An American Western; A story about a Union Army colonel who loses a gold shipment in a Confederate raid. He wants the two unknown men on the Union side who sold the Confederates information about the gold shipments. However, when the Civil War ends he finds he has new enemies.
Howard Hawks directs the series of confrontations and revelations competently but the film drops to a listless pace, picking up with moderate suspense and sometimes even sadistic distraction. John Wayne's performance has an ageing prowess of eminently attractive moral character. Jack Elam is funny, and entertainingly threatening, as the grizzled, wild-eyed rancher.
As an aside, the film is a nostalgia trip on Wayne's mythic character. Hawks presents the memories, conventions and nostalgia from Wayne's films going back to the 1940s, but it is also the second of two remakes he made of his own original film, Rio Bravo.
Review of Rio Lobo
