Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Rio Bravo
1958
****½
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell

John Wayne plays a principled sheriff who arrests a murderer but faces the wrath of a powerful rancher who is prepared to break his brother out of jail. The only people in town willing to back the lawman are his two deputies, a drunk (Dean Martin making fun of himself) and an old cripple (wonderful Walter Brennan), as well as a young gunslinger (teen idol Ricky Nelson). Howard Hawks' influential Western classic is overlong (with several song interludes) but it's irresistibly entertaining. Based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell.