Legendary producer & director Howard Hawks didn't care for his final film "Rio Lobo." Editor John Woodcock remembers Hawks advising him to whittle down scenes that didn't live up to the director's high expectations. Reportedly, Hawks enjoyed the American Civil War prologue, but his feud with lead actress Jennifer O'Neil and her appallingly callow performance as the heroine marred later scenes, such that Hawks eventually wrote her out of the finale altogether and gave Sherry Lansing the privilege of killing the villain. Indeed, "Rio Lobo" isn't the greatest western. Nevertheless, with its comic byplay among the principals, Jerry Goldsmith's evocative music, and his scenes of violence, Hawks' last collaboration with John Wayne is still a lot of fun.
"Rio Lobo" opens with an entertaining and inventive prologue about a Civil War gold robbery. Confederate soldiers grease the railroad tracks that a Union train transporting a shipment of gold is traveling on and then hurl a hornet's nest into the caboose where the troops stand guard over the strongbox. Between the hornets and the Confederate gunfire, the Union soldiers are either shot or bail out as the Confederates release the caboose from the rest of the train. Just to make sure that the locomotive cannot follow them, the Southerners blow of the engine's steam. Talk about a slick piece of work. The rebels smoke the hornets out caboose and halt the runaway vehicle with heavy ropes stretched across the tracks, the same way the Navy use to hang a net across their carrier decks to stop careening jets. Colonel Cord McNally (John Wayne) and his men ride to the scene of the robbery, and McNally finds one of most dependable officers, Lieutenant Ned Forsythe (Peter Jason of "They Live"), lying in a field with his neck broken. McNally and his men split up as they trail the rebels into the woods. The rebels single out McNally and take him prisoner, among the Confederates are Capt. Pierre Cordona aka Frenchy (Jorge Rivero of "Soldier Blue") and Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips (Robert Mitchum's son Christopher of "Big Jake"), who are both pretty handy with this six-shooters. Eventually, McNally outfoxes them and leads them into Union territory. He offers to release them if they divulge the identity of the traitor who has been giving them insider information about the gold shipments. Cordona and Phillips refuse and serve their time out in a prison camp.
After the war ends, McNally visits Cordona and Tuscarora as they are discharged and buys them some drinks. The colonel still wants to know who sold him out because he refuses to tolerate treason. When Tuscarora asks him why he doesn't bear a grudge against them, he reminds them that what they did constituted an act of war. McNally gives them some money to supplement the two dollars that Union authorities have given them so they are head west. Cordona and Tuscarora agree to alert McNally when they have any useful information. The time between the prison scene and the subsequent scene in the Texas town of Blackthorne is compressed, and McNally shows up in civilian garb in response to Cordona's summons. No sooner does McNally show up than trouble breaks out because a bunch of Rio Lobo deputies, operating out of their jurisdiction, try to arrest a willowy girl, Shasta (Jennifer O'Neil of "Class of '42) for questioning in connection with a snake oil medicine show she was running. Blackthorne Sheriff Pat Cronin (veteran character actor Bill Williams of "Son of Paleface") tries to intervene, but the Rio Lobo thugs get the drop on him. One of the villains is none other than journalist George Plimpton in a cameo. Shasta pulls a derringer out of her purse under the table and fires through it. She wounds villainous Deputy Whitey (Robert Donner of "High Plains Drifter") while McNally disarms the gunman with a rifle (Plimpton) who stands behind him. Condona appears half-dressed at the top of the stair in the saloon/hotel and helps gun down the opposition.
Cordona explains that the man they think sold them the information about McNally's gold trains is a wealthy rancher in Rio Lobo called Ketchum. Veteran heavy Victor French of "Charro!" is the slimy villain who is forcing everybody to sell their land at rock bottom prices and has the notoriously corrupt sheriff, Blue Tom Hendricks (Mike Henry of "Smokey and the Bandit") on his payroll. Hendricks' chief deputy is played by future "Dallas" patriarch Jim Davis. Shasta guides Cordona and McNally to Rio Lobo and they arrive under cover of darkness. The next day McNally watches as couple of Blue Tom's deputies give Tuscarora a beating, charge him with stealing his own horses, and lock him up. McNally, Shasta, and Cordona visit Tuscarora's father's ranch where Blue Tom men have besieged old man Phillips. Our heroes and heroine shoot their way into Phillips' ranch and convince him to accompany them to Ketchum's ranch. They kidnap Ketchum after busting heads and shoot their way into Blue Tom's jail to free Tuscarora. Meanwhile, Cordona heads off to fetch the U.S. Calvary, but the villains capture him and engineer an exchange, Cordona for Ketchum.
Leigh Brackett, who co-wrote "Rio Bravo" and "El Dorado," rewrote Burton Wohl's script, and reconfigured several scenes from the aforementioned movies to accommodate "Rio Lobo." Instead of the heroes slinging dynamite as they did against the villains in "Rio Bravo," the villains get to sling dynamite at the heroes. Moreover, "Rio Lobo" doesn't dawdle and never wears out its welcome. As abysmal as Jennifer O'Neil's performance is, the cast seems to work together quite jovially and the dialogue—nothing memorable—flows with a rhythm. Hawks ribs John Wayne's character with his increased girth and age and the girls ridicule Jorge Rivero's romantic Frenchman without mercy. Let's not forget Jack Elam as the cantankerous Mr. Phillips who chews the scenery with vigor as much as he loves to shred anybody and everybody with his double-barreled shotgun.
