Rio Diablo

Why did they bother - I have spent a better couple of hours with the toothache - Kenny Rogers should have stuck to singing - Could it be his singing pal Dolly Parton might have brought "something" to this movie? To think I could have watched "The Simpsons" on another channel.

Laura Harring is kidnapped from her wedding by a gang who intend to sell her across the Rio Grande. Her groom, Travis Tritt, goes after her, and meets up with bounty hunter Kenny Rogers.

It's a very well shot TV movie, with DP David Connell capturing some nice nice landscape in Texas, including one shot that looks like it was stolen from Ford's Rio Grande. Rogers is pretty good in the first third of the movie, where obeys the classical dictum of talking low, talking slow, and not saying much. Eventually, as he and Tritt ride on, he becomes chattier and chattier, and a sojourn at Naomi Judd's safe house fills in his tragic back story.... which is pretty much standard alas.

This one visually looks like a 1950s Shaky A western, one with some money spent, but it lacks much int he way of the grand themes of such movies. Instead, it offers bits out of spaghetti westerns, but cleaned up for television broadcast. As such, it's neither fish nor fowl, nor good red meat, and Rogers doesn't even sing a title song.

OK movie but like most Westerns, directors seem to forget realism. Before the cons, one pro. Leech shoots holding his revolver with both hands. One handed shooting is or amateurs and "movie cowboys." I've ridden horses all my life and when you are out in the middle of nowhere and dismount, the last thing you do is turn your horse loose without tying them up. These guys do. How stupid! Gee, it's only thirty eight miles back to town, I don't have any water or food so I think I'll just turn O'l Buck loose. How unrealistic. Guns are LOUD. Yet no one ever flinches or even reacts to the noise. Shots inside a room would be deafening. And their horses don't even twitch. A lever action rifle pushes the first round into the chamber. Then each time the lever is worked an empty cartridge is ejected. But for dramatic effect, shooters work the lever and nothing comes out. I know water is scarce, but some of those guys looked like they hadn't washed in years. Typical western. Greasy, dirty guys and the hottest women in the west.

Beautiful cinematography. The surprise is the acting, which is good,probably due to good directing. Kenny Rogers gives a believable performance, unlike his usual stiff attempts as the gambler. Tritt is a real surprise, with genuine mood swings and subtle eye work. Judd displays a vulnerability that is interesting. Nice supporting work from Brion Jones, Stacey Keach and Bruce Greenwood. Greenwood is unrecognizable as Jones' hot headed brother, which is an example of some real acting hoing on. The prisoner bride to be needed to be more than just eye candy, which points out that the writing is too formulaic at important plot points. Still you could do worse for a late night entertainment. It has Nevada Smith or Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid qualities in several spots in the story that holds one's interest. Remember, this is a TV movie, not a theatrical release unlike Smith and Garrett . Who will survive at the end isn't completely telegraphed during the storytelling. Actually a plus IMHO that the story isn't larded up with songs by Rogers,Tritt or Judd. Kenny's beard is a bit too well kept in spots, but doesn't overshadow an honest performance. Worth seeing how it ends even if not completely satisfying.

Except for a couple of fatal errors, "Rio Diablo" could have been a great spaghetti western. Kenny Rogers is outstanding as the bounty killer so ruthless he makes "the man with no name" seem like a sissy. Travis Tritt is pretty good, too. Unfortunately, Tritt fails to develop the kind of buddy chemistry with Rogers that's needed for this story (1st mistake). Naomi Judd, on the other hand, is embarrassingly bad as the madam. She's too classy looking and refined, and her line readings are terrible. If Rogers really insisted on casting a country star, he should have considered Dolly Parton or Barbara Mandrell (2nd mistake). Stacey Keach is convincingly slimy in his small, surprise role. However, he resembles one of the main baddies too much,creating unnecessary confusion.

In spite of its flaws, "Rio Diablo" is considerably better than another 90s spaghetti knockoff, "The Quick and the Dead." I give "Rio Diablo" a "6".