Rio Conchos

I was kinda expecting a black hats/white hats movie but that's not what this is. The heroes are pretty rotten men themselves. Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, Jim Brown, and Anthony Franciosa play four rather ruthless characters trying to track down the man selling guns to the apache. Boone in particular is outstanding as the Indian hater who just murders apache on sight! Franciosa is a smiling Mexican who can't be trusted for a second. Whitman and Brown are not quite as bad but they certainly aren't likable either. One of the real attractions in this movie is Wende Wagner who plays this sexy Indian girl. Not an important character and she never speaks a word of English, but you can't take your eyes off her.

Rio Conchos is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Joseph Landon from the Clair Huffaker novel. It stars Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, Jim Brown, Tony Franciosa, Wende Wagner and Edmond O'Brien. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and Joseph MacDonald is the cinematographer. Out of 20th Century Fox it's a CinemaScope production filmed in De Luxe Color, and primary location used for filming was Moab, Utah.

One ex-Confederate officer out for revenge against the Apache, one Army Captain driven by a sense of duty, one Buffalo Soldier continuing to prove himself and one Mexican convict getting a second shot at freedom. Four men, one journey, a mission to find who is arming the Apache with repeating rifles. Danger, mistrust and hostility are their only companions.

The plot may be routine, and certainly it owes a debt to The Comancheros (Huffaker involved there too), but this is a tough and dark Western propelled by fine acting, quality direction and photography to die for. Structured around a men on a mission basis, each one with their own particular issues, it's very much a character driven piece. It's the time spent in the company of these men that makes the film so riveting, it never gets dull, the character dynamics are such, that we never quite know what to expect from the next part of the journey. Director Douglas also doesn't shy from action, pitting our odd group against Mexican Bandits and Apache Indians along the way, and then delivering a high octane finale that has a few twists and turns to keep it away from being formulaic.

Whitman and Brown acquit themselves well enough, as does Wagner as the sole female of the piece. But acting wise this film belongs to Boone and Franciosa. The former portrays a bitter vengeful heart with ease, with a lived in alcoholic face, his destiny you feel is mapped out from the off. The latter shines as the ebullient character of the group, shifty, sly and as untrustworthy as it gets, Franciosa's play off of Boone gives the film its central pulse beat. But arguably all players are trumped by MacDonald's photography and Douglas' use of the scenery. From pretty much the first frame the landscape is the big character here. Douglas wisely using many long shots to reveal miles of vistas, then knowing when to pull in close to envelope the characters to give off the feeling of mental claustrophobia. Exterior work here belies the budget afforded the film, and all told it's a far better movie than the bigger produced Comancheros. Goldsmith's score is also a plus point, striking the mood from the get go, his arrangements flow at one with the hazardous destiny of the four men.

One of the better 60's Westerns, it's in desperate need of a remastering job being done on it. 8/10

Two years after the Civil War, an unlikely team of four men go on a mission to find a missing cache of Federal rifles; the trail leads to a private army of ex-Rebels and Apaches, as well as a surreal antebellum mansion built in the middle of the desert along the Rio Conchos River in Mexico. The scouting unit consists of an alcoholic ex-Confederate major and Indian-hater (Richard Boone), a gallant but formidable Army captain (Stuart Whitman), a Buffalo Soldier sergeant (Jim Brown), a likable Mexican cutthroat (Tony Franciosa) and, later, an Apache woman (Wende Wagner). The private army is led by a cracked, bitter ex-Rebel general (Edmond O'Brien).

This 1964 Western has uncomfortable similarities to John Wayne's "The Comancheros" (1961), which also co-starred Whitman. "Rio Conchos" is about on par, but I give the edge to "The Comancheros." Anyway, this was the theatrical debut of Jim Brown, who gave up his football career at its peak to try his hand at acting. He would return to the Western genre with the similar "100 Rifles" five years later.

While not ranking with the best 60's Westerns (e.g. "One-Eyed Jacks," "Ride the High Country," "Hombre," "Nevada Smith," "Bandolero!" and "True Grit"), "Rio Conchos" is a brutal, energetic and colorful Western. It's not far behind "Duel at Diablo," "El Dorado" and "Shalako." I'd put it on par with "The Sons of Katie Elder," "The War Wagon" and "The Undefeated."

The film runs 1 hour, 47 minutes and was shot in Arizona and Utah. The effective and timeless score is by Jerry Goldsmith.

GRADE: B

The western was still a going commercial concern when Gordon Douglas made this decent example of the genre in 1964. Within a few years, of course, Peckinpah, Leonne and latterly Clint Eastwood amongst others would completely overturn the genre, giving new meaning to the term 'revisionist'. Douglas was no auteur but a good jobbing director, professional enough to tell a good yarn. There is nothing terribly original about this yarn, (it's really a rehash of "The Commancheros"), as potential enemies Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, Tony Franciosa and Jim Borwn join forces to find a shipment of rifles stolen by the Indians. There is plenty of sage-brush and desert in the action sequences providing the requisite pleasures we associate with a good horse-opera, even if this one turns surprisingly cynical and bitter. There is a scenery-chewing supporting turn from Edmond O'Brien and Tony Franciosa enjoys himself as a Mexican Lothario whose way with a knife comes in very handy. And Jerry Goldsmith's score is first-rate.

Rio Conchos is a story about two men who won't let go and keep seeking vengeance. Richard Boone is a former Confederate soldier who came home to find his family massacred and is wreaking a terrible vengeance on the Indians. Kind of like Ethan Edwards would in The Searchers if left to his own devices.

The other man is Edmond O'Brien, Boone's former commanding officer, who is seeking vengeance for the lost Confederate cause and the way it went down in Generals Grant and Sherman's war of attrition. He's hijacked a group of repeating Spencer rifles and is about to trade them to Chief Rudolfo Acosta of the Apaches.

When Boone is found with one of the repeaters by the army, he's tossed in the guardhouse and then given a choice of staying there or leading Captain Stuart Whitman to the weapons. After thinking it over somewhat Boone agrees.

So an unlikely quartet of Whitman, Boone, Jim Brown, and Anthony Franciosa set out. This group has little regard for each other and that does impede the teamwork involved to successfully pull off the mission of either get the weapons back or destroy them.

This was the feature film debut of Cleveland Browns halfback Jim Brown who went on to a pretty successful acting career after his days on the gridiron were through. OF course Tony Franciosa as their Mexican guide/interpreter is as usual the best one in the film. Talk about someone no better than he ought to be.

Rio Conchos has enough action to satisfy the biggest western fans around. The ending, shall we say the conclusion of the film and the mission leave an uncertain future for the survivors of the last battle.