Rio Lobo

"Give 'Em Hell, John."

1970 1h 56m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 298

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After the Civil War, a former Union colonel searches for the two traitors whose perfidy led to the loss of a close friend.

“Give 'Em Hell, John.”

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Cast

John Wayne
Col. Cord McNally
Jorge Rivero
Capt. Pierre Cordona
Jennifer O'Neill
Shasta Delaney
Jack Elam
Phillips
Christopher Mitchum
Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips
Victor French
Ketcham
Susana Dosamantes
Maria Carmen
Sherry Lansing
Amelita

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Howard Hawks
Writers: Burton Wohl, Burton Wohl, Leigh Brackett
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

56 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Howard Hawks, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Woodcock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Wayne and Jorge Rivero and Jennifer O'Neill carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Give 'Em Hell, John.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0066301 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Howard Hawks directs. William H. Clothier behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. John Woodcock cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

156 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3Directed by Howard Hawks, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor John Woodcock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6John Wayne and Jorge Rivero and Jennifer O'Neill carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Give 'Em Hell, John.".
8IMDB entry: tt0066301 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: John Woodcock
Production design: Robert Emmet Smith
Costume design: Leah Rhodes
Makeup / hair: Monty Westmore
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Rio Lobo (1970)

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Howard Hawks

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What people are saying

John Chard2019-05-07
★ 5/10
Don't say comfortable eh? Out of Paramount Pictures, Rio Lobo is directed and produced by Howard Hawks (the last film he would direct) and stars John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jeniffer O'Neill, Jack Elam & Christopher Mitchum. It's written by Leigh Brackett & Burton Wohl, musically scored by Jerry Goldsmith and photographed by William H. Clothier on location at Cuernavaca, Mexico & Tuscon, Arizona. It's the third film in a loose trilogy by Hawks & Wayne that follows Rio Bravo (1959) & El Dorado (1966). Plot follows Wayne as Union officer Cord McNally who loses gold shipments (via the railway) to Confederate guerrillas led by Pierre Cordona (Rivero) & Tuscarora Phillips (Mitchum). It's the start of a relationship that will see all parties end up in Rio Lobo, Texas, where a traitor and a despotic sheriff are in their midst. Rio Lobo is easily the weakest Western that Hawks made with Duke Wayne. He himself would say that he didn't like the film, felt it wasn't any good, while Wayne himself was quoted as saying that he had already made the film twice before. Almost everything about Rio Lobo is tired, from the formula of the story to Wayne sleepwalking thru a role that held no challenge, it's a poor send off for one of America's finest directors. The script is solid enough, with many Hawksian themes evident; and it's nice to see the three lady characters be important to the story, but the cast put around Wayne are poor and out of their depth and this rubs off on the normally professional Wayne who finds he has nothing to act off of. It's not a total stinker, tho, certainly Clothier's photography and Goldsmith's score are worthy of investing time with, and the lead off sequence involving the train robbery is well put together and stirs the adrenalin. Sadly the film is never able to reach those heights again, with the ending being a rather tame affair that doesn't do justice to the bitter revenge tone that Hawks has steered the film towards. Of the sub-standard support cast there's only Jack Elam who is worth watching, be it for comedy value or for just giving it some gusto. All told the film just about comes out as watchable Sunday afternoon fodder. A running theme in the film sees fun poked at the ageing Wayne's expense, one of which involves the word comfortable. That is an apt word to use for Rio Lobo, because director and star are in the comfort zone, comfortably making an unchallenging and old hat movie. 5/10
CinemaSerf2023-06-03
★ 7/10
There are really only two things to speak of with this: Tommy Tedesco's lovely guitar solo of Jerry Goldsmith's theme and Jack Elam is perfectly cast as the cantankerous whisky-swilling "Mr Phillips". Otherwise, it's just a routine outing for John Wayne (and Howard Hawks) who pretty much bears the weight of the film. Jorge Rivero; Jennifer O'Neill and Christopher Mitchum make up the numbers. The story is fun - a Yankee colonel meets up after the Civil war with two former Confederate officers to track down a man who had been selling secrets during the war and we have a few, predictable, adventures en route to an explosive climax.