Rio Grande (1950)

For some reason, over the years I failed to see this particular John Ford western, thinking it was probably just another cavalry yarn and I'd seen so many of them I figured I'd let this one pass.

Wrong. It's now among my favorite John Ford westerns with both JOHN WAYNE and MAUREEN O'HARA giving really heartfelt performances as a husband and wife separated for some time, their only son (CLAUDE JARMAN, JR.) having just joined the regiment as a soldier under his father's command at an outpost being menaced by Apaches.

There's a jaunty, rollicking score by Victor Young that captures ballads of the Old West to provide some colorful background music, wonderful scenes of soldiers training under VICTOR McLAGLEN (at his crustiest and endearingly funny), BEN JOHNSON (wonderful as a man on the lam), and the breezily confident HARRY CAREY, JR. It's even got a story that has more than one theme running through it--the personal conflict between father and son, husband and wife, and how the young son (played extremely well by Claude Jarman, Jr.) has to prove himself to his fellow soldiers.

The final shootout occurs when the Apaches kidnap some children and hold them prisoners in a church. It sets the stage for the final encounter, just one of several skirmishes with the Indians that is masterfully staged and photographed.

Pictorially, it's one of the handsomest of all the John Ford epics and should definitely have been filmed in Technicolor, although the B&W photography is indeed impressive. MAUREEN O'HARA gives one of her most sensitive portrayals and JOHN WAYNE is at his best.

Summing up: A solid western well worth watching whether you're a John Ford fan or not.

Fmovies: This is the last outing in John Ford's trilogy cavalry continuing ¨Fort Apache and She wore a yellow ribbon¨ based on writings by James Warner Bellah.It's the first John Wayne-Maureen O'Hara-John Ford's three movies together along with ¨Quiet man and Wing of eagles¨.It's a powerful retelling of the wild Indians wars at the Southwest US. It concerns about an US cavalry unit on the Mexican frontier and nearly to Rio Grande.The commander of the far outpost is ruled by Lieutenent Colonel Kirby(Wayne)leading an unsuccessful campaign against the Apaches.Kirby is under command of General Philip Sheridan(J.Carroll Naish).A grumpy sergeant(Victor McLagen)is in charge of training of new recruits,one which is the Kirby'son(Claude Jarman Jr).His mother Kathleen(Maureen O'Hara) arrives looking for her son Jeff ,she and Kirby are separated for fifteen years,but the marriage broke when Kirby fired a plantation of her ancestors during Civil War ,however now they fall back in love.Meanwhile the marauding Indians attack the outpost and Kirby taking on his toughest fight to redeem his honor.

This excellent film featuring a magnificent performance by complete casting.Awesome John Wayne in a larger-than-life role.Gorgeous Maureen O'Hara in a sensible role with sensational performance.The film develops usual John Ford's themes: The friendship,sense of camaraderie,a little bit of enjoyable humor,the familiar feeling,sentimental nostalgia and the glorification of the cavalry,besides a sensible songs in charge of Son of Pioneers with Ken Curtis and music score by Dimitri Tiomkin.Touching scenes when they're singing between the marriage Wayne-O'Hara with sweet glances.Spectacular scenes when the Apaches Indian-Chiricagua and Mezcaleros-spontaneously attack the outpost and sensational riding races with Roman style,someone did their own stunts.In the movie appear all habitual Ford's friends ,Chill Wills,Ben Johnson,Grant Withers,Jack Pennick,Ken Curtis and ,of course,Victor McLagen .Even appears Patrick Wayne,but his father John Wayne persuaded to Ford for an uncredited cameo role. Appropriate photography by Bert Glennon as sensational as the Ford's usual, Winston Hoch.The movie is produced by Ford's Argosy Production Company ,Republic Pictures and Merian C. Cooper(King Kong).The motion picture is magnificently directed by the master John Ford.

I have never paid much attention to westerns in general and have not bothered with this film even though Republic Studios made it, a fact that normally would have me magnetized to any of their other films (especially serials and musicals) .... but cable TV in Sydney Australia has played RIO GRANDE a few times on a double with FLAME OF BARBARY COAST. What a fool I have been to avoid RIO GRANDE. This superb humane film (even though about the cruel US cavalry) is a perfect balance of family dramas, hilarious tough humor and genuine concern for the development and survival of soldiers and the camaraderie of the troop. Everything good anyone else on this site can say it utterly true, especially the astonishing photography, breathtaking Maureen O'Hara, the raucous Victor MacLaglen and sensitive Claude Jarman. I eagerly look forward to waking up more to myself and seeing FORT APACHE and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, and as usual celebrating more of the diverse product of Republic Studios. FLAME OF BARBARY COAST was good especially the incredible lavishness of the sets. I would be very keen to know the cost and box office success of both films. Anyone......? WAKE OF THE RED WITCH made around 1949 was a massive success... as was THE QUIET MAN in 1952. Vale Republic!

