[quote=“El Topo, post:11400, topic:141”][size=12pt]Rio Lobo - 1970 - Howard Hawks[/size]
A long time since I last watch the final take of Hawks Rio trilogy (if it can be called that way).
By far the weakest of the all movies, but with one of the best scenes, the initial train robbery scene is very well done.
By 1970 Wayne was becoming a bit old for this type of parts, hardly to get a romantic interest, at least in the form of a lovely young girl, but anyway the one scene Over the years the one part of RIo Lobo I have kept in mind was the scene when Jennifer O’Neill calls comfortable to the Duke after spending the night close to him instead of the younger Rivero. No girl ever call me comfortable either, so I understand Wayne’s character surprise.
It’s a well-directed work, in a professional way that is, but it’s not a great western, mostly cause of the actors, the casting direction made sure the Wayne was the only one to shine, with the exceptions of Jack Elam and Vitor French, the rest of cast (Rivero, the young Mitchum even O’Neill), couldn’t really act, and compared with the other two films it’s a real let down in that department, almost looks like some sort of B-movie.
The story is just a variation on the Rio Bravo/El Dorado theme, with a good setting, but Hawks or someone for him decide to give a more modern touch to the thing, especially in the woman behavior.
Not a great western I’m afraid and for those who don’t like him, Wayne (alongside with Jack Elam), is clearly the best in it. In the end it’s very but very far from Classic territory.[/quote]
Not a great movie, no, but still a pleasant ride most of the way
This is my take on it:
Compared to Rio Bravo and El Dorado Wayne acts tired in Rio Lobo. Elam is the only of the hero quartet who has a convincing role, but I prefer Brennan and Hunnicut if I compare the 3 oldtimer actors.
But I always enjoyed Jennifer O’Neill’s fresh and lively acting.
[quote=“Stanton, post:11403, topic:141”]Compared to Rio Bravo and El Dorado Wayne acts tired in Rio Lobo. Elam is the only of the hero quartet who has a convincing role, but I prefer Brennan and Hunnicut if I compare the 3 oldtimer actors.
But I always enjoyed Jennifer O’Neill’s fresh and lively acting.[/quote]
In most of the movies he made after one of his lungs was removed in 1964 he worked rather tired. It wasn’t a problem in a movie like True Grit, because he impersonated an overweight, alcoholic older man (who could still shoot straight), not a classic western hero; in Rio Lobo he plays an aging man, but he’s still supposed to be a tough guy. It causes problems, you notice how slow he has become.
Wayne was great in El Dorado, as he was in Rio Bravo. But not in Rio Lobo. It has nothing to do with his operation imo. Especially as other films from that time like Katie Elder or The War Wagon are also not suffering from his age or his slowness.
Gang of robbers heads for Mexican border, but first they stop in abandoned ghost town until heat passes. While they wait tensions between gang members are growing, especially because one of the members is leader’s woman. Also, town may not be as abandoned as they thought it’ll be…
Cheaply made Spaghetti Western that didn’t make much sense at all. The storyline and the actors just don’t work together…awkward acting with very little dialogue input.
The best thing in this is Fernando Sancho and his drinking buddy mule. 4/10
The Coens’ Intolerable Cruelty (2003) has been viewed. Not one of their most highly regarded comedies and often seen to exemplify their fallow period during the first half of the 2000s, it’s still a pretty funny film, with all the actors on top form, especially George Clooney and Geoffrey Rush. The fact that it started life as a script not written by Joel and Ethan perhaps explains why the broader vestiges of its plot is less idiosyncratic than usual; the expected touches occur more in the margins, such as Clooney’s obsession with white teeth (a detail that would fit right into Burn After Reading!). The ending is rather rushed and maybe a less frantic pace would’ve suited the material better, but despite these caveats, anybody who likes the Coens will still get a kick out of it.
The other ‘mainstream’ will be The Ladykillers, I guess. Intolerable Cruelty is the better movie of the two, I din’t like The Ladykillers (I do like the original)
I think True Grit is mainstream too, and films like Miller’s Crossing or Blood Simple aren’t too offbeat or alternative either. All good films, btw.
Enjoyed Tom Hanks in The Ladykillers, he gave a performance I wasn’t expecting, but it’s not a patch on the original and Intolerable Cruelty is indeed superior. Miller’s Crossing struck me as being too hermetic and alienating in its characterisation and plotting to be mainstream; it’s not a neo-noir with sexy femme fatales and period action scenes.
It started great, thought it would be better than Rio Bravo which for me for its running time is too static (virtually everything happening in two rooms, almost no no-studio shots), but after that train scene Lobo became less interesting. Towards the end it became practically remake of Rio Bravo. O’Neill’s performance really poked the eye in a bad way, but thankfully in the last part there was Jack Elam to save the day.
Well, maybe Miller’s Crossing not (haven’t seen it in a long time), but Blood Simple is just a hack thriller with some show off camera work and a few phoney lines (mainly spoken by M Emmet Walsh); it works quite well as a thriller, there a quite a few nice twists, but the Coens had not found their own voice and style yet.
[quote=“Stanton, post:11418, topic:141”]I re-watched Blood Simple recently, and I can’t agree.
Ladykillers is the only Coen film I never watched.[/quote]
Re-watched Blood Simple too a while ago (to write a review in Dutch), and didn’t notice anything special, imo just a decent update of noir material, well-done but not great.
Ladykillers is an okay watch, I guess, but it’s among the least inspired Coens and I actually didn’t like Hanks in it (but I usually don’t)
4/10
Although there are plenty of Western connections to make…