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Overrated

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

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.

Apparently not a lot of people have seen this 1993 TV Western judging by the number of votes and only three other reviews as I write this. Maybe that'll change with recent screenings on the Encore Western Channel; I guess we'll have to wait and see.I had to chuckle when bounty hunter Quentin Leech (Kenny Rogers) stated his opinion of one of the outlaws as 'dumb as a headless chicken'. It brought to mind George Clooney's comment about John Turturro's character in "O Brother Where Art Thou?", as being dumber than a bag full of hammers. On the dumb or dumber scale, I wonder which one is worse. Maybe it's a dumb question.With Kenny Rogers in the lead role and also having a hand in the production, it looked like this vehicle was put together for some of his pals on the country Western scene. Travis Tritt is generally acceptable as the Preacher's unacknowledged sidekick, but he seemed to lack any inspiration for the role of a newlywed who's bride was kidnapped just shy of the altar. Naomi Judd's the proprietor of Flora Mae Pepper's whorehouse, but she looked just a tad too respectable in the role and you never got a real good look at any of her saloon gals. She apparently had a thing for Leech but without the back story, the relationship seemed rather shallow.This was the second Western now I've seen that used the old rattlesnake in a jar gimmick but I'll be darned if I can't come up with the first one right now. I'll have to get back on that one. I wonder if barkeep Everly (Marl Alaimo) managed to hustle the dead outlaw back to Del Rio.The surprise of the story for me was seeing old Quentin hit the drink in his showdown with Kansas (Stacy Keach). I knew there had to be a reason for all those times Leech offered the 'two choices' gimmick; it set up Ben Taber (Tritt) to use it himself in the finale. For some reason I kept thinking that maybe Quentin somehow might have survived his misfortune, but in the end he faded as quick as Butch and Sundance.

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".

Although the movie was...OK at best, I have to admit that I was actually in the film. If you go to the chapter on the DVD that has the wedding and the bank robbery and look carefully you will see me when I was about 13. Before the wedding you see a family in the back ground with a boy in a hat, that was me! Then after the wedding you see a boy walk across the screen and pat Travis Tritt on the back, that was me. and once more during the bank robbery shoot out scene, you see a full screen shot of a boy picking up money and shoving it into a hat, that was me too! well those are my fifteen minutes of fame and I wear them well.