"Rio Lobo" opens with an entertaining and inventive prologue about a Civil War gold robbery. Confederate soldiers grease the railroad tracks that a Union train transporting a shipment of gold is traveling on and then hurl a hornet's nest into the caboose where the troops stand guard over the strongbox. Between the hornets and the Confederate gunfire, the Union soldiers are either shot or bail out as the Confederates release the caboose from the rest of the train. Just to make sure that the locomotive cannot follow them, the Southerners blow of the engine's steam. Talk about a slick piece of work. The rebels smoke the hornets out caboose and halt the runaway vehicle with heavy ropes stretched across the tracks, the same way the Navy use to hang a net across their carrier decks to stop careening jets. Colonel Cord McNally (John Wayne) and his men ride to the scene of the robbery, and McNally finds one of most dependable officers, Lieutenant Ned Forsythe (Peter Jason of "They Live"), lying in a field with his neck broken. McNally and his men split up as they trail the rebels into the woods. The rebels single out McNally and take him prisoner, among the Confederates are Capt. Pierre Cordona aka Frenchy (Jorge Rivero of "Soldier Blue") and Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips (Robert Mitchum's son Christopher of "Big Jake"), who are both pretty handy with this six-shooters. Eventually, McNally outfoxes them and leads them into Union territory. He offers to release them if they divulge the identity of the traitor who has been giving them insider information about the gold shipments. Cordona and Phillips refuse and serve their time out in a prison camp.
After the war ends, McNally visits Cordona and Tuscarora as they are discharged and buys them some drinks. The colonel still wants to know who sold him out because he refuses to tolerate treason. When Tuscarora asks him why he doesn't bear a grudge against them, he reminds them that what they did constituted an act of war. McNally gives them some money to supplement the two dollars that Union authorities have given them so they are head west. Cordona and Tuscarora agree to alert McNally when they have any useful information. The time between the prison scene and the subsequent scene in the Texas town of Blackthorne is compressed, and McNally shows up in civilian garb in response to Cordona's summons. No sooner does McNally show up than trouble breaks out because a bunch of Rio Lobo deputies, operating out of their jurisdiction, try to arrest a willowy girl, Shasta (Jennifer O'Neil of "Class of '42) for questioning in connection with a snake oil medicine show she was running. Blackthorne Sheriff Pat Cronin (veteran character actor Bill Williams of "Son of Paleface") tries to intervene, but the Rio Lobo thugs get the drop on him. One of the villains is none other than journalist George Plimpton in a cameo. Shasta pulls a derringer out of her purse under the table and fires through it. She wounds villainous Deputy Whitey (Robert Donner of "High Plains Drifter") while McNally disarms the gunman with a rifle (Plimpton) who stands behind him. Condona appears half-dressed at the top of the stair in the saloon/hotel and helps gun down the opposition.
Cordona explains that the man they think sold them the information about McNally's gold trains is a wealthy rancher in Rio Lobo called Ketchum. Veteran heavy Victor French of "Charro!" is the slimy villain who is forcing everybody to sell their land at rock bottom prices and has the notoriously corrupt sheriff, Blue Tom Hendricks (Mike Henry of "Smokey and the Bandit") on his payroll. Hendricks' chief deputy is played by future "Dallas" patriarch Jim Davis. Shasta guides Cordona and McNally to Rio Lobo and they arrive under cover of darkness. The next day McNally watches as couple of Blue Tom's deputies give Tuscarora a beating, charge him with stealing his own horses, and lock him up. McNally, Shasta, and Cordona visit Tuscarora's father's ranch where Blue Tom men have besieged old man Phillips. Our heroes and heroine shoot their way into Phillips' ranch and convince him to accompany them to Ketchum's ranch. They kidnap Ketchum after busting heads and shoot their way into Blue Tom's jail to free Tuscarora. Meanwhile, Cordona heads off to fetch the U.S. Calvary, but the villains capture him and engineer an exchange, Cordona for Ketchum.
Leigh Brackett, who co-wrote "Rio Bravo" and "El Dorado," rewrote Burton Wohl's script, and reconfigured several scenes from the aforementioned movies to accommodate "Rio Lobo." Instead of the heroes slinging dynamite as they did against the villains in "Rio Bravo," the villains get to sling dynamite at the heroes. Moreover, "Rio Lobo" doesn't dawdle and never wears out its welcome. As abysmal as Jennifer O'Neil's performance is, the cast seems to work together quite jovially and the dialogue—nothing memorable—flows with a rhythm. Hawks ribs John Wayne's character with his increased girth and age and the girls ridicule Jorge Rivero's romantic Frenchman without mercy. Let's not forget Jack Elam as the cantankerous Mr. Phillips who chews the scenery with vigor as much as he loves to shred anybody and everybody with his double-barreled shotgun.