Rio Grande [Blu-ray]

Overview

The last entry in the John Ford-John Wayne "Cavalry Trilogy," this film stars Wayne as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, whose devotion to duty has cost him his marriage. When Yorke's son Jeff is assigned to his father's post, Yorke is determined not to afford any preferential treatment to the boy.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/17/2020
UPC:	0887090602204
Original Release:	1950
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	12,653

Special Features

New High-Defintion digital restoration; Audio commentary by Nancy Schoenberger; "Bigger Than Life" - with Claude Jarman, Jr.; "Strength and Courage" - Patrick Wayne on his father; "Telling Real Histories" - Raoul Trujillo on representation of Indigenous Americans in film; "Songs of the Rio Grande" - Marc Wanamaker on the Sons of the Pioneers; "The Making of Rio Grande" - with Leonard Maltin; Visual essay by Tag Gallagher; Essay by Paul Andrew Hutton; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Wayne	Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke,Boy
Maureen O'Hara	Mrs. Kathleen Yorke
Claude Jarman Jr.	Trooper Jefferson `Jeff' Yorke
Ben Johnson	Trooper Travis Tyree
Harry Carey Jr.	Trooper Daniel `Sandy' Boone
Victor McLaglen	Sgt. Maj. Timothy Quincannon
Chill Wills	Dr. Wilkins (regimental surgeon)
J. Carrol Naish	Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan
Grant Withers	Deputy Marshal
Peter Ortiz	Capt. St. Jacques
Gaylord 'Steve' Pendleton	Capt. Prescott,Actor
Karolyn Grimes	Margaret Mary
Alberto Morin	Lieutenant
Stan Jones	Sergeant
Fred Kennedy	Heinze
Chuck Roberson	Officer
Ken Curtis	Regimental singer
Hugh Farr	Actor,Actor
Lloyd Perryman	Actor
George Fisher	Regimental singer
Tommy Doss	Actor
Jack Pennick	Sergeant
Cliff Lyons	Soldier
Harry Carey	Actor
Karl Farrer	Regimental Singer
Lee Morgan	Actor
Barlow Simpson	Indian Chief
Claude Jaman Jr	Actor
Sunset Carson	Actor
Bobby Clark	Actor
Henry Garcia	Actor
Claude Jarman	Actor
Victor Young	Composer

Technical Credits

James Kevin McGuinness

James Warner Bellah

John Ford	Director,Producer
James Kevin McGuinness	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Merian C. Cooper	Producer,Director
Theodore Lydecker	Special Effects,Special Effects
James Warner Bellah	Screenwriter
Earl Crain Sr.	Sound Effects
Howard Wilson	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Rio Grande was the third part of John Ford's renowned "Cavalry Trilogy" (the other two, Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, both also starring John Wayne, had been released by RKO in 1948 and 1949, respectively). Ironically, although it has come to be regarded as the best of the three movies, and was extremely successful in its own time, Ford did not want to make Rio Grande, and had a much more personal priority on his mind in 1950 -- making The Quiet Man, which he'd been trying to get into production for a decade. But the only studio that was willing to back him on the project was Republic Pictures, a B-picture studio best known for producing low-budget serials, singing cowboy pictures starring Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, action films, and comedies. The studio's president, Herbert J. Yates, recognized the changes coming to the B-movie market with the encroachment of television, and had begun producing some much more ambitious, bigger-budgeted movies after World War II, and getting John Ford to direct pictures at Republic was a coup second to none. Yates wanted a guaranteed hit to balance the risk he was taking with The Quiet Man, and made the production of Rio Grande the pre-condition to Ford making The Quiet Man. Both Ford and Yates could be proud of the result, for Rio Grande was the most exciting and emotionally involving, and (relatively speaking) the least sentimental, of the three cavalry movies. It also proved a high-water mark for the Western of this era, and for many of those involved. John Wayne was coming to the end of a string of highly demanding, serious acting roles that had commenced with Red River, and was at the peak of his acting ability for the role of the quietly suffering martinet Yorke. Also, his first teaming opposite Maureen O'Hara established one of the movies' most beloved onscreen couples, as well as a friendship that would endure between the two actors for the rest of their lives. Claude Jarman Jr., Ben Johnson, and Harry Carey Jr. were just as good in their roles, with Johnson displaying here (and in Ford's Wagon Master, released earlier the same year) the first real flashes of the acting ability that would carry him to an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in The Last Picture Show two decades later. The rest of the Ford stock company is also on hand in excellent supporting roles, including Victor McLaglen (in the next-to-last of the 11 movies he did with Ford), Jack Pennick, Grant Withers, Ken Curtis, etc. The music -- mostly in the form of folk songs -- is provided principally by the Sons of the Pioneers singing group, of which Curtis (who was Ford's son-in-law) was a member.