RIO BRAVO
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY HOWARD HAWKS
MUSIC BY DIMITRI TIOMKIN
AN ARMADA PRODUCTION
WARNER BROS
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John Wayne The big guy with the battered hat...
and Dean Martin
the ragged woman-wrecked castoff called Dude...
and Ricky Nelson The rockin' babyfaced gunfisted kid...
And Time Was Running Out Through Bullet Holes At Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo"
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Plot Summary
Sheriff John T chance, arrests Joe Burdette, for the brutal muder of an unamed man.
He can't get him out of town for justice by the U.S.Marshal.
He can't get help in, so he is holed up in the jail, with a cripple, a gunslinger dude,
and a gunslinger, turned drunk.
He has to stop Burdettes gang from releasing him.
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Full Cast
John Wayne .... Sheriff John T. Chance
Dean Martin .... Dude ('Borachón')
Ricky Nelson .... Colorado Ryan
Angie Dickinson .... Feathers
Walter Brennan .... Stumpy
Ward Bond .... Pat Wheeler
John Russell .... Nathan Burdette
Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales .... Carlos Robante
Estelita Rodriguez .... Consuela Robante
Claude Akins .... Joe Burdette
Malcolm Atterbury .... Jake (stage driver)
Harry Carey Jr. .... Harold (scenes deleted)
Walter Barnes .... Charlie (bartender) (uncredited)
Nesdon Booth .... Bit part (uncredited)
George Bruggeman .... Clem (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt .... Gunman on horse (uncredited)
Jose Cuchillo .... Pedro (uncredited)
Robert Donner .... (uncredited)
Fred Graham .... 2nd Burdette man in shootout (uncredited)
Joe Gray .... Card player (uncredited)
Myron Healey .... Barfly (uncredited)
Riley Hill .... Messenger (uncredited)
Eugene Iglesias .... 1st Burdette man in shootout (uncredited)
Gordon Mitchell .... (uncredited)
Tom Monroe .... Henchman (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson .... Gunman (uncredited)
Bing Russell .... Cowboy murdered in saloon (uncredited)
Joseph Shimada .... Burt (undertaker) (uncredited)
Dean Smith .... Card-Playing Burdette Henchman (uncredited)
Bob Steele .... Matt Harris (Burdette gunman) (uncredited)
Ted White .... Bit part (uncredited)
Writing Credits
B.H. McCampbell (short story)
Produced
Howard Hawks
Original Music
Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography
Russell Harlan (director of photography)
Stunts
Bill Babcock .... stunts (uncredited)
Joe Byrne .... stunt double: Ricky Nelson (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt .... stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Fred Graham .... stunts (uncredited)
Joe Gray .... stunts (uncredited)
Bob Herron .... stunts (uncredited)
John Hudkins .... stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson .... stunt double/ stunts (uncredited)
Dean Smith .... stunts (uncredited)
Bob Terhune .... stunts (uncredited)
Ted White .... stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams .... stunts (uncredited)
Trivia
There are only two close-ups in the movie: Joe firing his gun and Dude's hands trying to roll a cigarette.
The sets in Old Tucson are built to 7/8th scale, so the performers look larger than life.
Although Harry Carey Jr. was listed in the credits on-screen, he does not appear in the picture. Carey had a drinking problem at the time. He called director Howard Hawks "Howard" instead of "Mr. Hawks" on one of his first days on the set, infuriating Hawks. His contract, including his pay and his screen credit, was honored, but his part (a townsman) was cut.
The song "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" was originally used as the theme for Red River (1948), another John Wayne western. The original title was "Settle Down".
The movie had an interesting preview trailer. In the trailer, Ricky Nelson finishes playing his guitar, then he turns to the camera and talks about the exciting nature of the film. After some clips are shown, they cut back to Nelson who lists the cast members. When he does not mention his own name, we hear the voice of Dean Martin say off camera "What about Rick Nelson"?
For the first four full minutes of film (including credits) there is no dialog.
The movie was made by Howard Hawks and John Wayne as a counter-response to the underlying theme and point of view of High Noon (1952).
John Wayne and Ward Bond's 22nd and final movie together.
Ward Bond's death scene was filmed from a distance because it was actually a double.
Bond had already left the set to be back on location for "Wagon Train" (1957).
After seeing the film, Gary Cooper said it was "so phony, nobody believes in it." Ironically, Cooper had been a visitor to the set since he was filming The Hanging Tree (1959) nearby. "Rio Bravo" is considered to be John Wayne and Howard Hawks' reply to Gary Cooper's own film "High Noon" because neither Wayne or Hawks thought a real lawman would want or need to ask for help in handling a problem like Cooper's character did in that film.
