Fans of John Wayne can now stream the actor’s classic WesternRio Lobo, which was originally released in 1970. The film, which drew some ire from famed movie critic Roger Ebert, is now available to stream on Prime Video.
Rio Lobo was directed by Howard Hawks, and the screenplay was penned by Burton Wohl and Leigh Brackett. Wayne had previously collaborated with Hawks on 1959’s Rio Bravo and 1966’s El Dorado before Rio Lobo, which ultimately turned out to be the director’s final film. In the film, Wayne plays a Union leader who vows revenge against the traitors who’d assisted Confederate forces in a deadly attack against his troops during the Civil War. Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O’Neill, Jack Elam, Victor French, and Susana Dosamantes also star.
While Rio Lobo was perhaps ahead of its time, as it’s typically looked back at fondly with retrospective reviews, it didn’t impress the critics back then. Roger Ebert leaned on the positive side, giving the movie three out of four stars, though he found the movie to be “tired” and paling in comparison to the work Wayne and Hawks had previously done. The critic also pointed out how the movie utilized the “usual plot elements,” as it carried over a similar story from the duo’s previous collaborations.
Rio Lobo is just a shade tired.
“I’m sorry to say, however, that Rio Lobo is just a shade tired, especially after the finely honed humor and action of El Dorado,” Ebert said. “Perhaps Hawks was reluctant to quote too much from his previous two films. I can’t imagine why.”
The famed critic also stated, “In this case, 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. To some degree Wayne movies are rituals, and so it is fitting that they resemble each other. El Dorado was a remake of Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1958), and Rio Lobo draws from both of them.”
Howard Hawks Saw Rio Lobo as Unique
Hawks explained the approach for Rio Lobo in a classic BFI interview. While he agreed that there are some basic similarities, he also explained why Rio Lobo should be seen as separate from the the previous films featuring Wayne.
“You’re right, there is a similarity, but it comes from style, it comes from writing, it comes from the fact that it’s made in the same part of the country, because the costumes are very much the same,” he said. “Rio Lobo is quite different because it starts in the war between the North and the South, so you don’t quite think it’s going to be a western, then it changes to the western. You can probably say that Western is a lot like the other two. Sure. You’ve got fellows with guns, and one of them’s a sheriff… You know, there isn’t much you can do.”