Rio Grande (film)
| Rio Grande | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | John Ford |
| Produced by |
Uncredited: Merian C. Cooper John Ford |
| Screenplay by | James Kevin McGuinness |
| Based on |
Mission With No Record 1947 story Saturday Evening Post by James Warner Bellah |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Victor Young |
| Cinematography | Bert Glennon |
| Edited by | Jack Murray |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.25 million (US rentals) |
Rio Grande is a 1950 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. The picture is the third installment of Ford's "cavalry trilogy," following two RKO Pictures releases: Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
John Wayne plays the lead in all three films, as Captain Kirby York in Fort Apache, then as Captain of Cavalry Nathan Cutting Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and finally as a promoted Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke in Rio Grande (scripts and production billing spell the York[e] character's last name differently in Fort Apache and Rio Grande).
The film is based on a short story "Mission With No Record" by James Warner Bellah that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on September 27, 1947, and the screenplay was written by James Kevin McGuinness. The supporting cast features Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman, Jr., Harry Carey, Jr., and Chill Wills.
Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne) is posted on the Texas frontier to defend settlers against attacks by marauding Apaches. Col. Yorke is under considerable stress between the Apaches using Mexico as a sanctuary from pursuit and by a serious shortage of troops of his command. The action of the movie is set in the summer of 1879 ("fifteen years after the Shenandoah").
Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years), Trooper Jeff Yorke (Claude Jarman Jr.), is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment. He had flunked out of West Point but immediately enlisted as a private in the Army. Not wanting to give any impression that he is showing favoritism towards his son, Col. Yorke ends up being harsher dealing with Jeff than the others. By his willingness to undergo any test and trial, Jeff is befriended by a pair of older recruits, Travis Tyree (Ben Johnson) (who is on the run from the law) and Daniel "Sandy" Boone (Harry Carey, Jr.), who take him under their wings.
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Wikipedia