Rio Lobo(1970), starring John Wayne, Jack Elam, Jorge Rivero and Christopher Mitchum, marked the fifth and final collaboration between John Wayne and Director Howard Hawks. This Western is also the last theatrically released feature film directed by Hawks.“I’ve been called a lot of things, but not ‘comfortable’!“
First there was “Rio Bravo(1959),” then came “El Dorado(1967)” and finally “Rio Lobo(1970)”; all three were Westerns directed by Howard Hawks with John ‘Duke’ Wayne in the lead, and were written by the eminent female author, Leigh Brackett. Additionally, all three has the same plot, with slight variations in scenarios and characterizations. Hawks is one of the most revered directors from Hollywood’s classical period, and he has made films across many genres, but each one of them possessed his distinct stamp.
To be honest, Hawks may have made just three or four original movies, the rest are all derivatives and composites of those movies. Hawks, who had a prolific and very successful career till the end of the 1940s, had some setbacks in the 50s, which drove him away from filmmaking for about four years. But when he made a comeback to direction with “Rio Bravo,” he hit upon a successful formula that mixed elements from his Westerns and screwball comedies.
The film was a heightened meditation on Hawks’ pet themes like professionalism, male bonding in time of crisis, and the strong, independent ‘Hawksian’ woman- within the template of a ‘Town’ Western, in which a besieged Sherriff uphold his professional duty at all costs with the support of some colorful and over-the-hill characters. After the success of the film Hawks just continued to milk the same formula in film after film for the rest of his career.
When he had two flops back to back in the mid 60s, he returned to the “Rio Bravo” well to draw some more of the same water, albeit with a different cast and a more comedic take. That film was once again a big hit, so naturally for his next ‘Western’ teaming with Duke, titled “Rio Lobo,” he decided to use the same formula, which he had developed with Brackett (who along with Burton Wohl would write this film). The film, incidentally, turned out to be Hawks’ last film- though he hadn’t planned it that way.
“Rio Lobo” is set at the tail end of the American Civil War and the film has Duke playing Union Colonel Cord McNally. The Union Gold shipments transported by train under Cord’s watch are being systematically hijacked by the Confederates. Cord believes that there’s a traitor who’s feeding information to the opposite side, and hence he has increased the security around the shipments. But that doesn’t seem to deter the Confederates; and, as the film begins, the Rebs led by Capt. Pierre Cordona and Sgt.
