Western trilogy: this is chiefly due to severe undercasting when compared to the earlier efforts – with, say, Rivero being no match for James Caan from EL DORADO. Though a lot of exposition is necessary for the various plot threads to fall into place, the film (co-scripted by Hawks regular Leigh Brackett) provides plenty of action throughout its almost 2-hour length. The climax is exciting and well-staged, and includes the revenge on Henry by a young girl he has viciously scarred for life (played by Sherry Lansing, future head of the Fox and Paramount studios and currently Mrs. William Friedkin) – which, however, calls for O’Neill to be virtually absent from these final stages and the film to end abruptly (albeit on a running joke involving Wayne)! Unfortunately, too, the DivX copy I watched proved rather hazy and suffered from occasional compression artifacts.