Rio Bravo (1959)
I had high expectations for this given its well regarded place in western film canon. While it does have its charms and qualities, it isn’t exactly a classic in my book.
The opening scene without dialogue works quite well, but after that the suspense is almost left behind and the movie takes more than an hour to become interesting again. I have seen many refer to this as a great hangout movie, which makes sense because the whole cast is generally great, especially Dude who has the most interesting story arc here. I also liked how every gunfight was handled with strategy and thoughtfulness in mind. It wasn’t just whoever is the quickest draw.
The parts that didn’t work well for me was the relationship between Chance and Feathers. It didn’t make much sense and wasn’t believable, and the ending with how the sheriff saved the town and now gets the girl was really cheesy. And it was at least 30 minutes too long. Still, I am glad I watched it and it wasn’t a waste of time - which is usually where my cutoff between 2 and 3 stars is.
Rating: 3