Rio Bravo (1959)
Trivia
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Spoilers (4)
The last movie in which John Wayne wore the hat he had worn since Stagecoach (1939).
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.
Howard Hawks always wanted someone who would connect with teenagers to play Colorado. Reportedly, his first choice was Elvis Presley, who was enthusiastic about the opportunity. Unfortunately, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, wanted too much money and top billing. Neither Hawks nor John Wayne would have any of it, so the search continued. Presley joined the U.S. Army in March 1958, two months before filming began.
John Wayne had deliberately moved away from westerns after The Searchers (1956), but none of his films since then had been particularly successful or well received. This film was a return to the genre for him.
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"?
On May 8, 1958, just one week into shooting, Ricky Nelson celebrated his 18th birthday. As a gift, John Wayne and Dean Martin gave him a 300-pound sack of steer manure, which they then threw Nelson into, as a rite of passage.
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. This film is considered to be John Wayne and Howard Hawks' reply to Cooper's own film High Noon (1952) because neither Wayne nor 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 Chance and Feathers, since he was 51 and Angie Dickinson was only 26.
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, he was so impressed that he simply sent Martin to get a costume and told him he had the part.
Howard Hawks' first movie in four years which was the longest hiatus of his career. It was during this period while living in Europe that he saw how popular western television shows had become, and realized that audiences cared more about the characters than the plots to the shows. This is where the idea for this movie started to form. Rather than making a movie that centered around one main plot, he decided he wanted to make a completely character driven western with several story-lines running through it simultaneously. The studio bosses refused but instantly changed their minds when Hawks told them he was casting John Wayne as the lead.
At the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the rifle used by John Wayne (also used in El Dorado (1966)) and the hat and shotgun used by Walter Brennan are on display.
Howard Hawks' instructions to Dean 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.
John Wayne regarded this film as marking his transition into middle age. At 51, Wayne was starting to get overweight, and he believed he was too old to play the romantic lead any more. His last four movies since The Searchers (1956) had been unsuccessful, and he felt the only way to keep audiences coming was to revert to playing "John Wayne" in every film.
When he was cast as Dude, an alcoholic battling inner demons, Dean Martin turned to his friend Marlon Brando for advice about playing the role.
The film was a huge success in Italy, laying the groundwork for the following decade's Spaghetti Western boom.
The only thing that Dean Martin really had a problem with was a scene in which he had to cry. The idea of pretending to cry totally unnerved him but he eventually got it right.
John Wayne and Ward Bond's 22nd and final movie together.
Since "Rio Bravo" was such a huge success, producer/director Howard Hawks and screenwriter Leigh Brackett reworked the "Rio Bravo" script slightly to make El Dorado (1966), with an almost identical story, with Robert Mitchum portraying the drunk deputy, (only this time a sheriff) and James Caan portraying the kid named after a state, with Mississippi subbing for Colorado. When "El Dorado" was also a hit, Hawks and Brackett put their heads together again, and made further changes to the script and story, and made what was essentially the second remake, Rio Lobo (1970). Both starred John Wayne, of course. During filming for "Rio Lobo," Wayne supposedly asked, "Haven't we made this movie before?" It's not known whether Wayne was serious or just kidding.
Footage from this film was incorporated into flashbacks in John Wayne's last film, The Shootist (1976), depicting him as a younger man.
Claude Akins recalled that during filming all the actors found themselves starting to talk like John Wayne. Wayne was not impressed by this.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
In an interview, Walter Brennan stated that for years after this film was released, people who met him for the first time expected him to limp like Stumpy. He said he considered it a tribute to his acting since he had to constantly remember which leg to limp on.
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.
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).
The song "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" sung by Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson was adapted from "Settle Down," the theme for Red River (1948) (another John Wayne / Howard Hawks western) by its original author, Dimitri Tiomkin.
When cast on this movie, for publicity, the production had Angie Dickinson's legs insured by Lloyds of London.
John Carpenter named this as an inspiration for Assault on Precinct 13 (1976).
The score includes the hauntingly ominous "El Degüello" theme, which is heard several times. Colorado identifies the tune as "The Cutthroat Song". He relates that the song was played on the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna to the Texans holed up in the Alamo, to signify that no quarter would be given to them. The tune was used the following year, over the opening credits of John Wayne's film, The Alamo (1960). Composer Ennio Morricone recalled that Sergio Leone asked him to write "Dimitri Tiomkin music" for Per un pugno di dollari (1964). The trumpet theme is similar to Tiomkin's "Degüello" (the Italian title of Rio Bravo was Un dollaro d'onore, "A Dollar of Honor").