John Wayne was nervous about the love scenes between his character and Feathers, since he was 51 and Angie Dickinson was only 26.
On May 8th, just one week into shooting 'Rio Bravo', Ricky Nelson celebrated his 18th birthday. As a gift, John Wayne and Dean Martin gave him a 300 lb. sack of steer manure, which they then threw Nelson into as a rite of passage.
Montgomery Clift turned down the role of Dude, because he didn't want to work again with John Wayne and Walter Brennan.
Hawks' instructions to Martin who showed up in an almost comical cowboy outfit on the first day of shooting, were not to play a cowboy but just play a drunk.
This was Howard Hawks' first film in four years. After the critical and box office failure of Land of the Pharaohs (1955), Hawks took a break from directing and lived in Europe.
Dean Martin's agent approached Howard Hawks to consider his client for the role of the drunken deputy Dude. Hawks agreed to meet with Martin at 9:30 the next morning. When Hawks learned that Martin had done a show in Las Vegas until midnight, and hired a plane to fly him to the meeting, Hawks was so impressed that he simply sent Martin to get a costume and told him he had the part.
Quentin Tarantino has said that before he enters into a relationship with a girl, he always shows her 'Rio Bravo' and if she doesn't like it, there is no relationship.
The last movie in which John Wayne wore the hat he had worn since Stagecoach (1939).
Malcolm Atterbury is listed in the credits (Jake, the stage driver), but like Harry Carey Jr., does not actually appear in the final cut of the movie.
Dude's nickname Borrachón is Spanish for "drunkard".
More or less remade as El Dorado (1966) and Rio Lobo (1970).
Howard Hawks did not want to cast Ricky Nelson, whom he considered to be both too young and too lightweight, and deliberately gave him the fewest possible number of lines for a third-billed star. However, he later admitted that having Nelson's name on the poster had probably added $2 million to the film's box office performance.
At the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma you can see the the rifle used by John Wayne (also used in El Dorado (1966)) and the hat and shotgun used by a.
Inside joke: When Chance (John Wayne) wants to deputize Colorado he asks Stumpy (who is off camera) where he keeps the deputies' badges. While Chance is looking for the badges, Stumpy (Walter Brennan) still off camera tells him to look after his own props. Wayne started off in movie as a prop man and was known to get irate if the props were not where they were supposed to be.
For most of the film Chance (John Wayne) has the front of his hat turned up to make him look a little soft and friendly. However in the tough guy scenes when Chance informs Nathan Burdette that he will have Stumpy kill his brother if there is any trouble, the front of the hat is turned down, in traditional tough guy mode.
When cast on this movie, for publicity, the production had Angie Dickinson's legs insured by Lloyds of London.
Goofs
* Continuity: The bullet hole blasted in the wooden frame near Colorado's head disappears.
* Continuity: When Dude stops taking his drink when the music starts, his right hand is alternately at his mouth, then just above the table, then at his mouth again.
* Continuity: When Chance rushes into a stable, his hat flies off. But in the next shot it is back on his head.
* Continuity: While asking Chance how he ended up as a sheriff, Feathers is handling a small bowl, taken up from the bar. In the next shot, her hands are empty.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Dude comes back from parking Pat Wheeler's wagons, he tells Chance he's going to get a beer. Chance tells him there are some cold ones inside. When Dude is getting off his horse he says "Just as long as it's beer" yet his mouth never moves.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Stumpy, Dude, and Colorado are sitting around playing music and singing, on the second song (where Stumpy sings) in the second verse, Colorado sings "I wish I had an needle..." but he mouths the words "I wish I was a needle."
* Revealing mistakes: At night when Dude and Chance are making their rounds, the camera follows Dude as he walks briefly off the set. You can clearly see a huge concrete pillar he walks past.
* Continuity: When Dude confronts Burdett and his gang, a rifle's butt is showing from the fore part of Burdett's horse. But in the moment he takes off his gun and gives it to a gunman, the rifle is missing.
* Continuity: When Pat Wheeler has come into town, and is talking to Chance, different shots were done at obviously different times of day. When the camera is facing the jail, the sun is coming from the right... when facing back up the street, the sun is again coming from the right (the opposite direction).
* Continuity: After Dude is captured the first time, and Burdette's men ride up the street, the shadows change direction between shots of them approaching and Chance standing out in front of the Hotel with Colorado. These shots were obviously filmed at different times of day.
* Continuity: Feathers throws a pot plant through the window to distract the gunmen. Next scene the window is not damaged at all.
* Continuity: In the final shootout, a bullet hole appears in the window casing next to Colorado, in the next shot the bullet hole is missing and then reappears in later shots.
