Comments on: Rio Bravo

by: Livius

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:19:07 +0000

Thanks for the comment .
While I do think that Dino gave his best acting performance in ‘Rio Bravo’, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was oscar winning stuff - but he was definitely sympathetic and believable.

by: dino martin peters

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:26:38 +0000

Hey pallie, great reveiw of “Rio Bravo”….the classic of classic westerns. Many Dino devotees have often wondered why our Dino never got nominated and won the oscar for his portrayal of the Dude….probably our great man’s greatest screen performance.

by: Livius

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:39:16 +0000

I agree with you that Rio Bravo & High Noon are really quite different films - the comparisons coming down to the political jousting of the time. As I said, I enjoy both films but for different reasons. Rio Bravo will likely remain my all-time favorite western due to that innate feeling that everyone involved was having a hell of a good time, and managing to make the viewer share the same sense of enjoyment.

As for the new DVD, I can’t really see why there was so much initial fuss. It’s certainly not a disaster and, like you said, the interiors look way better. I wonder if the criticism damaged sales? I know I put off buying it for a time because of that.

by: John Hodson

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:02:54 +0000

Huzzah! Someone else who doesn’t follow the party line that the new DVD is awful; the big improvement is is the interior scenes which at last look more like interiors and less like they’re lit up by the mothership from Close Encounters.

As for High Noon v Rio Bravo, I’m uncomfortable with the comparison of two films I admire; I think for all Hawks and Wayne’s talk of it being a riposte against a film where the hero goes begging for help, it’s purely down to the politics of those involved and not much to do with the merits of either film. High Noon is a warning that evil can triumph if somebody - one man (okay, and his wife…) - is not willing to take a stand for what is right. Rio Bravo might be about a collective triumph, but there appear to be about as many townsfolk rooting for John T. Chance as there were for Kane in Hadleyville.