John Wayne's working script for the film was auctioned, by Heritage Auctions for 20,315 dollars, by the Texas-based company. All but last three of its 122 pages were folded in half, a habit that the actor had of doing with all of his working scripts.
Once when Dean Martin appeared on The Perry Como Show (1948), he mentioned that he was making a western starring John Wayne and that it was directed by Howard Hawks. He then said that he was playing the part of the drunken dirty deputy. He then said, as a joke, "Why they picked me, I don't know pal."
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.
Very early in the film the cowboy killed by Joe Burdette that starts the trouble is played by Bing Russell, Kurt Russell's father, in an uncredited role.
According to writer Leigh Brackett a scene where Ricky Nelson throws himself under horses similar to the one done by James Caan in El Dorado (1966) was shot but cut from the final print.
Because it was his first movie for a while, Howard Hawks was very nervous for several days during filming. But his confidence grew throughout - resulting in him making the bold choice of directing the opening sequence as an homage to the silent era for the first four and half minutes.
Quentin Tarantino has said that before he enters into a relationship with a girl, he always shows her this film; if she doesn't like it, there is no relationship.
Angie Dickinson was cast after Howard Hawks saw her in Perry Mason: The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (1958).
Feathers's dialogue was occasionally inspired by the character of "Slim" To Have and Have Not (1944), as when, after the first kiss, she says: "...it's better when two people do it," recalling the phrase "it's even better when you help;" and again later when she says, "I'm hard to get - you're going to have to say you want me," recalling Slim's "I'm hard to get, Steve - all you have to do is ask me."
John Wayne's character is called "Sheriff", "Chance", and "John T." all through the movie. The only time he is called "John" is by Dude after he is ambushed at the stable.
Montgomery Clift, who was bisexual and a liberal Democrat, turned down the role of Dude, because he didn't want to work again with John Wayne and Walter Brennan who were both strongly conservative Republicans. They had previously worked together in Red River (1948). Clift suggested his The Young Lions (1958) co-star Dean Martin for the role of Dude, and so Martin's agent immediately approached Howard Hawks with the idea.
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez's gun belt is part of his real-life grandson Clifton Collins Jr.'s Westworld (2016) costume.
Dude's nickname Borrachón is Spanish for "drunkard". In the Spanish-dubbed version, the nickname was changed to Merluzón, meaning "big hake," so that Dude can explain the meaning of the nickname.
Howard Hawks considered this his most personal movie.
Unusually for that time, there were six actors listed above the title, in order, John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond. It was not uncommon for just Wayne's name, or even Wayne, plus one or two co-stars, to be listed above the title, but six was almost unheard of, especially in a John Wayne feature.
Filming outdoors was often a chore due to the 120-degree heat and an invasion of grasshoppers that fried on the hot lights and littered the sets.
The big action finale required the villains' warehouse to be blown up twice because the first time was ruined after the prop folks filled it with colored paper, which made it look "like a Chinese firecracker exploding," so the sequence was reset and re-shot.
Near the end of the movie, Dean Martin, Rick Nelson and Walter Brennan's characters are singing and making music while passing time in the jailhouse. All three of these actors would place individual Top-Five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the next five years: Dean Martin with "Everybody Loves Somebody" (1964); Rick Nelson with "Travelin' Man" (1961), "Young World" (1961), and "Teen Age Idol" (1962); and Walter Brennan with "Old Rivers" (1962).
The movie was filmed in Old Tucson, the same Arizona movie set where Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) was filmed.
During filming, John Wayne said to Howard Hawks, "Dean Martin has all the fireworks. What am I supposed to be doing?" Hawks said, "Suppose you had a friend who was a drunk and was trying to come back, wouldn't you watch him?" Wayne nodded and said "I know what to do."
This film was the highest-grossing western of 1959, bringing in over $10.5 million at the domestic box office. John Wayne and Howard Hawks had not collaborated since 1948, since their blockbuster, Red River (1948), a break of eleven years.
