Rio Lobo poster & wallpaper

Bill Williams, David Huddleston, Dean Smith

The final film by the legendary director Howard Hawks, released in 1970, found him paired with longtime leading man John Wayne in a story slightly similar to their more familiar Rio Bravo and <...( read more  read more... )I>El Dorado. Set at the end of the Civil War, the story finds Wayne playing a Union army colonel who recovers some stolen gold and roots out a traitor. Though a little creaky (Hawks had been making films since 1926), Rio Lobo nevertheless has his trademark, crackling dialogue, appealing characters, and ensemble spirit among the cast. This was a worthy finish to a fantastic career by a first-rank filmmaker. --Tom Keogh

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76% liked it

6,336 ratings

Critics

72% liked it

18 critics

G, 114 min.

Directed by: Howard Hawks

Release Date: June 1, 1971

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DVD Release Date: April 29, 2003

Stats: 201 reviews

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Rio Lobo George Plimpton and John Wayne Jorge Rivero, John Wayne and Jennifer O'Neill
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Flixster Reviews (201)

  • stopitgoaway
    January 10, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    While hardly the most auspicious of swan songs, Hawks? underrated final film sees a reprise of some of his favorite themes ? including the siege/hostage exchange situation from RIO BRAVO (1959), a Western he had already partially remade as EL DORADO (1966); incidentally, John Way...( read more)ne starred in all three titles.

    It opens with an elaborate gold shipment robbery from a moving train by Confederate soldiers; Wayne is a Unionist Colonel who goes after the culprits but, the war over, befriends ?enemies? Jorge Rivero and Chris Mitchum when they reveal the identity of a couple of Yankee traitors ? one is a deputy sheriff and the other an unscrupulous landowner (Victor French). The film shares its partnership-between-Union-and-Confederate-soldiers angle with Wayne?s earlier Western THE UNDEFEATED (1969) ? but, Hawks being Hawks, it?s presented here in a far more complex (and rewarding) manner.

    As is usual for the director, a spirited female protagonist is thrown into the fray ? in this case, Jennifer O?Neill as a traveling-show performer who falls foul of French and his dastardly sheriff (Mike Henry); of course, she becomes romantically involved with Rivero ? a situation Wayne observes with bemusement. Jack Elam is a delight as Mitchum?s trigger-happy coot of a foster parent, making him an ideal replacement for the Walter Brennan of RIO BRAVO. The film also features an unusually wistful score for a genre effort courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith.

    All things considered, however, RIO LOBO still emerges as the least of the loose Wayne/Hawks Western trilogy: this is chiefly due to severe undercasting when compared to the earlier efforts ? with, say, Rivero being no match for James Caan from EL DORADO. Though a lot of exposition is necessary for the various plot threads to fall into place, the film (co-scripted by Hawks regular Leigh Brackett) provides plenty of action throughout its almost 2-hour length. The climax is exciting and well-staged, and includes the revenge on Henry by a young girl he has viciously scarred for life (played by Sherry Lansing, future head of the Fox and Paramount studios and currently Mrs. William Friedkin) ? which, however, calls for O?Neill to be virtually absent from these final stages and the film to end abruptly (albeit on a running joke involving Wayne)! Unfortunately, too, the DivX copy I watched proved rather hazy and suffered from occasional compression artifacts.
  • donaldwhite1
    November 14, 2009
    donaldwhite1
    John Wayne made this movie right after he made "True Grit". This movie is nowhere near the quality of "True Grit". It's like they decided to make a movie and just re-used ideas from past John Wayne movies. John Wayne was way too old to be playing the character in this movie. ...( read more)Of course he just played himself. They threw in a bunch of young good looking actresses to add a little sex appeal. But none of them could act. Jack Elam was the only interesting character, but that was just your typical Jack Elam character. The story was set at the end of the Civil War and a few years after. They never really said how long but the guns used in the second half of the movie were not from the era. The first part with the Confederate guerillas robbing the Union train was good. Although Union payrolls in the Civil War wouldn't have been gold but would have been paper Greenbacks. After that the story made no sense. The Union and Confederate soldiers become friends when the war is over. The hard feelings between north and south lasted for years after the war. Most of your good western stories deal with this lingering hatred between northerners and southerners as the western United States was settled in the last half the 19th century. This movie glossed over these facts and made the bad guy an ex-Union soldier who sold information to the Confederates and then went to Texas to buy up land from the poor southern landowners. The story has so many holes in it I can't list them all here. George Plimpton had a bit part in the movie and gets shot. I remember watching the TV special he did about being in this movie. He showed how they staged the shootout and used wires to jerk him back when he got shot. It was some sort of Thanksgiving special because I remember watching it at my Aunt and Uncle's house in McAlester, OK. I never saw the movie until I bought the DVD. It was supposed to be the third movie where he gets barricaded in a jailhouse. In this movie it's only the last 15 minutes of the story.
  • josephclancy2
    September 11, 2009
    josephclancy2
    I liked when the confederate help John Wayne.
  • samanthaheart1
    May 7, 2009
    samanthaheart1
    Great John Wayne movie as all calsic western's are.
  • Soundsofmadness
    March 28, 2009
    Soundsofmadness
    No thankyou - Not interested
  • ima365ryder
    March 11, 2009
    ima365ryder
    Outstanding movie John Wayne is my family favorite actor
  • ambsalmons
    February 4, 2009
    ambsalmons
    One of my all time John Wayne movies..
  • malacaynomuerto
    January 28, 2009
    malacaynomuerto
    Nada mejor que un western bien hecho y este e es todo un clásico la historia pueda que no sorprenda pero ni buscamos sorpresas en el western buscamos es un buen rato de diversión y este sin duda lo logra
  • drcna123456
    October 11, 2008
    drcna123456
    one of my ALL time favorite films
    It has all of my favorite actors in it and of course the gun play at the end was a splended piece of work as well
    Too bad they don'y make movies like this any more
  • NIGHTRIDER111
    October 1, 2008
    NIGHTRIDER111
    GOOD MOVIE WORTH WATCHING.

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

In this case, the story itself doesn't matter much. We go to a classic John Wayne Western not to see anything new, but to see the old done again, done well. full review

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Rio Lobo Trivia

  • In what movie was John Wayne told that he was "comfortable"?  Answer »
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  • Who directed these classic westerns: 'Rio Lobo', 'Rio Bravo', and 'El Dorado'?  Answer »
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