RIO BRAVO (141’)
by Howard Hawks
cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan
USA, 1959
Restoration curated by Warner Bros. and The Film Foundation
Introduced by Michele Gottardi
“In Rio Bravo none of the main figures is a supporting character; each of them is engaged in a similar existential battle with him/herself. The sheriff and his few men must confront thirty or forty well- paid professional gunfighters. This is a tall tale in the middle zone between the impossible and the necessary where good movies live.Hawks often mentioned High Noon. He didn’t like the way Gary Cooper keeps asking for help and then doesn’t need it. Here John Wayne never asks for help yet always needs it, not only in the finale but in every critical situation. The way the turning-points develop between the main characters (Wayne, Martin, Dickinson, Brennan, Nelson) reveals an anatomy of resourcefulness and a creed of friendship sketched in action. Each character is indispensable at some point of the narrative. […]
Few films provide such pleasure in the simple observation of walking, exchanged looks and rolling tumbleweeds. The studio-bound neverland deploys the stylised arsenal of western movies complete with studio-lit sunsets. The result may be the kind of “stripped-down” western Nicholas Ray dreamed of for his Jesse James movie.
Rio Bravo is a portrait of a man on the edge, senses in full alert, as remembered by eternity.” (Peter Von Bagh)
“A chamber western with Mozartian levity and depth: not one character out of focus, not one action without a precise tactical motive.” (Morando Morandini)
