Gunmen of the Rio Grande / Desafío en Río Bravo (Tulio Demicheli, 1964)

Database page: Sfida a Rio Bravo - The Spaghetti Western Database

A fresh faced Guy Madison plays Wyatt Earp. He rides into town to help a saloon owner and owner of a mine, as they are having a spot of bother from the local town badman.

Simple story and short running time make this one tick along fairly fast. Tend to like Madison so that’s a bonus, and Fernando Sancho plays his usual role. American in style, so people looking for that developed Spaghetti style may not like.[font=times new roman][/font]

very boring spaghetti :-, i order it and i watch it before a week the trailer promise a lot but it’s very less enjoyment
watch better madison’s payment in blood much better movie with non stop action and great music by frangesco de massi

Traditional style early spaghetti but, for its type, a very good one in my opinion. Madison suits this kind of film and Sancho does what he does best as the larger than life bandit with his own particular code of ethics. As Ennioo mentioned, it has a pretty short running time which actually fits it perfectly and ensures it doesn’t outlast its welcome. Nice action, bit of romance, decent direction and a nice big helping of Sancho. Did the trick for me.

Don’t expect any Leone-isms and there’s plenty to enjoy in an old school kind of way.

[quote=“Phil H, post:3, topic:2584”]Traditional style early spaghetti but, for its type, a very good one in my opinion. Madison suits this kind of film and Sancho does what he does best as the larger than life bandit with his own particular code of ethics. As Ennioo mentioned, it has a pretty short running time which actually fits it perfectly and ensures it doesn’t outlast its welcome. Nice action, bit of romance, decent direction and a nice big helping of Sancho. Did the trick for me.

Don’t expect any Leone-isms and there’s plenty to enjoy in an old school kind of way.[/quote]

I agree! This is another one of those early examples of the genre that I really enjoy watching.
If you are expecting this to be anything close to a Leone, Corbucci, or even Tessari style film you will be disappointed. But, if you know that going into the film (as I did), then you will likely find it a nice, entertaining little film.

I haven’t seen the film - just the trailer - but the bit right at the end where the wagon crashes and explodes is wonderful.

If there’s a good explanation for it in the plot, I really don’t want to know!

[quote=“Commissioner, post:5, topic:2584”]I haven’t seen the film - just the trailer - but the bit right at the end where the wagon crashes and explodes is wonderful.

If there’s a good explanation for it in the plot, I really don’t want to know![/quote]
the trailer looks very good but the film…

The database says the running time is 100 minutes. My copy is exactly 78 minutes and 54 seconds. Does the longer version exist out there?

I had never heard of this early Italian western, made around the same time as A Fistful of Dollars
Completely predictable - I watched it in French (on You Tube), but you could watch it in Chinese or Russian without losing track - but done with a sense of style. I actually enjoyed it, and … it made me aware of the fact that I haven’t seen CASABLANCA in ages …

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Gunmen_Of_The_Rio_Grande_Review

I like this one, too.

Nice review :slight_smile:
I like this early Spaghetti,too.
Does anybody have some reliable facts about the uncut runtime?
My dvdr runs about 79 Minutes (PAL), so more or less the same as the youtube versions.
So I doubt that there is a 100 Min (cinema runtime) Version available?
Maybe a mistake in database???

I also have a nice 35mm copy in German language but unfortunately reel 2 (out of 5) is missing :frowning:

The original film length of the Italian version Sfida a Rio Bravo is 2354 meters, equivalent to 86 minutes.

Okay, thanks :slight_smile:

Maybe someone should update the database or is there any proof information that maybe a spanish print was 100 minutes?
I doubt that because spanish TV version is about 79 min. PAL (about 82 min. in Cinema)

I now have a German TV print available that runs 80:39 Min in PAL.
That is about 84 Min in Cinema. The version has no final credits or end music.

As I’ve said I like these early efforts. Strictly a B movie but enjoyable as such. The cast includes Spanish stuntman / coordinator, Juan Maján, who is credited as actor in a few westerns but I’ve never seen him identified. He is credited with a character name in Slugs (1988). Tom tells me he is a former wrestler which could explain the crooked nose.

