Rio Lobo (DVD)

Rio Lobo sees John Wayne paying the role of Colonel McNally who is working on the trains during the civil war. He is sending a train load of gold to another town but it is robbed and he has to set about trying to find the culprits. Much to McNally’s disappointment he is captured by the enemy and he has to lead them to safety but before long the roles are reversed and McNally has them as prisoners of war. The two prisoners are immediately set free ...
...sets off back home to Rio Lobo but the other, Cordona stays to help McNally when a young woman, Shasta, comes into the bar who is being chased by the deputy of Rio Lobo.

It is soon discovered that the deputy is one of the train robber but he is shot dead by the young woman. McNally decides that he must head to Rio Lobo to find out what happened to his gold and to help Shasta. Will McNally be able to uncover the truth and help Rio Lobo ... more

Rio Lobo sees John Wayne paying the role of Colonel McNally who is working on the trains during the civil war. He is sending a train load of gold to another town but it is robbed and he has to set about trying to find the culprits. Much to McNally’s disappointment he is captured by the enemy and he has to lead them to safety but before long the roles are reversed and McNally has them as prisoners of war. The two prisoners are immediately set free though as word comes of the end of the war.

McNally with the help of his now two uncovers information on the train robbers and sets about finding them. One of the men sets off back home to Rio Lobo but the other, Cordona stays to help McNally when a young woman, Shasta, comes into the bar who is being chased by the deputy of Rio Lobo.

It is soon discovered that the deputy is one of the train robber but he is shot dead by the young woman. McNally decides that he must head to Rio Lobo to find out what happened to his gold and to help Shasta. Will McNally be able to uncover the truth and help Rio Lobo with the aid of his new friends?

Well as most of you will know I am not a fan of john Wayne or westerns but have to suffer them as hubby is a big fan. Despite this I did not find this film was half as bad as I was expecting. The storyline was quite good and the characters were also very good. John Wayne played his the role of Colonel McNally well but I found he did not seem to bring anything new to the role especially after the end of the war when he was just a normal man and no longer a Colonel. I think I would have liked to have seen a different side to his character in this film which would have made for better viewing and would have taken the role away from all of the other films which he has stared in.

The supporting actors and actresses were very good and included a wide variety of character. Some of them included Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O’Neal and Jack Elam. They all managed to hold their own and not have their characters shadowed by John Wayne. I particularly enjoyed the female role and think she did a good job of portraying someone who could take care of themselves and not have to be reliant on the two men, this was a nice change for a film of this type.

The film was set at the end of the American Civil war and I found all of the sets and costumes to look very authentic for this time period. I think that a lot of time and effort was put into making it all look very authentic. Some of the scenes were shot on location and we were treated to some wonderful views over the country side and of the mountains but some of the scenes were quite visibly done with the background added later. On about effects there was one point in the film when I did have to laugh out loud as one of the women was supposed to have had her face slashed by the baddies but it was so noticeable a stuck on cut and you could actually see the sticky marks around the edge where it had been stuck down. I think that with a little more work then this could have been made to have looked so much better and realistic!

The music throughout the film was good and did help with setting the scene and emotions for the parts which it was played. I did find it was quite enjoyable at times and I do give a lot of credit to Jerry Goldsmith who was the director of all of the music.

The DVD which we have does not have any bonus features which is not a great loss for me but as this is the 100th Anniversary edition DVD I would have thought that it would have contained some.

The running time of the film is 110 minutes and I found this to be quite long enough and in fact I did think that they could have made the film just as good with it being shortened to 90 minutes. The certificate on the film is a PG, it does contain mild language and violence but nothing which cannot be seen or heard any time of the day on normal television.

We paid £4.99 for this DVD well over a year ago now from Morrison but it will be widely available on places like Amazon and EBay for around the same price.

I am going to recommend this film as long as you are not expecting great things from Wayne as I would say that this is an average one for him.

 

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