RIO GRANDE is "Quietly" Important
RIO GRANDE - Olive Signature Edition
From OLIVE FILMS
Review by Mr. Paws😽
As John Ford/John Wayne collaborations go, I wouldn’t rank Rio Grande among their best. However, this is the film that made The Quiet Man possible, which is one of their best (if not their greatest). Republic Pictures would only agree to green-light Ford's longtime pet project if he agreed to direct Rio Grande first. So in a roundabout way, the film has a certain amount of historical importance.
Watching the film today with 20/20 hindsight, one suspects maybe Ford was a little less invested in this one than Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (the other two films of his unofficial “cavalry trilogy”). That ain’t to suggest it’s a bad film by any stretch. Rio Grande actually features one of John Wayne’s more down-to-Earth performances, where he appears to be playing a real character rather than an extension of himself. As Colonel Kirby Yorke, Wayne convincingly portrays an honor-bound career soldier without wrapping himself in the American flag. Considering Wayne’s larger-than-life persona, there’s a weariness to Yorke that’s oddly endearing.
Someone could use some Head & Shoulders. |
EXTRA KIBBLES
NEW: “BIGGER THAN LIFE” - interview with co-star Claude Jarman Jr.
NEW: “STRENGTH AND COURAGE” - Interview with Patrick Wayne (John’s kid), who’s first film this was.
NEW: “TELLING REAL HISTORIES” - The best of the new bonus features, actor/tech-advisor/choreographer Raoul Trujillo discusses the depiction of Native-Americans in Rio Grande and other films.
NEW: “SONGS OF THE RIO GRANDE” - Historian Marc Wanamaker discusses the songs by Sons of the Pioneers.
NEW: VIDEO ESSAY - By author Tag Gallagher
NEW: AUDIO COMMENTARY - By author Nancy Schoenberger
NEW: ESSAY - By Paul Andrew Hutton, featured in a supplementary booklet as well as the disc.
“THE MAKING OF RIO GRANDE” - Vintage feature hosted by Leonard Maltin and featuring numerous interviews.
TRAILER
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