John Wayne acted opposite his fair share of dynamic and talented female leads. But according to the Duke himself, no co-star impressed him more than Angie Dickinson. Although she was 24 years Wayne’s junior, Dickinson hit it off with the legend of cinematic Westerns immediately. She first met the Duke while portraying his onscreen wife, during his cameo playing himself in the 1958 comedy movie I Married a Woman. The pair would later act alongside each other in Melville Shavelson’s 1966 war movie Cast a Giant Shadow. However, neither of these collaborations can compare with the legendary Rio Bravo.
Howard Hawks’ best movie has only grown in stature since it came out at the end of the 1950s. This classic Western serves to demonstrate that no one could conjure up onscreen chemistry with John Wayne quite like Dickinson could. As Walter Brennan’s character observes in the movie’s closing moments, “Sheriff’s got himself a girl.” The actor’s gruff and surly cowboy persona didn’t usually suit romantic endings to most John Wayne movies. It’s to Dickinson’s credit that she was able to make it work in Rio Bravo, although the actor herself is more inclined to praise Wayne’s own performance.
Rio Bravo Was John Wayne & Angie Dickinson’s Best Movie Together
It’s Also One Of The Best Western Movies Ever Made
There’s no question that Rio Bravo features Dickinson’s best appearance in a movie alongside the Duke. Yet it’s important to place their collaboration in context. While Dickinson’s gutsy and often scene-stealing performance beyond her years as Feathers is certainly a highlight of the film, it’s far from the whole story. Rio Bravo is not only one of John Wayne’s best Westerns, but is widely considered one of the greatest Western movies ever made, alongside John Ford’s The Searchers.
Dickinson’s character doesn’t appear until the second act, by which time we’ve already been wowed by Rio Bravo’s brilliant opening scene, which was a key influence on Quentin Tarantino’s career in cinema three decades later. Once the classic saloon bar brawl is out of the way, Wayne and his castmates Dickinson, Brennan, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson get down to business, drawing a fairly rudimentary plotline into one of the most versatile and entertaining Westerns of all time.
Why John Wayne & Angie Dickinson Worked So Well Together On-Screen
The Pair Loved Working With Each Other
While many assume that the Duke’s favorite female lead was Maureen O’Hara, who starred with Wayne in five movies altogether, his own words tell a different story. Adriano Edgar’s book John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth quotes him as stating, “We were damned lucky to have Angie Dickinson. She had beauty, sex appeal, and brains.” Wayne goes on to pay Dickinson the ultimate professional compliment, by adding, “She was one of the best actresses I ever worked with.” It’s clear that the Duke enjoyed working with Dickinson, which elevated his performance when the pair were on-screen together.
Meanwhile, Dickinson was equally effusive in her praise for Wayne 13 years ago, when she told Austin CultureMap that the actor was “adorable” when he worked with her. “I think it’s a side of him we didn’t see in a lot of his movies,” she explained, referring to his character’s romance with Feathers in Rio Bravo. Dickinson has a point, because few other actors, if any, were able to bring that side out of the Duke like she was.