Rio Bravo [VHS]
When it comes down to naming the best Western of all time, the list usually narrows to three completely different pictures: John Ford'sThe Searchers, Howard Hawks'sRed River, and Hawks'sRio Bravo. About the only thing they all have in common is that they all star John Wayne. But whileThe Searchersis an epic quest for revenge andRed Riveris a sweeping cattle-drive drama ("Take 'em to Missouri! Yeeee-hah!"),Rio Bravois on a much more modest scale. Basically, it comes down to Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne), his sobering-up alcoholic friend Dude (Dean Martin), the hotshot new kid Colorado (Ricky Nelson), and deputy-sidekick Stumpy (Walter Brennan), sittin' around in the town jail, drinkin' black cofee, shootin' the breeze, and occasionally, singin' a song. Hawks--who, like his pal Ernest Hemingway, lived by the code of "grace under pressure"--said he madeRio Bravoas a rebuke toHigh Noon, in which sheriff Gary Cooper begged for townspeople to help him. So, Hawks made Wayne's Sheriff Chance a consummate professional--he may be getting old and fat, but he knows how to do his job, and he doesn't want amateurs getting mixed up in his business; they could get hurt. This most entertaining of movies also achieved some notoriety in the '90s when Quentin Tarantino (director ofPulp Fiction,Reservoir Dogs, andJackie Brown) revealed that he uses it as a litmus test for prospective girlfriends. Oh, and if the configuration of characters sounds familiar, it should: Hawks remadeRio Bravotwo more times--asEl Doradoin 1967, with Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan; and asRio Loboin 1970, with Wayne, Jack Elam, and Christopher Mitchum.--Jim Emerson