* Continuity: When Chance and Colorado are walking Joe along the street for the hostage exchange, their shadows change length drastically between one part of the street and the next.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Dude drops the $50 gold piece on the floor after shooting the bad guy in the loft, it makes a tinny sound when hitting the floor. A $50 gold piece was 2 1/2 ounces of gold and would make a distinct "thud" when hitting a wood floor.
* Continuity: After Chance is tripped on the staircase, he ends up lying on his stomach with his arm partially under him. When they roll him over, to wake him up, he is lying more on his side, and his arm is now behind him.
* Continuity: After Chance is tripped on the staircase, Burdettes men roll him over and splash him with a bucket of water. The water stains/marks change numerous times between Chance getting up and walking to the jail.
* Continuity: Towards the end of the movie, after Burdette and his men have surrendered, Colorado is leaning on a water barrel with his hand, and raises his cup to his mouth to drink. When the camera angle changes, he is now leaning on the barrel with his elbow, and his cup is held down by his waist.
* Anachronisms: Toward the end of the film, when Dude is talking to John T. Chance about the girl 'Feathers', Dude says the Ft. Worth stage runs at night and 'Feathers' might be on that stage leaving town. There were no stages that ran at night in 1880's Texas.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the final gunfight, when Stumpy throws the Dynamite for Dude, and Dude says, "I didn't allow for the wind ", his lips never move.
* Continuity: During the Exchange of Dude for Joe, when Dude comes off the stairs of the warehouse, the shadow is behind him. When the camera changes to Joe, his shadow is behind him too. That would be impossible as they were walking towards each other. These shots were done at different times of day.
* Continuity: When Chance asks Feathers if she was sorry she didn't go on the stage, Consuela turns around to face Chance twice.
* Continuity: When Stumpy and Colorado are shooting at Burdette's men from behind the bars, Chance grabs the same shotgun of the gun rack twice.
* Continuity: Dude's position as he stops Burdette's men at the edge of town by the barn.
* Continuity: When Wheeler first gets to town and is talking to Chance about everybody stopping him, Chance's right hand is alternately holding his rifle, or resting up on the Pommel of Wheeler's saddle. It changes a few times during the scene.
* Continuity: After they put Joe in jail, and Joe tells Dude he should sit back there in place of Stumpy, Dude is holding his beer bottle down by his hip. When the camera angle changes, Dude is holding the bottle up by his mouth, and then throws it at Joe.
* Continuity: When Chance is tripped Dude is in the bath, he walked in wearing a solid blue shirt, he looks out before the action starts bare-chested but when Chance is tripped he looks out the door and he's back in the blue shirt. Burdett's men then take him hostage, when the exchange is being made, him for Joe, Dude walks out of the warehouse in a brand new set of duds, a patterned shirt and a tan vest.
* Anachronisms: Though set in the 1880's, Colorado (played by rock singer Ricky Nelson) wears a 1950's era pompadour hairstyle not worn in the 1880's.
* Continuity: When Chance goes into Feathers' room after learning she was standing guard outside his room all night, Angie Dickinson's hair is alternately frayed and neatly styled.
* Revealing mistakes: During a poker-playing scene, one of the players asks the bartender for a new deck of cards. However, the bartender starts reaching for the new deck before the player asks.
* Continuity: Towards the beginning of the movie, Dude is shown at the end of town when the sun is rising. Later in the Movie the same camera angle and view are used as a sunset shot of Dude before he returns to the jail.
* Continuity: During the Exchange of Joe for Dude, Colorado puts his hat on the window sill to his left, when the camera angles change, his hat is now to his right on the window sill.
* Revealing mistakes: John T. Chance wears a wedding ring throughout the movie even though he was not a married man in the story. However John Wayne was married at the time in real life, and for some reason, did not take his ring off during filming.
* Anachronisms: In a scene in the jail, Stumpy refers to Dude getting cleaned up and looking like "Mrs. Astor's pet horse." Stumpy hardly ran in NYC "high society" social circles and hardly knew who Mrs. Astor was, was likely never in NYC and Mrs. Astor's spending habits, which initiated the remark, were decidedly later than the time frame of this movie.
* Continuity: Burdette sets the time for the exchange of Dude and Joe at a half-hour after sunrise; but when the three leave the jail, the shadows are nearly vertical.
* Errors in geography: Saguaro cacti don't grow in Texas.
* Anachronisms: In the scene in the jail where Dude, Stumpy, and Colorado are singing, an "earbud" can be seen in Colorado's right ear.
* Continuity: When Dude shoots the gunman out of the loft in the saloon, the gunman lands right next to the glass on the bar that the blood was dripping into. This would be impossible since he fell forward out of the loft. Therefore the loft is not long enough for it to hang over the glass on the bar, and drip blood into it.
Filming Locations
Old Tucson
Stages 5 & 26, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
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Rio Bravo
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