Posted in Arthur Hunnicutt, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Kino Lorber, Paramount, Robert Mitchum on April 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey, Christopher George
“The Big One With The Big Two” is coming in the Big 4!
Kino Lorber has announced that they’re working on a 4K disc of El Dorado (1967). Can’t wait to see how this one looks — the Blu-Ray from Paramount a few years back was a disappointment.
Posted in Arthur Hunnicutt, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum on March 10, 2026| 12 Comments »
“Eldorado”
by Edgar Allan Poe
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
‘Shadow,’ said he,
‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’
‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’
Posted in 1959, Angie Dickinson, Claud Akins, Dean Martin, Festivals, screenings, Howard Hawks, Jack Young, John Russell, John Wayne, Old Tucson, Walter Brennan, Warner Bros. on February 11, 2026| 21 Comments »
Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond
One of my favorite places to see a movie is the Graham Cinema in Graham, North Carolina. And my all-time favorite Western is Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959).
Well, these two favorites are coming together — The Graham Cinema is running Rio Bravo Tuesday through Thursday, February 24-26, at 7PM.
The Graham Cinema
119 N Main Street
Graham, NC 27253
If you can get there, go! And have a box of Raisinets for me. I’m tempted to cook up some kinda reason to head back to North Carolina for a few days.
Lastly, take a look at the ad up top. How could anybody ever beat a double feature of Rio Bravo and House On Haunted Hill (1959)? And for just 70 cents!
Posted in 1959, Angie Dickinson, Dean Martin, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Walter Brennan on June 7, 2023| 5 Comments »
Dean Paul Martin (Dino Paul Crocetti
(June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995)
Dean Martin was born 106 years ago today. He loved Westerns and he was good in ’em, especially playing Dude in Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959).
Happy birthday to JK, too.
Posted in 1959, Howard Hawks, John Wayne on May 26, 2023| 2 Comments »
Marion Robert Morrison
(May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979)
John Wayne was born 116 years ago today. Here he is on the set of Howard Hawks’ magnificent Rio Bravo (1959). Even when he’s just screwing around between takes, Duke’s as cool as they come.
Posted in 1959, Angie Dickinson, Claud Akins, Dean Martin, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Howard Hawks, John Russell, John Wayne, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Warner Bros. on May 23, 2023| 4 Comments »
Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Claud Akins, John Russell
Warner Bros. is bringing their new restoration of Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959) to 4K disc in July. Haven’t seen any info on a new DVD or Blu-Ray. This is my favorite Western and it has never been all that stellar-looking on video, so I’m really stoked about this. Hope and pray it doesn’t have that sickly yellow tint that infects so many restorations of older films lately.
Thanks to Dick Vincent for the news.
Posted in 1959, Angie Dickinson, Claud Akins, Dean Martin, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Walter Brennan on December 13, 2021| 2 Comments »
Nashville Scene used to boast a film writer named Jim Ridley. He’s about my age and he passed away a few years ago. Came across a compilation of his writing over the weekend called People Only Die Of Love In The Movies. In it, there’s his short piece on Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959).
You may know by now that Rio Bravo is my favorite Western. I’m not gonna say it’s the best necessarily, but if I was headed to the electric chair and I got to watch one Western before they threw the switch, that’d be the one I’d pick (and not because of its long-ish running time).
Anyway, Mr. Ridley nailed Rio Bravo. What makes it special. What it is about it that’s so different. After reading his piece, I thought I would’ve loved to have met him for coffee or lunch somewhere just to geek out on Rio Bravo. That woulda really been something.
Here’s a couple gems from his review (from Nashville Scene, November 2, 2006):
“After the big-budget thud of Land Of The Pharaohs, Howard Hawks emerged from a three-year sabbatical, including a stay in Paris and a purposeful study of TV drama, to create his 1959 rifle opera: a laid-back yet hard-headed response to the sanctimonious High Noon — which pissed off the director because no lawman worth his badge would ask civilians to risk their hides doing his job. The result is an irresistible ode to loyalty, cool under fire and masculine honor — which in the Hawks universe extends even to Angie Dickinson’s stand-up saloon girl.”
