Rio Grande ( film ) - wikipedia Rio Grande ( film ) Rio Grande Theatrical poster Directed by John Ford Produced by Uncredited : Merian C. Cooper John Ford Screenplay by James Kevin McGuinness Based on Mission With No Record 1947 story Saturday Evening Post by James Warner Bellah Starring John Wayne Maureen O'Hara Music by Victor Young Cinematography Bert Glennon Edited by Jack Murray Production company Argosy Pictures Distributed by Republic Pictures Release date November 15, 1950 ( 1950 - 11 - 15 ) Running time 105 minutes Country United States Language English Box office $2.25 million ( US rentals ) Rio Grande is a 1950 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. The picture is the third installment of Ford 's `` cavalry trilogy, '' following two RKO Pictures releases : Fort Apache ( 1948 ) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ( 1949 ). John Wayne plays the lead in all three films, as Captain Kirby York in Fort Apache, then as Captain of Cavalry Nathan Cutting Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and finally as a promoted Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke in Rio Grande ( scripts and production billing spell the York ( e ) character 's last name differently in Fort Apache and Rio Grande ). The film is based on a short story `` Mission With No Record '' by James Warner Bellah that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on September 27, 1947, and the screenplay was written by James Kevin McGuinness. The supporting cast features Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman, Jr., Harry Carey, Jr., and Chill Wills. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Music 4 Production 5 Accolades 6 Basis 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Plot Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke ( John Wayne ) is posted on the Texas frontier to defend settlers against attacks by marauding Apaches. Colonel Yorke is under considerable pressure due to the Apaches using Mexico as a sanctuary from pursuit, and by a serious shortage of troops in his command. The action of the movie is set in the summer of 1879 ( `` fifteen years after the Shenandoah '' ). Tension is added when Yorke 's son ( whom he has n't seen in fifteen years ), Trooper Jefferson Yorke ( Claude Jarman Jr. ), is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment. He had flunked out of West Point but immediately enlisted as a private in the Army. In a private `` father - son '' meeting in the commanding officer 's tent, Trooper Yorke informs his father that he does not expect, nor want, any special treatment because he is his son. He asks that he be treated like any other soldier -- to which the colonel somewhat reluctantly agrees. By his willingness to undergo any test and trial, Jeff is befriended by a pair of older recruits, Travis Tyree ( Ben Johnson ) ( who is on the run from the law ) and Daniel `` Sandy '' Boone ( Harry Carey, Jr. ), who take him under their wings. With the arrival of Yorke 's estranged wife, Kathleen ( Maureen O'Hara ), who has come to take the underage Yorke home by buying him out of his enlistment, further tension is added. During the Civil War, Yorke had been forced by circumstances to burn Bridesdale, his wife 's plantation home in the Shenandoah valley. Sgt. Quincannon ( Victor McLaglen ), who put the torch to Bridesdale, is still with Yorke and is a constant reminder to Kathleen of the episode. In a showdown with his mother, Jeff refuses her attempt buy him out of the Army by reminding her that not only the commander 's signature is required to discharge him, but his own as well ; and he chooses to stay in the Army. The tension brought about in the struggle over their son 's future ( and possibly the attentions shown to her by Yorke 's junior officers ) rekindles the romance the couple once felt for each other. The Apaches attack the Fort one night. Many of them are killed by the awakened troopers, but they succeed in freeing their leader, captured at the start of the movie. Two Texas marshals arrive at the post with a warrant for Trooper Tyree 's arrest on a manslaughter charge. Confined to the post hospital, with the connivance of the regimental surgeon ( Chill Wills ) and Sergeant Major Quincannon he breaks jail, steals Colonel Yorke 's horse, and goes on the run, intending to stay away until the marshals head back to Texas. Yorke is visited by his former Civil War commander, Philip Sheridan ( J. Carrol Naish ), now Commanding General of the Military Division of the Missouri, the headquarters responsible for pacifying the Great Plains. Sheridan has decided to order Yorke to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico in pursuit of the Apaches and kill them all, an action with serious political implications since it violates the sovereignty of another nation. If Yorke fails in his mission to destroy the Apache threat, he will have to face a court - martial. Sheridan, in quiet acknowledgment of what he is asking Yorke to risk, promises that if it comes to that, `` the members of the court will be the men who rode down the Shenandoah with us '' during the Civil War. Yorke accepts the assignment. Yorke leads his men toward Mexico, only to learn that a wagonload of children from his fort, who were being taken to Ft. Bliss for safety, has been captured by the Apaches. Tyree trails the Apaches to their hideout in Mexico and then rejoins his regiment with the information and a plan to rescue the children. After permitting three troopers -- Tyree, Boone and Jeff -- to infiltrate the ruined church in the Mexican village where the Indians have