Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Rio Conchos Blu-ray Movie Review

Fast and furious.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 12, 2013

The sixties and seventies were a time of transition for one of the hoariest genres in film, the western. What had once been a reliable box office attraction through the early fifties at least had found its mojo with audiences seriously depleted by the glut of small screen oaters which invaded television from the mid-fifties on, as well as perhaps just a natural attrition of interest caused by so many westerns having been released for so long, and by the time the early sixties rolled around, huge hit westerns were actually the exception rather than the norm. For every How the West Was Won (which was actually marketed as much as an “event” movie as it was an actual western), there were scores of other films, some with major stars and directors attached, which just fell by the wayside. Things seemed to be looking up when 1969 produced two unlikely western hits that couldn’t have been more different, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Wild Bunch. But audiences can be fickle aggregations, and while a number of fascinating westerns were made in the wake of these two hallmarks, few actually ended up connecting with audiences in any overwhelming way. The four films collected on this perhaps odd seeming two Blu-ray set from Timeless Media Group (an imprint of Shout! Factory) all fall into that less than stellar category, even if each of them has at least some redeeming characteristics (and sometimes much more than that). All of these films failed to ignite at the box office, and in fact probably were seen in such venues as drive-ins and then on various television broadcasts through the years. While they appear to be a fairly disparate bunch, spanning the years from 1964’s Rio Conchos to 1979’s Butch & Sundance: The Early Years, there are at least a couple of linking elements here, including three scores by the inestimable Jerry Goldsmith and two appearances by Jim Brown (including his screen debut). The four together provide a rather interesting look both at what went right and wrong with the western during this transitional era.

Rio Conchos seems to be a film with a lot going for it, including a wonderfully disheveled lead performance by Richard Boone, who in 1964 had barely been out of his iconic Have Gun—Will Travel series for a year (and whose anthology series The Richard Boone Show had just ended its run), absolutely stunning location work in Utah that ranks with some of John Ford’s finest lensed in CinemaScope by ace Fox cinematographer Joe McDonald, a screenplay co-written by Clair Huffaker, who had co-written John Wayne’s The Comancheros , a strong supporting cast including Jim Brown in his feature film debut, and a stirring score by Jerry Goldsmith, which seemed to presage some of the techniques for which Ennio Morricone would soon become famous in his collaborations with Sergio Leone. But Rio Conchos is but a dim memory for even ardent western fans nowadays, which is unfortunate, since it’s an unusually well crafted and involving film.

Part of the problem might in fact be the cast, for though Boone was a television star of some magnitude, he probably didn’t have the box office appeal to get actual paying customers in the door, something he shared with co-stars Stuart Whitman and Tony Franciosa, both of whom had long and respectable careers but who might be best remembered in the long run, rightly or wrongly, for their television work rather than their feature film outings. Another issue, as odd as it may sound, is the fact that the title contained the word Rio in it. That fact may have subliminally reminded prospective audience members of two Wayne outings, Rio Bravo and Rio Grande, and when they didn’t see The Duke’s name attached to this film, they may have simply decided it wasn’t worth seeing.

Rio Conchos is a surprisingly dark western, one which takes the sort of adult Anthony Mann – James Stewart mien to a whole new level. Richard Boone portrays Lassiter, a former Confederate major (the film takes place a couple of years after the Civil War) who is on a tear of vengeance against the Apache after some “savages” killed (and, by implication, tortured and raped) his wife and small child. The film opens with Lassiter firing on a bunch of unarmed Indians (we’ll use this politically incorrect term here, since it’s bandied about in the film so often). That in turn attracts the interest of Union Captain Haven (Stuart Whitman), who accosts the drunk and disorderly Lassiter and marches him back to a fort to undergo questioning about where he got his high tech rifle.

It turns out that, in a sort of 19th century version of the botched Fast and Furious gambit that has attracted so much news coverage, Haven himself lost a huge shipment of American arms in Mexico, and the only one of the missing rifles they’ve been able to track down is, yes, the one belonging to Lassiter. Under ferocious questioning, and with an unending imprisonment on the line, Lassiter agrees to take Haven and his black Sergeant Franklyn (Jim Brown) on a quest to find the arms, which he thinks are being brokered by his former Confederate superior, Colonel Pardee (Edmond O’Brien). Lassiter makes one demand—since the “Union” is going to have two members, he wants his cellmate, an old buddy of his named Martinez (Tony Franciosa, in a piece of decidedly un-PC ethnic casting), to come along to even out the “teams”.

What follows is an often incredibly compelling story of shifting alliances and some surprisingly contemporary ideas, especially for a 1964 film. Franklyn is discriminated against in a bar, leading to a major conflagration, and, later, Martinez’s loyalties are questioned, especially after he seems to be very interested in a young Apache woman (Wende Wagner) the group takes along after having been attacked by banditos (including another un- PC casting, this time Vito Scotti as a leering Mexican). The film has some really remarkable sequences, including an unforgettable moment when Lassiter happens upon a badly tortured woman and her newborn, echoing what happened to his own wife and child the year before.

The film is a study in the corrosive effects of an inconsolable desire for revenge. There’s Lassiter, of course, but the film makes its point yet again when the ragtag assemblage finally does fine Pardee, who turns out to be ensconced in his own “new South” (his unfinished mansion is an amazing set design and worth the price of admission), where he is plotting to bring the Confederacy some sense of justice and retribution, this time with Apache collaborators and all those spiffy new rifles.

Uncommonly frank and brutal, and not willing to shirk when it comes to the violence of the Apache, Rio Conchos is certainly one of the best “forgotten” westerns of the sixties. Extremely well directed by journeyman Gordon Douglas, the film is both incredibly scenic and quite unexpectedly moving. It certainly stands tall compared to the many other western Rio outings through the years, high praise indeed.

Rio Conchos Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rio Conchos is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Timeless Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Perhaps because of this being a CinemaScope feature, this is probably overall the nicest looking high definition presentation of the four included on this Blu-ray disc. The elements are in remarkably good shape overall, with only very minor damage to report. In fact by far the most distracting things that crop up are the almost comically large reel change markers, which suddenly appear in the Utah sky like flying saucers in a 1964 version of Cowboys & Aliens. Colors seem to have faded just slightly toward the brown side of things, but it's extremely slight. Generally speaking the image is beautifully sharp and well detailed, though it appears dupes or some other secondary elements were used for some establishing shots (you'll notice some extremely fuzzy moments when Pardee's camp is reached).

Rio Conchos Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rio Conchos features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Things are generally clear here virtually all of the time, though there is some crackling that crops up occasionally, most noticeably about two thirds of the way through the film. Other than that, dialogue is very cleanly presented, and Jerry Goldsmith's throbbing score, replete with the whipping sound of a slapstick, sounds great.

Rio Conchos Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080i; 3:07)

Rio Conchos Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Westerns are far from my favorite genre, so I was frankly expecting Rio Conchos to be yet another middling grade entry in the often tiresome parade of so-so sixties westerns. Instead I found myself unexpectedly involved in a fascinating character study and rumination on the corrosive effects of revenge. Extremely well acted, beautifully shot and stirringly scored, Rio Conchos is a real surprise and well worth revisiting. Highly recommended.