Rio Grande is a 1950 western drama film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. The film was produced by Ford and Merian C. Cooper. It is part of Ford’s unofficial “Cavalry Trilogy” alongside Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
Director: John Ford
Production Company: Republic Pictures, Argosy Pictures
Distributor: Republic Pictures
Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Claude Jarman Jr., Victor McLaglen, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr.
US Box Office: $5,625,000 ($107,700,000 Adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Black & White
Release Date: November 15, 1950
Genre: Western
Plot Summary: Kirby Yorke (John Wayne) is a lieutenant colonel serving with the United States cavalry in western Texas to protect settlers from the Apache. His son Jefferson (Claude Jarman Jr.), who he has not seen in fifteen years, is assigned to his post. After the boy is injured, Kirby’s estranged wife Kathleen (Maureen O’Hara) comes to the post. Can Kirby rekindle his romance with Kathleen, and protect the settlers and his troops?
Production: After signing a contract with Republic Pictures in 1950, John Ford wanted to direct The Quiet Man, a romance film set in Ireland, for the studio. Studio president Herbert J Yates, thought that The Quiet Man would bomb and would only finance the project if Ford first directed a successful Western for the studio. Ford agreed, and decided to adapt The Saturday Evening Post‘s 1947 short story “Mission With No Record” by James Warner Bellah.
Ford planned to use John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara for The Quiet Man, so they were cast in the lead roles in Rio Grande. The film was shot almost entirely on location in Moab, Utah during the summer, which was extremely hot for the cast and crew, who needed to build all of the sets used in the film. Despite the heat, the crew worked efficiently, and Ford managed to shoot the film in just 32 days.
Fun Facts and Trivia: The regimental singers in the film are played by the real-life band Sons of the Pioneers. One of the singers is Ken Curtis, the son-in-law of Ford, he would later become known for his role as Festus Haggen in the television series Gunsmoke. Patrick Wayne, the eleven year old son of John Wayne makes his film debut in Rio Grande. Kirby Yorke in the film has the same name as Wayne’s character in Fort Apache, but it’s not clear if they are intended to be the same character, as Victor McLaglen also appears in both films playing different characters. According to O’Hara, two stuntmen drowned while riding their horses across a muddy lake and the crew was unable to recover the bodies.
Reception: Rio Grande was a success at the box office and thus Republic Pictures allowed John Ford to direct The Quiet Man (1952). Despite the studio’s fears, The Quiet Man actually far outperformed Rio Grande at the box office. Rio Grande received generally positive reviews, though it has not received the same level of acclaim as many of Ford’s other films. Nell Minow of Movie Mom and Matt Brunson of Film Frenzy gave Rio Grande positive reviews. In 2008, Rio Grande was one of the fifty Western films nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of the top ten best Western films.
Why You Should See It: Rio Grande is a good western film that features the first pairing of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. The two have very good chemistry, and would appear together in several other films, most notably The Quiet Man. Victor McLaglen also gives a memorable supporting performance. The songs by The Sons of the Pioneers that are featured Rio Grande are quite good as well. Rio Grande also includes positive messages about duty and taking responsibility, and is meant to be a celebration of the American cavalry tradition.