Rio Lobo [Blu-ray] Reviews

Howard Hawks directed his first film in 1926, a silent war film The Road to Glory whose success quickly solidified his place as a director of promise. Over the next forty-four years, he had a string of hits in every conceivable movie genre, even with screwball comedies and musicals, genres that don’t immediately leap to mind when this man’s man/director is mentioned. Rio Lobo, made in 1970, was his last film, and it starred an actor whom the director had made quite a few big hits with during his career, John Wayne. Though Red River and Rio Bravo both rank high on the list of quality Hawks-Wayne collaborations, their swan song together was not quite so fortuitous. There certainly is evidence within the film of Hawks’ fondness for comic camaraderie between his male stars as well as his intention to launch new careers with budding performers. But Rio Lobo also shows signs of a sluggishness in pacing that makes the film seem longer than either Rio Bravo or Red River even though those two films run far longer than two hours and Rio Lobo does not. It’s still entertaining, but it doesn’t rank high in the director’s pantheon of all-time great films.

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