Potato Fritz (1976) as a henchman and Bandidos (1967) Cowboy who shoots Rickey Shot at the waystation and inside is jumped by Salerno

In the Spanish TV recordings of Dos pistolas gemelas (1966) he is not present but I found an Italian copy with French credits (?) which has a pre-credit opening not in the others that explains why Felton is after the ranch. The cowboy who is beaten and killed for the info is Maján.

So here he should be the gunman at the mine with Román Ariznavarreta

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This movie may see a BluRay release this year. I took that as a good reason (as if we needed any) to upgrade this film’s page in the database to the new layout. Please report any errors, and to submit info, texts, reviews, facts, trivia, pictures or other enrichments…

Watched the new German Blu Ray - no company name on - which runs 84m37s and has German and English audio. 85m is consistent with the UK theatrical release in 1965 as Duel at Rio Bravo. Italian censor records about 1m longer in November 1964 but that could be idents/end credits. There is about 3m where no English audio (German audio only) but the company have generously created their own English subtitles for these. These two scenes are (a) last half of dialogue scene between Williams and Pancho in latter’s office (b) Judge’s pardoning of a henchman and Sheriff’s subsequent rant at the Judge after Judge has sentenced Earp to death in Earp’s absence.

Picture quality was fine generally although film stock tended to vary between scenes and very bottom of screen - last sliver - sometimes looked out of focus. Print was the German version which credits Mario Capriotti as photographer; Spanish version on You Tube credits Gugliemo Mancori and not Capriotti. German print credits Gene (Eugenio) Luotto for screenplay and Chen Morrison for story. Spanish version credits Luotto, Tucio Demicheli and Natividad Zaro for screenplay. Press booklets also credit Giovanni Simonelli and Guy Lionel.
The Spanish version has a caption over the opening shot which gives the date as 1886 and refers to this being the further adventures of Wyatt Earp after the OK Corral gunfight. No caption on the Blu Ray print (there is a dialogue scene later in which the sheriff refers to Earp having got nothing out of Tombstone except the death of one brother and the crippling of another).

My best guess on the screenplay mess is:
Lionel - is French and probably did the French dialogue
Luotto - he owned a dubbing company per IMDB so probably produced the German and maybe English and Spanish dubs. Not known as a writer though.
Morrison - this is an alias either for Simonelli (a professional writer credited on several well-known spaghettis) or Demicheli.

Released in November 1964, 2 months after Fistful of Dollars but clearly shot before Fistful was released as, visually it is in the American tradition with nice clean shaven hero and American style costumes. Higher body count though with Madison knocking off at least twenty bad guys. Fernando Sancho still plays his typical Mexican bandit - not sure if he did this before or after Minnesota Clay. An Italian-French-Spanish co-production with all 3 nationalities present in the cast. Outdoor footage all shot in Spain. Jose Greci, who was in a lot of peplums and whom I recognised immediately is billed as ‘Carolyn Davys’ in Italian, English and German prints but ‘Corbin Davis’ in the Spanish print. Strange names and she was a fairly well-known actress as well. Madeline LeBeau’s costumes and her skin tone look really good on the Blu ray. Her character’s relationship with the drunken sheriff seems to have been copied to some extent in 100.000 Dollars for Ringo the following year (with Massimo Serato in the same role as the drunken lover of the saloon owner). Not a great western but a passable time filler. The name Wyatt earp was stressed quite prominently in the publicity.

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not anywhere? hm… that is interesting. Well it is a True Grit / Cargo Records release.

It says TG165632. TG is True Grit? I have 382 out of 500

Note that blurb on back cover says 1877 although dialogue refers to OK Corral which was 1881 and Spanish caption mentions 1886.

There is a little booklet as well - 8 pages mainly of publicity extracts which are also on the gallery on the disc.


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Of course realised that Simonelli was involved in both this film and 100,000 Dollars for Ringo which is probably why they have the same subplot of the saloon girl owner and drunk hooking up and the drunk redeeming himself. Works properly in Duel at Rio Bravo but is superfluous in 100,000 Dollars for Ringo.