Evies Blog

‘Rio Grande’, the last of director John Ford’s ‘unofficial’ Cavalry Trilogy, has often been unfairly judged the ‘weakest’ of the three westerns. Certainly, it lacks the poetic quality of ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’, or the revisionist understanding of a thinly-disguised reworking of the events surrounding the death of George Armstrong Custer (’Fort Apache’), but for richness of detail, a sense of the camaraderie of cavalrymen, an ‘adult’ (in the best sense of the word) adore legend, and a symbolic ‘rejoining’ of North and South conclusion that may have you tapping your toe, ‘Rio Grande’ is hard to beat!

It is much that ‘Rio Grande’ ever got to the screen; Ford hadn’t planned to obtain it, but in order to accept Republic Pictures to agree to his demands for ‘The Peaceful Man’ (he wanted the film to be shot on situation in Ireland, and in color), he had to agree to do a ‘quickie’ western that would turn a fast profit for the usually cash-strapped studio. This is, perhaps, a reason why the film is held in less admire than it deserves. ‘Rio Grande’ may have not been born with high expectations, but with John Ford in the director’s chair, and John Wayne and the Ford ‘family’ in the cast and crew, the potential for something ’special’ was ALWAYS reveal!

A few bits of trivia to enhance your viewing pleasure: Yes, that IS Ken Curtis, singing with The Sons of the Pioneers, in the film…while uncredited, he made a valid impression with Ford, and soon became a share of his ‘family’…Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr, and Claude Jarman, Jr, actually did their beget stunts while performing the ‘Roman Style’ riding sequence (Carey said in interviews that they were all young, and didn’t mediate about the exertion of it; a production would lose their insurance if they ‘allowed’ three major performers to do something as unsafe, today!) …Did you know that O’Hara, playing Jarman’s ‘mother’, was barely 14 years older than her ’son’, and was only 29 at the time of the filming? …Harry Carey barely had any lines in the script; most of what you spy in the film was ad-libbed!…the celebrated ditty, ‘San Antoine’, sung by Jarman, Carey, Johnson, and Curtis, was, in fact, written by Mrs. Roy Rogers, herself, Dale Evans!

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Whether you’re viewing ‘Rio Grande’ for the first time, or have sat through many viewings, the film has a richness and sense of nostalgia for a West that ‘may never have existed, but SHOULD have’. It would be a proud addition to any collector’s library!

This is the third of Ford’s films which focus on the U.S. Cavalry and its violent encounters with the Apache. Wayne’s role in each is quite different. He is a subordinate officer in Fort Apache, a commanding officer about to retire in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and again a commanding officer in this film but estranged from his wife Kathleen (Maureen O’Hara), and son Jeff (Claude Jarman, Jr.) among the men he commands. Lieutenant Kirby Yorke (Wayne) resembles Woodrow F. Call in Lonesome Dove (played by Tommy Lee Jones) who refuses to prove any favoritism or even affection whatsoever to his son. (In fact, Call denies his fatherhood.) Of course, Ford ensures that husband and wife are reunited by the destroy of the film; also, that father and son become finish after Trooper Yorke plays a key role in helping to rescue children captured by the Apache and thereby earns his commanding officer’s (and father’s) respect. A similar relationship exists in Red River except that the conflict is resolved without a brawl. Personally, I would have preferred less reliance on Irish ballads, the focus on Yorke’s marital conflicts, and what I belief as the macho element of which Ford was so fond. Nonetheless, Wayne’s performance is outstanding and the sequence by which the children is rescued is brilliantly portrayed. In additional to great improved sound and image, this DVD version also offers several fine supplementary features which include a scene-specific commentary with Maureen O’Hara, a mini-documentary “Along the Rio Grande with Maureen O’Hara,” and “The Making of Rio Grande” hosted by Leonard Maltin.
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