"An even bigger piece of crap than El Dorado." (Robert Mitchum)
Oh dear. This was the last of the Howard Hawks/John Wayne Westerns and the worst. They started in 1948 with the splendid Red River and went downhill from there, via the lively Rio Bravo to the corny El Dorado and finally to the downright turgid Rio Lobo.
Oh dear. This was the last of the Howard Hawks/John Wayne Westerns and the worst. They started in 1948 with the splendid Red River and went downhill from there, via the lively Rio Bravo to the corny El Dorado and finally to the downright turgid Rio Lobo.

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After the war he goes home and finds them and shoots people and so forth. I can’t remember the ins and outs of the plot. They’re too silly and contrived. Anyway the bad guys get their just deserts.
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Wayne, 63, looks overweight and tired. The script is wooden and the delivery by the actors woodener. Sorry, but Sherry Lansing is dire.
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No one pretended that Rio Bravo was a great movie (well, hold on, some people did) but at least it is fun. This one is, well, tired. Robert Mitchum turned it down. After reading the script, he said it was "an even bigger piece of crap than El Dorado."

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There’s an amusing documentary by reporter George Plimpton about how he became a heavy and was shot in the saloon (he is billed as “4th Gunman”).
The rather tragic Western actor Don 'Red' Barry was in it but by this time he was down to "Barman, uncredited". Oh dear.
.“I didn’t think it was any good.” (Howard Hawks). A perceptive man, Hawks.
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Noticed you left out any mention of Jennifer O'Neill; you are a true gentleman.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have enough speace to mention all her husbands.
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