taken the children, Yorke leads his regiment in an all - out attack. The cavalrymen rescue all of the children unharmed, though Colonel Yorke is wounded by an arrow that he orders Jeff to remove. He is taken back to the fort by his victorious troops, where Kathleen meets him and holds his hand as he is carried on a travois into the post. After Colonel Yorke recovers, Tyree, Boone, Jeff, Navajo Scout Son of Many Mules, and Corporal Bell are decorated. At the ceremony, Trooper Tyree is given a furlough to continue his run from the law when one of the Texas marshals reappears, stealing General Sheridan 's horse for the purpose. As the troops pass in review ( with the regimental band playing Dixie at the General 's request to please Mrs. Yorke ), the movie closes. Cast John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara & Claude Jarman Jr. in Rio Grande John Wayne as Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke Maureen O'Hara as Kathleen Yorke Ben Johnson as Trooper Travis Tyree Claude Jarman, Jr. as Trooper Jefferson Yorke Harry Carey, Jr. as Trooper Daniel `` Sandy '' Boone Chill Wills as Dr. Wilkins, Regimental Surgeon J. Carrol Naish as General Philip Sheridan Victor McLaglen as Sergeant Major Quincannon Grant Withers as Deputy Marshal Sons of the Pioneers as the Regimental Singers Peter Ortiz as Captain St. Jacques Steve Pendleton as Captain Prescott Karolyn Grimes as Margaret Mary Albert Morin as Lieutenant Stan Jones as Sergeant Fred Kennedy as Trooper Heinze Music The film contains folk songs led by the Sons of the Pioneers, one of whom is Ken Curtis ( Ford 's son - in - law and best known for his role as Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke ). Bob Nolan had previously serenaded Charles Starrett lead actor in Rio Grande directed by Sam Nelson in 1938. Production Ford wanted to make The Quiet Man first, but Republic Pictures studio president Herbert Yates insisted that Ford make Rio Grande beforehand, using the same combination of Wayne and Maureen O'Hara ; Yates did not feel that the script of The Quiet Man was very good, and wanted Rio Grande to be released first to pay for The Quiet Man. To Yates 's surprise The Quiet Man, on its eventual release in 1952, would become Republic 's number one film in terms of box office receipts. Maureen O'Hara stars with John Wayne in five movies : Rio Grande ( 1950 ), The Quiet Man ( 1952 ), The Wings of Eagles ( 1957 ), McLintock ! ( 1963 ) and Big Jake ( 1971 ). The first three were directed by John Ford. This was the film debut of Patrick Wayne. The film was shot in the Mohave Valley, Utah, though it is frequently mentioned incorrectly in film histories as having been made in Ford 's favorite location for westerns, Monument Valley on the Colorado Plateau. Accolades The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists : 2008 : AFI 's 10 Top 10 : Nominated Western Film Basis Some aspects of the story, notably the regiment 's crossing into Mexico, and undertaking a campaign there, loosely resemble the expedition conducted by the 4th Cavalry Regiment ( United States ) under Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie in 1873. See also John Wayne filmography References Jump up ^ ' The Top Box Office Hits of 1950 ', Variety, January 3, 1951 Jump up ^ Variety film review ; November 8, 1950, page 6. Jump up ^ Harrison 's Reports film review ; November 4, 1950, page 176. Jump up ^ `` Mission With No Record. '' - The Saturday Evening Post. - volume 220, number 13. - September 27, 1947. - Retrieved 2008 - 07 - 21. Jump up ^ Rio Grande on IMDb Jump up ^ Scott Eyman John Wayne : The Life and Legend 2015 - 1439199590 Page 197 `` Yates insisted that the Sons of the Pioneers appear in Rio Grande, which Ford found appalling, but he found a way to found a way to work them in as a sort of musical Greek chorus, cavalry style. '' Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915618/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t28 Jump up ^ `` AFI 's 10 Top 10 Nominees '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original on 2011 - 07 - 16. Retrieved 2016 - 08 - 19. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ Matthews, Matt M. ( 2007 ), The US Army on the Mexican Border : A Historical Perspective ( Adobe Acrobat - *. PDF ), The Long War Series : Occasional Paper 22, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas : Combined Arms Research Library : Combat Studies Institute Press - United States Army Combined Arms Center, pp. 48 -- 51, ISBN 978 - 0 - 16 - 078903 - 8 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rio Grande ( film ). 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( 1971 ) ( produced and co-wrote ) Related Five Came Back ( 2017 documentary ) VIAF : 214778824 GND : 7552974 - 9 BNF : cb16700263n ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rio_Grande_(film)&oldid=831932288 '' Categories : 1950 films English - language films 1950s Western ( genre ) films American films American Western ( genre ) films American black - and - white films Cavalry Western films Films based on short fiction Films set in Texas Films shot in Utah Republic Pictures films Films directed by John Ford Films scored by Victor Young Hidden categories : CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2008 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français Hrvatski Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska 11 more Edit links This page was last edited on 22 March 2018, at 22 : 06. 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Question: who played john wayne's son in rio grande
Answer: Claude Jarman Jr.