Of
the films that legendary western star John Wayne made for director Howard
Hawks RIO BRAVO ($20) is quite possibly the best. In this classic
oater, Wayne stars as Sheriff John T. Chance, the tough, no nonsense lawman
of a small western town. However, the situation in the town turns deadly
after Chance arrests Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) for murder. Soon after
the arrest, Chance discovers that the jail is being watched by hired guns
on the payroll of the wealthy Nathan Burdette (John Russell), who wants
to get his brother out of jail. Unfortunately, Chance's only support is
his crippled deputy Stumpy (Walter Brennan) and former deputy Dude (Dean
Martin), a terrible drunk, who has been on the wagon for only a matter
of hours. As the time draws closer to turn his charge over to the US marshals,
Chance finds that he and his deputies have to face Burdette's paid killers
in an inevitable showdown.
While
the plot of RIO BRAVO may sound like typical western fodder, the
film is anything but. All of the characters are sharply drawn and the
performances are rock solid. As usual, Wayne underplays the heroism of
his character, something that worked very well during his entire career.
The biggest surprise in RIO BRAVO is Dean Martin's wonderful performance
as the lawman recovering from his alcoholic stupor during a crisis. Martin
usually appeared in lightweight material, but in RIO BRAVO he shows
himself to be an actor capable of real emotional depth. As expected, the
ever-reliable Walter Brennan brings much-needed comic relief to the proceedings,
without ever diminishing the intensity of the story. Howard Hawks' direction
is straightforward and the pacing of the film very tight. Thanks to Hawks,
there is no flab here- RIO BRAVO is western entertainment, pure
and simple. The cast of RIO BRAVO also includes Ricky Nelson, Angie
Dickinson and Ward Bond.
Warner
Home Video has made RIO BRAVO available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide
screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9
displays. The transfer is a very good, very clean rendering of an older
film. RIO BRAVO is nowhere as crisp looking as a brand new film,
but the image is pretty sharp and offers reasonably good definition. Colors
are rendered at a realistic level of saturation and the palette seems
to favor earthen tones, which works very when one considers the western
setting. Flesh tones look pretty natural, without the made up appearance
found in older films. All of the colors remain pretty stable, without
the more intense hues showing any significant signs of smearing. Blacks
are accurate and the level of shadow detail is on the money for a 1959
film release. Contrast is pretty smooth and the picture provides good
depth. The film element used for the transfer displays only minor blemishes,
none of which distracts one from the presentation. Some film grain does
crop up from time to time, but its nothing that can't be easily ignored.
Clean dual layer authoring conceals any evidence of digital compression
artifacts.
The
Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack is free from audible distortion and
sounds good for its age. Frequency limitation keep the sound effects and
music from having the immediacy that one finds in new films, but is still
quite effective. Dimitri Tiomkin was one of the great film composers of
Hollywood's golden age and his score sounds just fine on this DVD. Dialogue
reproduction is crisp and fully intelligible. In addition, Dean Martin
and Ricky Nelson's voices sound especially melodious during the song that
has been worked into this horse opera. Subtitles are provided on the DVD
in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. The basic interactive menus
allow one access to the standard scene selection and set up features,
as well as a theatrical trailer and filmographies.
RIO
BRAVO is a great western that genre fans and fans of "The Duke"
will want to own. Warner's DVD looks and sounds mighty nice, making this
disc a worthwhile acquisition.
Of
the films that legendary western star John Wayne made for director Howard
Hawks RIO BRAVO ($20) is quite possibly the best. In this classic
oater, Wayne stars as Sheriff John T. Chance, the tough, no nonsense lawman
of a small western town. However, the situation in the town turns deadly
after Chance arrests Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) for murder. Soon after
the arrest, Chance discovers that the jail is being watched by hired guns
on the payroll of the wealthy Nathan Burdette (John Russell), who wants
to get his brother out of jail. Unfortunately, Chance's only support is
his crippled deputy Stumpy (Walter Brennan) and former deputy Dude (Dean
Martin), a terrible drunk, who has been on the wagon for only a matter
of hours. As the time draws closer to turn his charge over to the US marshals,
Chance finds that he and his deputies have to face Burdette's paid killers
in an inevitable showdown.
While
the plot of RIO BRAVO may sound like typical western fodder, the
film is anything but. All of the characters are sharply drawn and the
performances are rock solid. As usual, Wayne underplays the heroism of
his character, something that worked very well during his entire career.
The biggest surprise in RIO BRAVO is Dean Martin's wonderful performance
as the lawman recovering from his alcoholic stupor during a crisis. Martin
usually appeared in lightweight material, but in RIO BRAVO he shows
himself to be an actor capable of real emotional depth. As expected, the
ever-reliable Walter Brennan brings much-needed comic relief to the proceedings,
without ever diminishing the intensity of the story. Howard Hawks' direction
is straightforward and the pacing of the film very tight. Thanks to Hawks,
there is no flab here- RIO BRAVO is western entertainment, pure
and simple. The cast of RIO BRAVO also includes Ricky Nelson, Angie
Dickinson and Ward Bond.
Warner
Home Video has made RIO BRAVO available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide
screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9
displays. The transfer is a very good, very clean rendering of an older
film. RIO BRAVO is nowhere as crisp looking as a brand new film,
but the image is pretty sharp and offers reasonably good definition. Colors
are rendered at a realistic level of saturation and the palette seems
to favor earthen tones, which works very when one considers the western
setting. Flesh tones look pretty natural, without the made up appearance
found in older films. All of the colors remain pretty stable, without
the more intense hues showing any significant signs of smearing. Blacks
are accurate and the level of shadow detail is on the money for a 1959
film release. Contrast is pretty smooth and the picture provides good
depth. The film element used for the transfer displays only minor blemishes,
none of which distracts one from the presentation. Some film grain does
crop up from time to time, but its nothing that can't be easily ignored.
Clean dual layer authoring conceals any evidence of digital compression
artifacts.
The
Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack is free from audible distortion and
sounds good for its age. Frequency limitation keep the sound effects and
music from having the immediacy that one finds in new films, but is still
quite effective. Dimitri Tiomkin was one of the great film composers of
Hollywood's golden age and his score sounds just fine on this DVD. Dialogue
reproduction is crisp and fully intelligible. In addition, Dean Martin
and Ricky Nelson's voices sound especially melodious during the song that
has been worked into this horse opera. Subtitles are provided on the DVD
in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. The basic interactive menus
allow one access to the standard scene selection and set up features,
as well as a theatrical trailer and filmographies.
RIO
BRAVO is a great western that genre fans and fans of "The Duke"
will want to own. Warner's DVD looks and sounds mighty nice, making this
disc a worthwhile acquisition.
