Rio Lobo

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Rio Lobo
Directed by	Howard Hawks
Produced by	Howard Hawks
Written by	Leigh Brackett Burton Wohl
Starring	John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O'Neill, Jack Elam, Christopher Mitchum
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	William H. Clothier
Distributed by	National General Pictures
Release date(s)	December 17, 1970 (U.S. release)
Running time	114 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Rio Lobo is a 1970 western movie starring John Wayne. The film was directed by Howard Hawks from a script written by Leigh Brackett. The film was shot in Technicolor and lasted for 114 minutes. The musical score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Critical reaction 3 Trivia 4 Cast 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Summary

The film opens during the American Civil War. Col. Cord McNally (John Wayne) has instructions telegraphed to his close friend, Lt. Forsythe (Peter Jason), who was to be in change of the Union troops on a Union army payroll train. However, Confederates led by Capt. Pierre Cordona (Jorge Rivero) and Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips (Christopher Mitchum) hijacked the train. They had an elaborate plan of listening in on the telegraph wires, greasing the tracks to stop the train, disconnect the payroll wagon from the engine so it would run back down the hill, using a hornet's nest to force the Union guards to jump off the train, then catch the train with many ropes tied to trees. In the process, McNally's friend was fatally injured.

In the subsequent fighting, they trick McNally and capture him. But McNally leads them into a Union camp, pushes a branch forward, and lets it swing back to knock Tuscarora off his horse, then yells out to the camp. As the Confederates flee, McNally jumps Cardona. McNally realizes that a traitor must be selling information to the South, in order for the hijackings to be successful. McNally questions the pair, but they give him no information and are imprisoned.

When the War ends, McNally visits them as they are being released, and asks them to tell him from whom they got their information. When Tuscarora points out that they were the ones who had killed McNally's friends yet McNally has nothing against them, McNally replies that the killing was an act of war, while the one who sold them the information was a traitor. Unfortunately they don't know the traitors' identities, having only seen them from a distance. One was a big dark-haired moustachioed man, and the other was very white-haired. McNally then tells Cordona and Tuscarora that if they should ever come across these men again, to contact him through a friend of his, Pat Cronin (Bill Williams), who is the sheriff of Blackthorne in Texas. Tuscarora is on his way to Rio Lobo, Texas where he grew up.

Later McNally is contacted by Cronin on instructions from Cordona. When he arrives in Blackthorne, however, Cordona is indisposed. Whilst waiting for his recovery, a woman, Shasta Delaney (Jennifer O'Neill) arrives, wishing to report a murder that took place in Rio Lobo. Cronin claims that there's nothing he can do, because Rio Lobo is outside his jurisdiction. Later a posse from Rio Lobo arrives and wants to take Delaney away. She claims, however, that the leader, "Whitey" (Robert Donner), is the murderer about whom she has been talking.

When one of the posse aims a gun at Cronin, Shasta shoots Whitey under the table, and Cronin and McNally finish them off. As the last one is about to shoot McNally, Cordona appears at the top of the stairs and shoots the gunman. Shasta faints from the shock of killing someone. Cordona tells McNally that Whitey was one of the men for whom McNally was looking. He goes on to tell McNally that Tuscarora had contacted him and had told him that he saw one of the men, for whom McNally is looking in Rio Lobo. He also reports that there is trouble in Rio Lobo and that Tuscarora needs help. His father and other ranchers are being bullied by a man named Ketcham, who installed his sheriff, "Blue Tom" Hendricks (Mike Henry), after Hendricks killed the previous incumbent.

Hendricks arrests Tuscarora on trumped up charges. So McNally, Cordona, and Shasta go to Rio Lobo, where they discover all sorts of graft and corruption going on. He finds out that Ketcham is really Sergeant Major Ike Gorman (Victor French), the traitor. McNallly punches him around and forces him to sign the title deeds of the ranches back to their rightful owners. Then they offer to trade Ketcham for Tuscarora, and they take over the town jail for cover. Meanwhile, Tuscarora's girlfriend Maria Carmen (Susana Dosamantes) and her friend Amelita (Sherry Lansing) were also aiding them. For that, Hendricks slashed Amelita's face, and Amelita swears to McNally that she will kill Hendricks.

However, Ketcham's men capture Cordona, who had gone to fetch the cavalry. They offer to trade him for Ketcham. During the prisoner exchange, Cordona dives from the bridge into the river where Tuscarora was hiding. McNally yells out that Ketcham was now broke, having signed the deeds back, so the sheriff furiously guns Ketcham down, and in turn, McNally and the sheriff shoot each other in the leg.

Hendricks' men realize that they are outgunned by the other ranchers who had come to help, and flee. Hendricks shot at them, but he had been using his rifle as a walking cane and it had become clogged, so it exploded in his face. As he stumbled to his horse, Amelita guns him down, thus keeping her word. The film ends with her helping McNally walk.

[edit] Critical reaction

On its release, the film received mostly negative reviews.^[1] The only notable positive review came from Roger Greenspun of The New York Times who said that the film was "close enough to greatness to stand above everything else so far in the current season."^[2] His comments surprised other critics and resulted in numerous angry letters sent to the newspaper.^[3] Wayne was considered too old for the role he played.^{[citation needed]} Comments were also made that no other big star was cast as a counter weight to Wayne.^{[citation needed]} The poor performances of Christopher Mitchum, Jorge Rivero and Jennifer O'Neill were also strongly criticized.^{[citation needed]} The film only made $4.25 million (USD) in rentals which resulted in it being in twentieth place for the highest money-making pictures of the year.^[4]

These criticisms may well have been influenced by the prevailing mood of the time. The Vietnam War was at its height and Hollywood was using more violent and realistic westerns such as Little Big Man and Soldier Blue to promote its anti-war message. Rio Lobo was a western made in the classical style and did not seem to fit the times.

Over the years, however, views have changed and now Rio Lobo has been seen as the highly creditable product of a master film maker.^{[citation needed]} It was to be Hawks' last film and is considered to be a second, if looser, remake of Wayne’s classic 1959 film, Rio Bravo, also starring Dean Martin (the first remake was El Dorado (film), with Wayne and Robert Mitchum.

[edit] Trivia

Writer and reporter George Plimpton was cast in a minor role in this film (4th Gunman). Footage of him getting ready and filming his part was used in a documentary-like television special "Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo."

[edit] Cast

It starred John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O'Neill, Christopher Mitchum, Jack Elam, Victor French, Susana Dosamantes, Sherry Lansing, David Huddleston, Mike Henry, Bill Williams and Jim Davis.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rio Lobo at the Internet Movie Database