“Perhaps the most purely enjoyable Western ever made, Rio Bravo only deepens with age and repeated viewing, right down to the genial juxtaposition of Martin’s slouch and Wayne’s saunter. It’s doubtful another American movie has ever taken so much interest in the way its characters walk — or understood why it matters.”
Mr. Ridley, I’m sure sorry we never got to talk Rio Bravo. Would’ve been a blast.
Posted in Chuck Connors, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum on April 30, 2021| 36 Comments »
John Ernest Crawford
(March 26, 1946 – April 29, 2021)
Johnny Crawford, the child actor who was absolutely wonderful as Mark McCain (son of Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain) in The Rifleman, has passed away at 75.
Crawford not only co-starred in one of the best Western series ever, he recorded a single or two with the great Bobby Fuller, one of my all-time favorites, and appeared in Howard Hawks’ El Dorado (1967). And there were tons of TV appearances over the years, including being an original Mouseketeer.
In the 90s, he assembled a big band, the Johnny Crawford Orchestra. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago. Ask anyone who ever met him, and he was a super-nice guy.
A episode of The Rifleman is airing on MeTV as I type this.
Posted in Charactor Actor Of The Day, Forrest Tucker, Hank Worden, Howard Hawks, Joanne Dru, John Ford, John Wayne, Kathleen Crowley, The Lone Ranger on January 17, 2019| 23 Comments »
Been meaning to do a piece on Hank Worden for quite a while. He turned up in an episode of The Lone Ranger last night, so I figured now’s the time.
His real name was Norton Earl Worden, and he was born in Rolfe, Iowa in 1901. He grew up on a ranch in Montana, attended both Stanford University and the University of Nevada, served in the Army, and worked on the rodeo circuit as a bronco rider. While rodeoing in Madison Square Garden, he and Tex Ritter were chosen to play cowhands in Green Grow The Lilacs on Broadway.
That’s Hank in the yellow shirt to the right of Tex Ritter.
Worden broke into the movies with Cecil B. DeMille’s The Plainsman in 1936, and was soon appearing in Tex Ritter’s B Westerns.
Hank with Joanne Dru in Red River (1948)
Hank had a small part in Howard Hawks’s Come And Get It (1936), and they say Hawks recommended Worden to John Ford. For Hawks, he did Red River (1948) and The Big Sky (1952). (Why wasn’t he in Rio Bravo?)
Right, as one of the vile, dim-witted Cleggs in Ford’s Wagon Master (1950)*
As a member of John Ford’s stock company, Worden’s in Stagecoach (1939), Fort Apache (1948), Three Godfathers (1948), Wagonmaster (1950), The Searchers (1956, up top) and more.
As the Parson with Frankie Avalon in Wayne’s The Alamo (1960)
Hank continued to work with John Wayne — as part of his stock company. Their last picture together was Cahill, US Marshall in 1973.
Left, with Forrest Tucker and Kathleen Crowley in The Quiet Gun (1957)
He turns up in so much stuff: a couple of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies, Hellfire (1949), The Quiet Gun (1957), Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957), One-Eyed Jacks (1961‚ Marlon Brando killed him off way too early), Smokey And The Bandit (1977) and Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy (1980). On TV, he was on The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Petticoat Junction, even a few episodes of Twin Peaks (his last role).
Hank Worden added something special to every movie he was in, but it’s Mose Harper in The Searchers that he’ll always be remembered for. And that’s not a bad thing at all.
* One of my favorite photos ever posted on this blog.
Posted in 1959, Angie Dickinson, Dean Martin, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Making Movies, Ward Bond on August 6, 2018| 20 Comments »
Came across this in an old issue of American Cinematographer. John Wayne watches Dean Martin shoot one of his scenes in Rio Bravo (1959).
And another. This time, it’s Wayne with Ward Bond.
50 Westerns From The 50s.