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I love this movie so much

To me, this movie is perfection.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Howard Hawks basically remakes Rio Bravo and invites John Wayne to the party again. Wayne is the veteran professional gunman, Cole Thornton who turns down a rich rancher as the drunken sheriff in town, Robert Mitchum is an old buddy who has taken to drink.When the rich rancher hires another gunman, Cole, Sheriff Harrah, his deputy and hot headed young cardsharp, Mississippi (James Caan) band together to stop the wealthy rancher bullying the poor ranchers over the water rights. However they might not be a match to the rich rancher's posse. The rancher having been jailed by the Sheriff, his men are out to spring him.Mitchum is a drunk, his deputy is too old, Mississippi is to inexperienced and volatile, Cole has a bullet lodged near his spine.The film is not as good as Rio Bravo although this is slightly shorter and in some ways the casting is better. Caan is a better actor than Ricky Nelson for example.Hawks does place an in joke against the rising new wave of French cinema where the Sheriff shoots a piano and not the piano player. However the film is hokey and looks old fashioned given it was made in 1967 and movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hovering ahead.

Having turned down a crooked job to avoid having to fight a longtime friend turned sheriff, a gunslinger comes to town to help his sheriff friend out after learning that somebody very violent has accepted the job instead in this popular western drama starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. The chemistry between the two stars feels very real every step of the way and as Wayne teams up with James Caan who has recently avenged a friend's death, the movie ultimately becomes a testament to the power and importance of friendships. There is some nice additional drama along these lines as Wayne finds himself needing to sober Mitchum up before helping him to fend of those incoming. Potent as the drama often is though, the film backfires each and every time it tries to inject humour into the story; at its most excruciating, Mitchum is comically whacked over the head when drunk and Caan imitates a Chinese man by scrunching up his face. Fortunately, the humour is quite sporadic and the overall tale remains powerful until the end. Particularly remarkable are the shots of the three protagonists cautiously wandering the shadowy streets at night, alert for possible sniper attacks. Wayne also impressively manages to ride his horse backwards at one point, as if reversing in a car, in order to keep his eyes on various marksmen who might try to shoot him as he departs.

The comparisons to "Rio Bravo" are unmistakable and if you've seen that picture further words aren't necessary. What I had to constantly keep reminding myself throughout the story was that Robert Mitchum was the drunk sheriff and not Dean Martin. Or as John Wayne's character Cole Thornton would remark - "I'm lookin' at a tin star with a drunk pinned on it".After watching about sixty of John Wayne's films over the years and catching this one earlier today, it struck me that his performance here was about the most natural in any of the ones I've seen. In other words, he didn't even seem to be acting most of the time, just carrying on with buddies Mitchum, James Caan and old-timer Arthur Hunnicutt who probably had the best lines of banter throughout going back and forth with Cole and J.P. Harrah (Mitchum). I know, Wayne detractors will say he wasn't acting in any of his pictures, but I think that would be a disservice to the Duke.So as a big time TV and Western movie fan, I thought it was pretty cool that the film makers had two thirds of the 'Rifleman' regular cast show up here. Paul Fix had the role of old Doc Miller and Johnny Crawford showed up long enough to get shot by Cole Thornton in an early scene. Wouldn't it have been cool if Chuck Connors had a role in this one? Instead, we have almost one-armed John Wayne twirling his rifle like Lucas McCain did on his own show.As for James Caan, I don't know, he seemed to be out of place here a couple of times, especially when he took off the hat. Joey MacDonald (Michele Carey) liked him better with it off, but to me he looked a little goofy with his hair plastered down like that. His Chinese impression was a bit embarrassing too, and I don't mean that in a politically correct way. It was just plain old embarrassing.But overall, a decent Western and if you're a fan of the principles, you'll have to add this one to your watch list. For trivia fans, John Wayne rides an appaloosa in the picture, going by the name of Cochise. I thought that was pretty cool.

Six years after the success of Rio Bravo, director Howard Hawks re-worked elements of the plot for another great western with The Duke. The comparisons between the two films are in inevitable but this doesn't actually start to even resemble the previous film until around the halfway mark and by then it's already pulled you into it's story and warmed you to it's characters that it doesn't matter anyway. Personally I love both films but if I was forced to choose I'd probably say this was the superior film. I felt that Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson were too lightweight in Rio Bravo, whereas Robert Mitchum and James Caan here are perfectly cast and bring more to the table. I also think it works better to have an actual sheriff be the drunk (in this case Robert Mitchum in the role) rather than a deputy, and to have his friends try and help him get back on his feet and regain his dignity and self respect. But it's just a matter of opinion.Mitchum is fantastic in this as the drunken friend of gunslinger John Wayne. I'm not usually a fan of his but he really delivers the goods here. He's funny, pitiful and gutsy throughout. One of the best scenes shows him going into the saloon to get a bottle of whiskey and the townsfolk are laughing at him. It's a brilliant moment. He's been living in his own little bubble for months and it takes this for him to wake up and realise how far he's sunk. The way he walks out holding his bottle in such a pathetic manner and tries to keep it together when he sees his friend John Wayne looking at how terrible he looks, is a great piece of acting. Not a single word spoken from him. Equally good is the scene where he later goes back to the saloon and shows the bad guys and the residents he's still got what it takes. He really does put his own stamp all over this performance.And The Duke is The Duke. What more has to be said. By this time these roles just fit him like a glove but he has a really good part here to sink his teeth into rather than just been the typical hero. Near the beginning of the film he shoots a teenage boy in self defence, which results in the boy killing himself. This is a great sequence, where Wayne shows off just in his expression how guilty he feels. It also gives him a personal reason to get involved in helping out the boy's family later on.In many ways this is a funnier film than Rio Bravo but at the same time it's also a darker film in other ways and this is one such moment. John Wayne been responsible for a boy's death is certainly not something that would happen often in his films.James Caan plays a young cardsharp nicknamed Mississippi who befriends Wayne and Arthur Hunnicut plays Bull, an ex-Indian fighter turned deputy to Mitchum's sheriff. The film is really the Wayne and Mitchum show but these guys also have their moments and fit in nicely. The camaraderie between the four of them as they hole up in the sheriff's office, and their banter during the shootouts is consistently funny.Charlene Holt and Michelle Carey are both suitably sexy and provide some eye candy to balance out the male dominant proceedings, and Christopher George makes a memorable villain has a gunslinger with a moral code which makes a refreshing change in a traditional western.When it comes to the good guys vs bad guys, I think it works well if the good guys are outnumbered or are lacking in their skills to make them underdogs that you can really root for. Well in this case, these heroes are both outnumbered and lacking. J.P's struggling with his alcoholism, Bull is getting on in years, and Mississippi can't shoot straight. In fact his shooting's so bad he carries a shotgun instead of a pistol and then he's not much better. And Wayne suffers with periodic paralysis from a bullet that is lodged near his spine. So they have to make up for it with guts. Every time I watch this film I like it even more. They are just a great bunch of characters to hang out with.Hawks certainly knew how to make a great western and here he delivers again. From the great opening theme song right through to the climax, this is a joy for it's entire 2 hour running time. Despite the similarities it doesn't belong in Rio Bravo's shadow in my view, it deserves to be regarded as classic in it's own right.