Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Better Late Then Never

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This "RIO GRANDE" is a long forgotten western of the legendary director John Ford that surprises pleasantly. Irish songs and a very good level of romance make this movie a beautiful western, which has a great humor also present (the character Quincannon, played by actor Victor McLaglen, gives the film extremely funny scenes). This is a very effective western, although of a substantially different style to others of the Ford / Wayne duo (for example, the first time the character Yorke, starring John Wayne, picks up a gun happens only 6 minutes from the end of the movie !). The good virtues of the film make to forget its (enough) small faults, that end up not having great importance in the development of the plot. Perhaps the only one that is more noteworthy is the (sadly) little participation and importance given to the character Kathleen, played by the extremely beautiful Maureen O'Hara (here in the first of five "romantic" partnerships she would do with John Wayne). On the other hand, one of the very positive aspects of the film is the importance and excellent performances of the secondary actors, such as Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman Jr, Harry Carey Jr and the aforementioned Victor McLaglen. In short, this "RIO GRANDE" is a beautiful surprise.

I hadn't seen this movie in about 25 years and couldn't quite remember it until AMC showed it today. I am a big Duke fan, but this one was very disappointing. It was so predictable, from the beginning when he sees his son there as one of his troops and their very predictable "reunion". The idea of the Apaches raiding across the Rio Grande and the Cavalry not being able to pursue them because of possibly fracturing their relations with Mexico has some possibilities, but it goes flat after that. We might expect the Mexican's being there when they do cross the Rio Grande, but nothing ever came of it and that is very anti climatic. There are also HUGE plot holes all the way through this and the former Confederate/ Union plot just doesn't do much either. The romance sub plot, which I don't think played as a real sub plot, also was very unsatisfying as well.But, the one that had me laughing out loud was the "singing choir" that just sang, EVERYWHERE. Okay, the serenade of Mrs. York was sweet, but for the Captain to call for them to sing while they are riding patrol is just too much. I like the Sons Of The Pioneers as much as anyone and Ken Curtis just still amazes me every time I hear him sing and watch Gunsmoke and marvel, but this singing was just too much. Did any of those guy ever fire a gun in this entire movie?I thought about leaving it a "1", but I can't leave a "1" for the Duke on a western. Now, let me check out The Conqueror and I may change my mind. Unless, we think of Mongolia as being "far west".

The great thing about "Rio Grande" is how it engages you as a story of lives in motion, filling the screen with great spectacle and private heartbreak, sometimes simultaneously. It's a fine primer on the rugged beauty that is a John Ford film.It also too often showcases the other, lesser side of Ford, the maudlin showman prone to sacrificing subtlety for blarney and shortchanging action scenes for exercises in rote choreography and drill routines. Fortunately for Ford and us, he also had his greatest weapon, John Wayne, in prime condition to deliver the sort of performance that leaves all else behind in heavenly clouds of dust.Wayne is Col. Kirby Yorke, tough commander of a cavalry unit stationed in Fort Starke, a Texas posting that lives up to its name. He gives us the facts of the matter early on, to a group of recruits that include his own son, Jeff (Claude Jarman, Jr.):"I don't want you men fooled about what's coming up for you. Torture. At least that." Col. Yorke adds he will tie any man who fails him to a wagon wheel and bust to bits anyone who tries to desert.But Col. Yorke's not ornery like some other Wayne characters, just tough and fair. We register early on that he's proud of Jeff even as the boy stands up to him, in one of several scenes nicely played by Jarman. The colonel's overriding sense of duty was once tested when he burned down a plantation belonging to his Confederate wife, Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara). Fifteen years, two months, and seven days later she still hasn't forgiven him, but the desire still burns, and sears when she appears at Fort Starke to try and bring her son home. Watching these two interact on-screen for the first time is a study in how less can be more, with all the words unsaid between them fluttering across their limpid eyes.This is really what "Rio Grande" is about, though Ford was obligated to bring in a Western and did so with some business about marauding Apaches who need to be quelled. The situation is complicated by the fact the Apaches have based themselves across the title river in Mexico, and rooting them out may trigger a political crisis.This could have been a fine storyline in itself, but Ford's lack of interest in it is too obvious. He puts the Apaches on the back- burner for a half-hour, then throws up an out-of-nowhere attack on Fort Starke which liberates some prisoners Col. Yorke helpfully left by an underguarded fence-line. For the rest of the film, intermittent battle scenes present either Apaches or troopers riding heedless into rifle fire with no apparent strategy other than outdoing one other for best horse fall. I never get Ford's reputation as a great action director; he was always better directing around it.The film suffers a bit from too much singing, like other commenters here point out, but the performance of one song, "I'll Take You Home Kathleen" justifies Ford's predilection. Here we get another clinic in zen acting from Herself and the Duke, as they make the shyest of eye contact, him unnerved, her touched by the song with its implications of romance interrupted. You know throughout the scene that Yorke is thisclose from telling the singers to buzz off, but he doesn't because, you know, he really feels it, too."This music was not of my choosing," he croaks at the end."I'm sorry, Kirby," she answers, just as tightly. "I wish it had been."Moments like that, of which there are many in this movie, make me too grateful to begrudge Ford the occasional excess or line, like Kathleen's too on-the-nose remark to her husband: "I'm sorry your sense of duty made you destroy two beautiful things, Bridesdale and us." It's a beautifully composed film, even at times to a fault, and at its best, which it frequently is, "Rio Grande" gives us a chance to watch Wayne play off his favorite leading lady in fascinating style. A beautiful film which feels perfect, even if it isn't.