Screenwriter Leigh Brackett had considerable experience writing in the Science Fiction genre and had made a name for herself as a writer in the scifi community in the 1950s. When George Lucas needed a screenwriter for the sequel to his blockbuster hit Star Wars, he approached Brackett and she was hired in 1977 to write the first draft of the screenplay for what would eventually become The Empire Strikes Back. According to Lucas' biography "Mythmaker", when he hired her in 1977 Lucas did not realize that Brackett had written Rio Bravo, El Dorado, or The Big Sleep (co-written with William Faulkner). Although Brackett passed in 1978 away shortly after submitting the first draft which was subsequently re-written, several of her ideas made it into the final production, including an ice planet, a city in the clouds, and a chase through an asteroid field.
The real names of "Stumpy", "Dude" and "Feathers" are never revealed. "Colorado's" last name is said to be "Ryan", but his first name is not revealed either.
Apparently Walter Brennan's gimpy leg routine was working for him, because he was using it in The Real McCoys (1957), which was on television at the same time he was filming this movie.
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.
Filming began on May 1, 1958, and was completed well before the end of the year, with Howard Hawks only going over schedule by six days. But Warner Bros. decided to hold the release of the movie back anyway, until the start of 1959, where it had its premiere in New York City.
Dean Martin draws and fires his side gun right handed all through the movie; yet during the final shootout he fires left handed three times.
Because the film starred a crooner, Dean Martin, and a teen idol, Ricky Nelson, Howard Hawks included three songs in the soundtrack. Before the big showdown, in the jail house, Martin sings "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" (which contained new lyrics to a Dimitri Tiomkin tune that appeared in Red River (1948)) accompanied by Nelson, after which Nelson sings a brief version of "Get Along Home, Cindy", accompanied by Martin and Walter Brennan. Over the closing credits, Martin, backed by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, sings a specially composed song, "Rio Bravo" (written by Tiomkin with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Nelson later paid homage to both the film and his character, Colorado, by including the song "Restless Kid" on his 1959 LP, Ricky Sings Again.
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.
In Get Shorty (1995), Chili Palmer explains the difference between Rio Bravo (1959) and El Dorado (1966) to drug dealer Bo Catlett: "Robert Mitchum played the drunk in 'El Dorado.' Dean Martin played the drunk in 'Rio Bravo.' Basically, it was the same part. Now John Wayne, he did the same in both. He played John Wayne."
Ironically inspired as a retort to High Noon (1952), the film has a haunting score by the same composer, Dimitri Tiomkin.
Cinematographer Russell Harlan modeled the look of the film on the frontier paintings of Charles M. Russell.
"Rio Bravo" was ostensibly based on a story of the same name by B.H. McCampbell, although what appeared on screen did not bear much resemblance to the original short story, and reportedly, McCampbell was none too pleased.
This is one of the few, and maybe the only, John Wayne western where Wayne doesn't throw a punch at anybody. He hits a Burdette gunman across the face with the barrel of his Winchester, but never lands a fist.
James Cagney, John Cassavetes, Edmond O'Brien, Rod Steiger, Richard Widmark, John Ireland, Tony Curtis, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, William Holden, Van Johnson, Burt Lancaster, Ray Milland, Spencer Tracy and Robert Mitchum were considered for Dude.
Howard Hawks negotiated for Frank Sinatra to co-star as Dude.
The original title of the screenplay was "The Bull By The Tail" which is a line of dialogue that Pat says to Chance in the movie.
Theodore Bikel, Lee J. Cobb, William Demarest, Buddy Ebsen, Arthur Hunnicutt, Burl Ives, Lee Marvin and George 'Gabby' Hayes were considered for Stumpy.
In the scene outside the jail just before Nathan Burdette visits his brother in jail, John Wayne's belt buckle has the same design as the brand used in Red River (1948).
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
L'homme à l'étoile d'argent (The Man with the Silver Star), a 1969 album from the French comics series Lt. Blueberry was directly inspired by the film. The plot is virtually the same. Blueberry plays the role of sheriff John T. Chance; McClure, a whiskey-adoring old man, combines the roles of Dude and Stumpy; Dusty plays the role of Colorado; Miss March, the teacher, plays the role of a less morally challenged Feathers; and instead of the Burdettes, the Bass brothers.
Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Lloyd Bridges, Jack Lemmon, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, James Garner, Rod Taylor, Stuart Whitman and Michael Landon were considered for Colorado Ryan.
This was John Wayne's second of three "Rio" movie. The others were Rio Grande (1950) and Rio Lobo (1970).
