Rio Grande: Blu-ray review

Eureka Entertainment release RIO GRANDE, the final instalment of the Cavalry Trilogy starring John Wayne directed by John Ford

The last entry of the oft-forgotten 'Cavalry Trilogy' that featured John Wayne and was directed by John Ford; Rio Grande (1950) followed the hits Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) and is thought of as the most underrated collaboration between the illustrious pair.

The film marks the end of that trilogy, but also a new beginning to their partnership and the first film that Wayne would appear opposite Maureen O'Hara (The Quiet Man coming in 1952).

Wayne is Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, attached to the Texas frontier in 1879 to protect settlers from attacks by Apaches. When Yorke's son – a West Point flunkee turned Army private – is assigned to his father's regiment, tensions flare upon the arrival of Yorke's estranged wife Kathleen (O'Hara), who wants their teenaged son out of Yorke's unit. After Apaches attack, the stakes of Yorke's mission escalate, and he must journey to Mexico where the Apaches are hiding out. With his son and two old recruits (Ford/Wayne regulars Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.) as accompaniment, Yorke faces his toughest battle.

This back against the wall mentality comes out through Wayne's impressive lead performance, holding it all together with a strong ensemble around him. This role comes in the midst of a great purple patch of Wayne's iconic roles - in 1948 he played Tom Dunson in Howard Hawks' Red River, the role that prompted Ford to say, 'Damn, I did not know the sonofabitch could act' and in 1956 Wayne would play his most famous role of Ethan Edwards in The Searchers. Wayne was the biggest star in Hollywood stepping between war and western films regularly with great success.

When watching Rio Grande, it is another example of Ford's mastery of scene setting and action sequences - the vistas of Monument Valley provide Ford a virtual playground to enjoy with Wayne his main subject. The character of Kirby having to walk the fine line between a soldier of duty and that new found streak of parenthood that has been thrust upon him in the most stressful of situations.

Highly enjoyable and recommended for all western film aficionados, this is a beautiful 4K restoration on Blu-ray. 

The features include a video essay by Tag Gallagher, archival documentary featuring Maureen O'Hara with specific audio commentary also and a feature-length audio commentary by Stephen Prince.

Rio Grande is out now from Eureka as part of their Masters of Cinema series.

My thanks to them for the review opportunity.

Wayne and Ford

Released from Doubleday Books, Nancy Schoenberger looks deep into the life-long career relationship between two titans of the 20th Century cinema landscape, who are both synonymous with that most American of film genres - John Wayne and John Ford - who forever will be the cowboy and the man who shot him.

The book covers all of their careers but touching base especially on the landmark films such as Stagecoach (1939), Fort Apache (1942), The Quiet Man (1952) and The Searchers (1956).  Whilst Ford showed versatility throughout his filmography, he himself in later life succumb to the public opinion, 'I'm John Ford. I make westerns' mindset.

John Wayne for years worked in B-movie pictures before getting cast as the Ringo Kid in 1939's Stagecoach, a film that would be the making of his mythic status as the archetypal western hero. Stagecoach was the start of the Western film as we know it; the clearer boundary of good versus evil, the east intruding upon the west and the use of Monument Valley as the key backdrop for action.

Ford made Westerns without Wayne, and yet they did not match the illustrious status of those collaborations yet Wayne made Red River with Howard Hawks and won his only Oscar for True Grit in 1969, a throwaway role and film.

The book goes into the background of Ford, a heavy drinker between films who lived in a loveless marriage and due to his Catholic upbringing could not divorce, who harboured romantic feelings for Katherine Hepburn and suppressed homosexual yearnings for years.  Ford was a complex figure who found salvation in his work during the Second World War working with the Navy, whilst Wayne that most emblematic figure of masculinity and manhood chose to stay at home during the conflict whilst Ford and Wayne's contemporaries, James Stewart and Henry Fonda engaged in combat.

That difference of role during the early 1940s led to arguments between the men, as did Wayne's political beliefs for the Republican party.  Whilst Ford used his demons to make great work and found solace in the unity of a film crew and team, Wayne became the star of the industry that made him and shied away from moral responsibility at the behest of personal fortune.  Wayne attempted to direct his great picture in The Alamo, a film that nearly bankrupt him and became forgotten and a laughing stock.

The film skates over some films in parts which is unfortunate and should not be thought of as a book of film criticism but nevertheless does do credit to a great chapter in American film history with these two figureheads standing tall above them all.