John Wayne Western Rio Bravo kicked off an unofficial trilogy of movies including El Dorado and Rio Lobo; here are the three ranked worst to best.
Here's John Wayne's unofficial Rio Bravo trilogy, ranked from worst to best. Wayne kicked off his career with a small, uncredited role in the 1926 silent movie Brown Of Harvard, and it wasn't until 1939's Stagecoach that he became a star. The actor appeared in a variety of genres and roles throughout his 50-year career, including war movies like Sands Of Iwo Jima, comedy-drama The Quiet Man and even an epic romance like The Barbarian And The Geisha - where Wayne reportedly punched director John Huston.
Wayne is, of course, mostly linked to the Western genre. He's the quintessential Western movie star and appeared in some of the most iconic films in the genre, including True Grit, The Searchers, Red River and The Cowboys. Even with the decline in popularity of the Western, he was making movies in the genre right until the end of his career, with his last movie being 1976's The Shootist. Outside of 1975's Rooster Cogburn - his penultimate movie - Wayne never made an official sequel.
That said, his Rio Bravo director Howard Hawks liked the basic premise of that 1959 Western so much, that he essentially remade it twice. Each outing remixes themes and characters to some extent, and they form an odd trilogy of sorts.
3. Rio Lobo (1970)
Rio Lobo marked the end of Hawks' career, and sadly is arguably one of his worst movies. The story sees Wayne's - who turned down a Clint Eastwood Western - Union cavalry officer heading to the titular lawless town to track down two traitors. Whereas the previous two movies had a sparky energy and witty dialogue, nearly everything with Rio Lobo feels plodding. Wayne is a little too old for the lead, while his co-star Jorge Rivero totally lacks the charisma of previous co-leads Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum. Outside of a scene-stealing turn by Jack Elam and a couple of punchy shootouts, Rio Lobo is a dud.
2. El Dorado (1966)
El Dorado didn't start as something of a Rio Bravo remake, but it evolved that way during production. Wayne plays a gunfighter who arrives in El Dorado to help his old friend J.P. (Robert Mitchum, star of the original Cape Fear), a sheriff who has become an alcoholic. The movie recreates the basic beats of its predecessor, but comes up with some great setpieces of its own and is grounded by the chemistry of the cast. It moves at a faster clip than Rio Bravo too, and also features an early role for James Caan as Wayne's protege, who - outside of a deeply problematic "comic" scene where he impersonates a Chinese man - displays the talent he would flesh out further with The Godfather and Thief.
1. Rio Bravo (1959)
Rio Bravo is commonly featured on lists of greatest Westerns, and would be influential on filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and John Carpenter; the latter would do his own take on the concept with Assault On Precinct 13. The simple premise sees Wayne's sheriff Chance holding a dangerous prisoner and waiting for help to arrive, and having to rely on a drunk deputy (Dean Martin) and a young gunfighter (Ricky Nelson) for backup. Rio Bravo is paced quite slowly for modern tastes, but it gives audiences a chance to get to know the main characters and the careful pacing makes the moments of violence bite. Angie Dickinson also shares surprisingly good chemistry with Wayne, and while parts of it haven't aged well or can appear corny to modern eyes - with Nelson also being a tad wooden - there's a reason it's still so highly regarded.
Next: The Terrible John Wayne Western That Convinced Tarantino He Must Retire
