Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5920 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-05
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The last and least memorable of John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (following Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), Rio Grande nonetheless has an interesting continuity about the gentlemanly rules of military conduct. Here the focus is on the family. While creating a heated controversy over his handling of the Apache war, John Wayne must also contend with disgruntled wife Maureen O'Hara and estranged son Claude Jarman Jr., a new recruit trying to earn his father's love and respect. Ford seems to suggest that there are two conflicting codes of honour in every cavalry officer's life, the personal as well as the professional, and that it takes an act of heroism to maintain both. It's fascinating to observe Wayne's progression throughout the trilogy, as his personal stakes intensify. Also, this is the first of five onscreen appearances between the Duke and O'Hara, each filled with a competitive spirit and stormy sexuality. --Bill Desowitz

Synopsis
In Rio Grande, the last part of John Ford's classic Cavalry Trilogy, John Wayne stars as Kirby York, a colonel at an army outpost along the U.S. Mexico border where the Apache are always a problem. When his son, Jeff (Claude Jarman Jr.), whom he hasn't seen in more than a decade, arrives at the fort after flunking out of West Point, Yorke treats him coldly, warning the young man not to expect preferential treatment, which Jeff assures him he doesn't want. Yorke's ex-wife, Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara), appears, intending to persuade Jeff to leave the army. Yorke refuses to do the necessary paperwork to release his son, a decision seconded by Jeff, who has begun to adapt to army life--and before Kathleen can regroup for another attempt, the fort is attacked by the Apache. The making of Rio Grande was mandated by producer Herbert Yates, who would agree to finance the director's The Quiet Man only if Ford first made a Western, as insurance, with that film's proposed leading actors. Ford continues the series' realistic depiction of the rigors of life on a cavalry post in the late-19th-Century Southwest, and members of the director's stock company most notably Victor McLaglen, Harry Carey Jr., and Ben Johnson acquit themselves admirably.

Customer Reviews

great disapointment.
sadly i read the above review about this film and was expecting a 5 star performance.
this is easily the worst duke western i have seen,there is more singing from the soldiers than action in this film,the making of the rio grande was more entertaining than the film itself.although this is one of the trio of ford/wayne cavalry westerns its not in the same league has the other 2,luckily most of the dukes westerns are 5 star films so we should accept the odd poor offering i suppose.

Last of the so called Cavalry Trilogy... probably redundant.
It's an OK film because John Ford didn't know how to shoot wrong footed... so that's why five stars... BUT YOU HAVE TO BE A FORD/WAYNE FAN TO FULLY ENJOY... if you are an average film viewer it would be "testy" on you and probably it is better to go to the other two items of the so called Cavalry Trilogy.

The present script/story is the less interesting of the three but the cast is superb and the action scenes a must see.
As it is, nearly all the biographies of John Ford state this film was done to raise money to be able to film THE QUIET MAN... and I think it is probably true... as a film THE QUIET MAN is vastly superior and got him another OSCAR!...
Recommended for what it is... a solid good yarn about action&adventure in the southwest (including violating the Mexico frontier in pursuit of the apache... again used as the nemesis of the West).

ADB