Synopsis
After the Civil War, a former Union colonel searches for the two traitors whose perfidy led to the loss of a close friend.
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Cast
- John WayneColonel Cord McNally
- Jorge RiveroCaptain Pierre Cordona (Frenchy)
- Jennifer O'NeillShasta Delaney
- Jack ElamPhillips
- Christopher MitchumSeargent Tuscarora Phillips
- Victor FrenchKetcham
- Susana DosamantesMaria Carmen
- Sherry LansingAmelita
- David HuddlestonDr. Ivor Jones
- Jim DavisRio Lobo Deputy
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
The story itself doesn't matter much. We go to a classic John Wayne Western not to see anything new, but to see the old done again, done well, so that we can sink into the genre and feel confident we won't be betrayed. - 70
Time Out
If it lacks the formal perfection of Rio Bravo and the moving elegy for men grown old of El Dorado, it's still a marvellous film. - 60
Time
There are a few good scenes—an intricately executed train wreck, for example—but the movie is notably slack where it should be zestful. - 60
Empire
Fairly routine western makes a disappointing swansong for Hawks. Still good fun though, if you like this kind of thing. - 50
Chicago Reader
While no Hawks movie can be considered a total loss, this reductive replay of Rio Bravo and El Dorado is too peevish to qualify as tragic, and only occasionally funny. - 50
Variety
Rio Lobo is the sort of western that John Wayne and producer-director Howard Hawks do in their sleep. But by no stretch of nostalgia does it match such previous Wayne-Hawks epics as Red River or Rio Bravo. - 25
TV Guide Magazine
Only the performance of Elam remains lively, but it is the type of characterization he has done dozens of times. A sad finale to Hawks's magnificent career.
