Rio Bravo Movie Review

Warner Bros. has been one of Hollywood’s flagship studios now for a century. Producing memorable characters, films, and franchises. I have always loved the Warner Bros brand, from their Super-Man films, to Tim Burton’s Batman, Beetlejuice, Joe Dante’s Gremlins in the 1980s to Unforgiven, The Lethal Weapon sequels and The Matrix in the 1990s, The Dark knight Trilogy and Harry Potter films in the 2000s to Mad Max: Fury Road, The DCEU and many others in the 2010s. Warner Bros. track record is very impressive, but a lot of the studio's classics that made it what it is today, are not talked about nearly enough.

The studio celebrates its 100th year anniversary this year and to celebrate, has been releasing some of the best and most recognisable titles on 4K Ultra High Definition (4K UHD). In April we saw the re-release of the Superman sequels on 4K along with ‘Maltese Falcon’, ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ and ‘Cool Hand Luke’. Now in July and August, we are getting more great titles with the re-release of the John Wayne, Western classic ‘Rio Bravo’, another James Dean film, ‘East of Eden’ Bruce Lee’s classic 1973 martial arts masterpiece ‘Enter the Dragon’, and National Lampoon’s classic Chevy Chase comedy, ‘Vacation’. If you’re a film fan you best be saving for these ones, because you will want them in your collection!

To celebrate this month’s releases ‘Rio Bravo’, ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Enter the Dragon’, I will be reviewing each of these tiles on 4K UHD. The second film to be covered in this series of reviews is the John Wayne, Western Classic also starring Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson and Walter Brennan among others. So, without further ado, let's get stuck into this one.

Western films of the 1950s and 1960s were a dime a dozen and John Wayne was the king of them all, starring in classics such as ‘True Grit’, ‘The Man Who Shot liberty Vance’, ‘The Alamo’ and of course ‘Rio Bravo’. Very few are regarded as highly as ‘Rio Bravo’. The film holds an impressive 83 Meta Critic score and a 96% critical rating on IMDb, not to mention its 8/10 rating on IMDB, which sees it sitting in the top 300 films of all time, which is pretty damn good considering just how many films there are. Rio Bravo follows Sheriff John T. Chance (played by John Wayne), as he enlists the help of a drunk, a disabled man and a young gunfighter in an effort to hold in jail, the brother of a local troublemaker.

It’s a premise we’ve seen done many, many times before, but what elevates the film is the direction from legendary filmmaker Howard Hawks. Hawks do a superb job of capturing the comradery between this ragtag group of locals. The film shares a lot in common with other stories where a group of unlikely heroes must band together to defeat a common threat, like Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and John Sturges spiritual remake, ‘The Magnificent Seven’. Similar to both of those films and countless others, our group of misfits are so likeable and enjoyable on screen, that we can’t help but barrack for them, even when the odds are stacked against them.

John Wayne is the real standout in the film and absolutely shines as Sheriff Chance. He brings a gritty realism to the character, which we got to see a lot especially as his career went on. This rivals his best work for me, and I had a blast re-visiting him in this role. The supporting cast are all fantastic here as well, with Dean Martin as Dude ‘Borrachon’. He steals a lot of the scenes he is in, sharing some iconic moments with John Wayne.  Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson and Walter Brennan are also all fantastic in the film, bolstering its star-studded cast and adding to the film's overall appeal and memorability.

Rio Bravo is a classic. There is no denying its sway on Hollywood and the impact it left on the Western genre. It's well-crafted and completely sweeps you up into its gritty and grimy world. John Wayne is excellent, turning in one of his best and most memorable performances. Head on over to Sanity to secure your copy of ‘Rio Bravo’ on 4K UHD today and whilst you’re at it, shop all of Warner Bros. 100-year anniversary titles. Bolster your collection with some of the best films in cinema history and subscribe to Sanity's mailing list so you don't miss out on future titles with 'Batman: Mask of The Phantasm' arriving in September and the late, great William Friedkin's horror masterpiece 'The Exorcist' arriving just in time for Halloween in October. There's still plenty more to come!  Happy shopping and long live physical media.

Buy Rio Bravo on 4K UHD here

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here