The movie takes place in Presidio, Texas. Presidio County is on the southwest border between Texas and Mexico. Its western border is the Rio Grande River, known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo.
Dean Martin later admitted that he found the part of Dude very difficult to play. However he may have been joking.
At about 24 minutes into the film, Feathers is seated at the saloon table dealing cards. The framed print on the wall behind her is "Charge of Arab Cavalry" by Adolf Schreyer, a German painter who lived from 1828 to 1899.
Ty Hardin tried to get the role played by Ricky Nelson.
The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.
Four of the stars of this movie were all appearing in hit TV shows at the time this was released. Ricky Nelson was in "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." Walter Brennan was in "The Real McCoy." Ward Bond was in "Wagon Train." And John Russell was in "Lawman."
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell and Claude Akins all died from smoking-related illnesses.
Sterling Hayden, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster were considered for the role of Sheriff Chance.
Mari Blanchard, Sheree North, Jane Greer, Julie London, Diane Brewster, Capucine, Rhonda Fleming, Beverly Garland, Martha Hyer, Carolyn Jones, Piper Laurie, Janis Paige and Donna Reed were considered for Feathers.
Although his identity is uncredited, there is a Chinese undertaker in the town. He wears the traditional queue pigtail hairstyle worn by males in the era. He is known to John Wayne's character and is on the county's payroll for services rendered. The Chinese had earlier established a presence in the West during the California gold rush and working on railroad projects, but many had also started small businesses elsewhere in the territories.
During his Dick Cavett interview (1972), Sammy Davis Jr. said John Wayne gave him the hat he wore in this film.
Angie Dickinson is only called by name, "Feathers,"once in the film. Throughout the rest of the movie, Carlos calls her "the girl with the feathers" and Chance, Dude, and Colorado refer to her as "the girl." Presumably her name and picture are on Chance's handbill, but we never see it.
Angie Dickinson and Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez were also featured together three years earlier in the western, Gun the Man Down (1956) starring James Arness.
While it is true that Santa Ana had all 14 of the bands with his army play El Deguello ("The Throat-Cutting Song") all night and day prior to storming the Alamo, it was a bugle call, not a full band composition, and sounded nothing at all like what is played in the film. The actual call sounds more like the fanfare from "Gonna Fly Now," the theme from Rocky (1976).
Angie Dickinson and Ward Bond appear together in only one scene, the poker game. But 18 days after this film was released Wagon Train: The Clara Duncan Story (1959) aired, starring Ward Bond and featuring Angie Dickinson in the title guest star role.
'Bull By the Tail' was a working title for "Rio Bravo" as seen on a Set Slate Identification on location.
During an early confrontation at the hotel, Feathers says "I always make you mad, don't I?" Seven years later, in El Dorado, James Caan as Mississippi says the same line to John Wayne's Cole Thornton. The second time, Wayne's response is "Mostly". Leigh Brackett wrote both screenplays.
After Chance sends Dude down to the jail and he goes into the saloon to talk to Colorado. The window that feathers threw the flower pot through isn't broken.
The song, "Cindy," performed here by Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan, was also performed in a 1958 episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" entitled "Rick's Riding Lesson" (Season 7 / #8, November 19, 1958). In the episode, Ricky sings it with his father Ozzie, his brother David, and other members of their camping group.
John Wayne, Walter Brennan and Ward Bond were well known for making anti-Semitic remarks. However Dean Martin had funded Zionist terrorists in Palestine during the 1940s, as well as performing concerts for the Bergson Group.
One day after the April 4, 1959 release date, ABC aired Lawman: The Souvenir (1959), which starred John Russell playing Marshal Dan Troop. Instead of trying to break someone out of jail, Russell's character Marshal Dan Troop was trying to recapture a jail escapee. Both productions were filmed at the Warner Brothers Burbank studio.
The subject of bathing and scented soap was also brought up in "El Dorado," but in a more humorous way.
Walter Brennan's performance as Stumpy is referenced by actor Wayne Gregory in "Powder Burns: An Original Western Audio Drama" (2015-2018).
Spoilers
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).
There are only five close-ups in the movie: Joe firing his gun, Dude's hands trying to roll a cigarette, Dude pouring a shot of whiskey back into the bottle and a beer glass where a drop of blood falls in, alerting Dude to a gunman in the bar waiting above him in ambush. Chance's boots tapping together in Sheriff's office as he's sitting in a chair.