John Ford could handle cavalry as well as Genghis Khan, Marshall Murat and Nathan Bedford Forest combined, and never better than in this movie. Although "Rio Grande" may not have as strong a story as "Fort Apache" or the depth of "The Searchers", visually it's one of the best of the Ford Westerns. It also features the most spectacular horsemanship in any of his films.And just look at the dust in this movie? No one could do more with dust and smoke than Ford; he painted his films with it. When other directors tried it, they just seemed to be emulating him. It was when Ford allowed the dust and smoke to clear and took to the studio sets for "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" that we knew the master was in decline.Honour and duty are themes that run through "Rio Grande", in fact, there are very few Ford movies where they don't, but they are particularly strong in the cavalry pictures. Set in Texas after the Civil War, the story is about the US cavalry's attempts to keep the peace between the Apaches and the whites. John Wayne as Colonel Kirby Yorke commands the cavalry. When his son, Jefferson, played by Claude Jarman Jr. reports for duty as a trooper after washing out of West Point, his mother, Kathleen, played by Maureen O'Hara, turns up to take him home. We learn that she and Kirby have become estranged since Yorke's men burned Kathleen's family plantation during the Civil War. York refuses to let his son leave and Jefferson also wants a chance to prove himselfThe Apaches break out of the reservation and capture a wagon load of children. Jefferson plays a crucial part in their rescue, and mother and father are united in their shared pride over his exploits.Well that's roughly the story, and it works well enough but it's the visual story that counts in this one. Action alone never adds up to much of a movie, but in "Rio Grande", the action defines who these men are; the great horsemanship that was their stock-in-trade, their panache and nerve in the face of danger, and the traditions and ceremonies that unite them and give them a sense of purpose. As trooper Tyree, Ben Johnson is a standout in this film. A champion rodeo rider in real life, he was the epitome of the quietly spoken man it was wise not to cross. Many years before final vinyl, I bought the "Rio Grande" soundtrack. The liner notes featured an interview with Harry Carey Jr. where he described how he, along with Ben Johnson and Claude Jarman Jr. actually did the spectacular Roman riding – it's a brilliant sequence in the film and lets you know that these men are game for anything.Of course you could argue that the Irish humour is laid on a bit thick, and maybe there is one song too many, but music was always a key element in Ford's westerns. It was a time when people made their own music. Marching songs and regimental bands must have been a key part of military life back then. Although many of the songs in "Rio Grande" were original compositions, they actually sound right. During the 1960's and 1970's, most lists of the top directors would have placed John Ford numero uno. But nowadays, John Ford often comes in around 10 or lower. Spielberg, Scorsese, Kubrick, Hitchcock, and heroes of the art house such as Fellini and Kurosawa fill out the top spots – even David Lynch gets number one on some lists. Although these lists possibly show a touch of elitism, they also reflect youth – a generation that hasn't really been exposed to the work of older filmmakers even on television. As a kid growing up in Australia in the 1950's and 1960's those Golden and Silver-age movies were a staple of TV – we saw literally hundreds of them. They helped shape an emerging generation of Aussie filmmakers as they obviously did the coming generation of American directors, which included Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and dozens of others.For my money, and with the realisation that Hollywood movies from the 1920's onward have dominated world cinema, Ford still holds the top spot. "Rio Grande" may not be his most acclaimed work, but like many reviewers here, I think it's either far better than remembered or the discovery of a little known gem.