Rio Bravo is a 1959 Western film, directed by Howard Hawks. The script was written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell.
It stars John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, with Angie Dickinson, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Estelita Rodriguez, and Walter Brennan
Production
The film was shot at Old Tucson Studios, just outside Tucson, Arizona.
Rio Bravo is generally regarded as one of Hawks’ best, and is notable for its scarcity of close-up shots. Actually, two appear in “Rio Bravo.” In the opening scene where Joe shoots an unarmed man: Joe’s revolver is shown in close-up, and later when Dude pours the whiskey back into a bottle.[citation needed] It features a long opening scene with absolutely no dialogue. The film received favorable reviews, and was financially successful, earning over US$5.5 million.[citation needed]
The musical score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. His score contains the haunting tune “El Degüello,” which is played several times to build tension. When a character asks for the name of this tune, he is told that it is the “Cutthroat Song,” played on the orders of Antonio López de Santa Anna to the Texans holed up in the Alamo to signify that no quarter would be given. The tune was used in the following year, over the opening credits of Wayne’s film, The Alamo. Composer Ennio Morricone recalled director Sergio Leone requesting him to write “Dimitri Tiomkin music” for A Fistful of Dollars. The trumpet theme is similar to Tiomkin’s “Deguella” while the Italian title of Rio Bravo was Un Dollaro D’onore.
Because the film starred a crooner, Martin, and a teen idol, Nelson, Hawks included three songs in the soundtrack. Before the big showdown, in the jail house, Martin sings “My Rifle, My Pony and Me” (which contained new lyrics to a Tiomkin tune that appeared in Red River) accompanied by Nelson, after which Nelson sings a brief version of “Get Along Home, Cindy,” accompanied by Martin and Brennan. Over the closing credits, Martin, backed by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, sings a specially composed song, “Rio Bravo.” Nelson later paid homage to both the film and his character, Colorado, by including the song “Restless Kid” on his 1959 LP, Ricky Sings Again.
A brief clip from Rio Bravo was among the archive footage later incorporated into the opening sequence of Wayne’s last film, The Shootist, to illustrate the backstory of Wayne’s character.
High Noon debate
The film was made as a response to High Noon, which is sometimes thought to be an allegory for blacklisting in Hollywood, as well as a critique of McCarthyism, according to Graham. Wayne teamed up with director Howard Hawks to tell the story his way. Hawks and Wayne were offended by High Noon; Johnson quotes Hawks as saying he didn’t believe the marshal, played by Gary Cooper, would “go running around town like a chicken with his head off asking for help.” Wayne was a conservative and a firm supporter of blacklisting. They were offended too that Kane was abandoned by almost everyone (except at the last minute his Quaker bride, played by Grace Kelly). In “Rio Bravo”, Chance is surrounded by allies—a deputy recovering from alcoholism, a young gunfighter, an old man, a Mexican innkeeper, and an attractive young woman—and repeatedly turns down aid from anyone he doesn’t think is capable of helping him, though in the final shootout they come to help him anyway.
