And finally, my last John Wayne experience at this year's TCM festival was a digital screening of Rio Bravo in Grauman's Chinese. I went from How The West Was Won to Rio Bravo on the same day and they made for an interesting contrast, as Rio Bravo is almost a "chamber western" compared to HTWWW as it takes place in one small town with many interior scenes. Rio Bravo's visuals, though not epic, are every bit as fascinating as the staging of each scene (location of people and their relationships to each other) is so carefully thought out and composed on the screen. This was emphasized even more so by seeing Rio Bravo on the big screen and getting such a fabulous sense of space and movement. In fact, it was just riveting and even though I have seen this movie several times before and knew everything that was going to happen, I was absolutely glued to my seat.
Angie Dickinson was interviewed by Ben Mankewicz about her career in general, and Rio Bravo and her TV show Police Woman (Mankewicz was quite clear on his love for that show!) 
in particular. Rio Bravo was her first feature film and it was a nerve-wracking experience but she absolutely loved making it. She said that in real life John Wayne was a very "tender" man, and very sweet, and a giant of a human being (she didn't mean just physically). She still looks every bit as beautiful as she did back in 1958 and what a thrill to see her in person!
The other John Wayne movie at the festival (besides The Longest Day, which I already posted about) was The Searchers, and although it killed me, I missed that so I could go to the screening of the new restoration of the silent classic Wings. I have seen The Searchers in a theater before whereas I haven't with Wings, and I just couldn't miss it. The entire TCM fest is like that though -- whatever you're seeing, you're missing three other great movies.