Rio Grande fmovies. As a writer, I find this to be the most honest and least pretentious of all John Ford's western films. His cavalry trilogy ended with "Rio Grande" (the others are "Fort Apache" and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon: and it was also the first pairing of John Wayne with Maureen O'Hara, with whom he made five film appearances all told. The setting of the film is not glamorous by anyone's standards; it is dusty, hot, remote, a country for hard men and hard duty. The storyline has Wayne in command of a fort. When his son is assigned to him for training with other recruits, his wife, estranged for fifteen years, follows him--to try to meddle... The storyline makes clear that during the Civil War he refused to disobey orders to burn down her family's plantation; now she's come west, and he wants her back and want to instill his pride in and love for the cavalry in his son. There is rough humor in the film, changes to mind and body, learning to ride, standing up to the elements and to men, lessons the West can demand of anyone who comes there. nd after a plan of Wayne's to protect settlers against the Indians backfires, he has to risk everything to save his career and his command. The theme of the film is that any man has to dare and dream beyond old conventions and ideas in order to reach his best; and that goes for O'Hara as well. The film was directed by John Ford, with script by James Kevin MacGuinness..Bert Glennon's skilled B/W cinematography captures the bleak beauty of the spare semi-desert country, and admirably. Frank Hotaling did the production design and Victor Young contributed the score. In this feature's large cast were Wane, O'Hara. Claude Jarman Jr. of "The Yearling" as their son, Harry Carey Jr., Victor Maclaglen, J Carrol Naish, Chill Wills and many solid western performers. But the best thing to me about the production is the absence of any attempt to glamorize or apologize for the West. The men who rode for the cavalry lived with loneliness, the roughness of the country they patrolled and constant danger from those they opposed; this film makes it clear why men would do this for the meager pay they received; that it was the challenge they took up, as a way to use their abilities and emotional strength to the full. That is why I like this film the best of all of Ford's estimable works.

As many people know, Rio Grande is the third installation of John Ford's sweeping "Cavalry trilogy*," his paean and dirge for the forging of the West after the Cival War. In each, there is Indian fighting, romance and Monument Valley. Younger officers look forward to winning glory in the Indian Wars while the older, veteran officers who served in the Civil War are tired of fighting and would rather keep the peace instead. And the enlisted men coming from all walks of life, some running from something, others trying to find something, but all taking war and peace as they come. They want to stay alive, but aren't too worried about dying.

Unlike the first two cavalry films, Rio Grande focuses more on the love between an Army officer and his wife, and the pain his life causes her. This pain is made even worse by the fact that their ònly son has chosen to follow his father's way of life, and winds up serving in his father's command. When, as is inevitable, Indians flee their reservation, the family becomes embroiled in war against the Apaches (whom, everyone knows, were the toughest, most ruthless and evil Indian fighters of them all). :))

This is where Ford moves away from typical westerns. While his Indians are fierce and tough, Ford tries to show in all the Cavalry films that they are also honorable and fighting for home and family, not because they are evil. And while Wayne's character must pursue his Indians until they're either captured or dead, he is not without both sympathy and respect, and knows for certain that it is the white man's treatment of them that is at the heart of all the Indian wars.

Over the years, as I've seen more and more of his movies, John Ford has become my favorite director. He had the ability to make stories with depth, compassion and remarkable truth; and these qualities have caused his films to last. I hope that you will see all of the Cavalry Trilogy, and then seek out all of the rest his movies.

*The other films in the trilogy are Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949).

This is an excellent film. Not usually a western fan, I am now a true-believer -- fan of the genre, of Wayne and O'Hara, and even, reluctantly, John Ford. Rio Grande captures the spirit of heroism that colors most of John Ford's best work. Strong personalities pursuing their values with a philosophical issue dividing them: it has an excellent, concise plot, well-developed characters, and boasts fantastic acting. Ford even shies away from allowing the scenery to star in the picture, which is a welcomed departure. With monuments like Wayne and O'Hara one does not need Monument Valley (this writer humbly submits.)

There is a profoundly moving scene in which Kirby and Kathleen York's entire relationship is summed up in the mere singing of a song (by the unforgettable voice of Ken Curtis) and O'Hara and Wayne's excellent acting -- hardly any dialogue, no flashbacks. It has to be cinematic moment for the history books... it is at least in mine.

By the way, avoid the colorized version if possible. Among other distractions, it makes John Wayne's hair look like instant brownie mix.