Western #5: Rio Bravo
The Western genre oftens focuses its lense on the sheriff of a town, glorifying their struggle to keep order amongst the forces of nature and evildoers. Rio Bravo (1959) is no exception to this trope, following the sheriff in the town of Rio Bravo, Texas, as he and his team face off against a local rancher’s gang. The film, directed by Howard Hawks and featuring an older John Wayne, a delightful Dean Martin, and the irresistible Angie Dickinson, was made as a response to High Noon (1952) and that film’s depiction of the sheriff’s desperate need for the non-existent support of the town. Hawks and Wayne were compelled to produce a rebuttal with a sheriff that assembles a capable team and never wavers in his commitment as a public servant. The fifth film in the Western Marathon is an exploration of friendship, duty, and singing country western tunes.
The film opens with a scuffle in the saloon, where a rancher’s brother ends up shooting an innocent bystander. Sheriff John Chance (John Wayne) arrests the man with the help of his former - and now attempting to become sober - deputy named Dude (Dean Martin). They take him back to the jail, where Stumpy (Walter Brennan) keeps watch, and begin the wait for the rancher’s gang to attempt a rescue. In the meanwhile, Chance watches a young woman named Feathers (Angie Dickinson) dominate at poker in the saloon and she takes a fancy to the older sheriff. After several small skirmishes between the sheriff’s posse and the rancher’s gang, the final showdown utilizes all of Chance’s team to successfully fight the gang, with dynamite explosions sealing the deal. Chance and Feathers finally get together as the film fades.
While John Wayne is a towering figure in the Western genre, this film depicts his Sheriff Chance as an older man keeping up with the young guns and being pursued by a younger lady. Wayne brings an older and wiser energy to this sheriff. His interactions with a young kid yearning to become a deputy highlights the contrast between Wayne’s aged wisdom vs youthful energy. Their interaction is almost like a modern day conversation between a Baby Boomer and a Millennial. Like an old sage, he can fix his deputies with looks that snap them back to reality. He wears a wedding ring without any trace of a partner, conveying a resigned and tired aura, yet one that encourages a spirit for his ragged team. He consistently is offered help and rejects the handout, even though his team always delivers in the end. Wayne’s work is pretty subtle here - listening, reacting, and bringing some humor without such broad stylized acting.
Wayne’s Sheriff Chance is also a flawed man with an aging body. The opening scene is quite an inauspicious introduction to the sheriff - he gets knocked unconscious! Western heroes don’t usually get beaten so easily nor so early. Wayne performs serviceably in the action sequences, but the choreography is presented as realistic and not as some superhuman hero. It was startling to see the great John Wayne falling down the stairs and not being able to bounce back up. This is a sheriff whose grit, determination, and strong relationships push him toward success.
Dean Martin breaks out of his Rat Pack persona to deliver a stunning performance as the deputy struggling with alcoholism during a high pressure chance for redemption. Hawks takes advantage of his handsome looks and dreamy singing voice during the course of the film, but his camera also trusts Martin’s ability to deliver real emotion as his struggle to stay sober almost overwhelms him. Walter Brennan as Stumpy is a pure delight onscreen, infusing the plot with comedic interjections and delivering lines like “how do you like them apples” during the final confrontation with abandoned glee.
Angie Dickinson plays Chance’s love interest and it must be noted that while her acting is superb, expertly keeping her match against Wayne, the script does not deliver to her a fleshed out character with actual motivations or a convincing backstory. While the introduction seems promising - a enterprising woman playing cards and winning cash - she falls for Wayne very quickly and for no apparent reason. She throws herself at him the entire film and changes her travel plans to stay in town to be near him, but her motivations are never stated nor explored; even their kiss misses the mark of romance and she points that out to him (“It’s better when two people do it”). The writers throw in a cheating husband who was killed only a few months back - presumably to make the drama even more heightened - and then incredibly BLAMES herself (“It was probably my fault he cheated”). Dickinson’s efforts are wasted, this aspect of the film doesn’t age well, and this entire section could have been cut entirely from the film without disrupting the main thrust of the story.
Life on the edge of civilization is not easy - hard livin’ combined with easy access to the town’s local saloon makes an addiction to alcohol an underlying topic when considering frontier life. Rio Bravo takes this examination head on with Dean Martin’s deputy Dude, who was once an upstanding lawman who was skilled with a gun, but has lost his job, sold his gun for drinking money, and destroyed his reputation in the town because of his addiction. Chance still believes in his former deputy, despite the town’s men taunting of Dude. This is illustrated when Dude chases one of the rancher’s gang into a local saloon; the men in the bar cover for the hidden criminal and expect Dude to fall to the temptation of drink; Dude keeps his wits about him and uses that expectation to act quickly and take down the criminal hiding in the upper level. The climax of Dude’s struggle with alcohol takes place when the team is stuck in the jail for the night. Dude has learned that Chance gave a deputy star to a young kid and this confirms his insecurities so he heads to the bottle, only to manage to keep his resolve, pouring the whiskey back. Hawk’s camera stays steady and gives Martin the space to truly process and go through the course of emotions that shows the character’s struggle. The film treats the depiction of disease with respect and Martin is up to the task of portraying the struggle to stay sober.
The plot of Rio Bravo alternates between bursts of action and lengthy segments of waiting, simulating reality in the length of time waiting for the rancher’s gang to organize and attempt a breakout from the jail. The drama unfolds during this slow burn, but also features the comedy of Stumpy and plenty of singing from the group. A superb sequence occurs with Chance and Dude taking a quick patrol around the town; nothing ends up happening, but the walk is filled with suspense that something might happen, bolstered by the score from Dimitri Tiomkin. When the action does happen, it is well shot and choreographed, but also reveals Wayne’s aging body. For example, after a spurt of action, Wayne has trouble smoothly jumping onto a horse. The final confrontation sequence, despite being a shootout with the rancher’s gang, doesn’t feel very dangerous, with very little chance of our heroes getting killed. Chance, Dude, and Stumpy banter about the entire time, even while throwing dynamite into the bad guy’s house. While the fight doesn’t have the weight of other film’s climactic finales, the special effects of the dynamite explosions are pretty awesome.
Overall, Hawk’s take on the western genre is an examination of a tight knit group of male relationships. Wayne as the stalwart leader, Dude as the fallible sidekick that is on the quest for redemption, Stumpy as the comic relief, and a talented young kid learning the ropes. Feathers gets to contribute a small bit in the final showdown, but while she can’t formally break her way into the group, she does ultimately win over Chance’s heart; unfortunately, she doesn’t hold up against other portrayals of women in classic Westerns. The forces of evil are easily bested, even though the looming threat takes up most of the time in the story. The film doesn’t reckon with other traditional aspects of the Western - the nature and landscape are not explored, as the action rests firmly within the structure and buildings of the town. While there is some slight diversity in the town - the hotel owner is a Mexican man named Carlos and an Asian man named Burt makes an appearance - however, themes of racial strife are not prominent. It is a mostly contained story about men trapped in a small space waiting for the enemy to make their attack.
Although Rio Bravo was made as a rebuttal against the vision of the Western portrayed in High Noon, it is currently ranking below that film on the list for the Western Marathon, positioned more in the middle of the pack. Next, we enter into the Clint Eastwood era of Westerns with Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars (1964).
