7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
A U.S. Cavalry unit, on the Mexican border in the 1880's, conducts a vain campaign against marauding Indians.
Starring: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman, Jr., Harry Carey Jr.Western | 100% |
Romance | 36% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When you grow up in a certain area, you can become immune to how others not from that area actually perceive it. Having been born and raised for the first part of my life in Utah, it used to outright shock me when people would mention the beauty of Southern Utah, an area I visited regularly and loved, though it struck me as barren and kind of depressing, especially with regard to the decrepit Native American encampments that dotted the region. My family’s relatives, mostly from the East Coast, kept mentioning how stunningly beautiful the area was and often incorporated references to various John Ford movies in their appreciations, and that struck me as even more incredible. How could anyone actually choose Utah as a filming location, my young (albeit obviously already jaded) mind would ask. And yet now from the perspective of a hopefully somewhat wiser adult, it’s hard not to revel in the glories of the Utah landscape that Ford obviously cherished and which he brought to a vast film going public who, if they had visited Utah at all, more than likely stayed in the relatively more populated urban areas of the state’s northern climes, where Salt Lake City, Provo and Ogden are. Many of Ford’s most fondly remembered films exploit the bizarre, almost Moon-like ambience of the American Southwest, and if Ford didn’t utilize Utah exclusively in this regard, he certainly made the state a kind of home away from home for the bulk of his Western directing career. Large swaths of Rio Grande were filmed in and around Moab, a dusty southern Utah burg that wasn’t much more than a town even when I was a kid, which means it probably barely was a village when Ford was filming there. Rio Grande is frequently included in what is called Ford’s “cavalry trilogy”, a triptych of films which also includes 1948’s Fort Apache and 1949’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. The connection between Fort Apache and Rio Grande is perhaps more concrete in that John Wayne portrays the same character, Kirby York (alternatively spelled Yorke) in both films, but the fact is Rio Grande probably wasn’t thought of as part of any formal trilogy by Ford at all, as he made the film in a convoluted deal that was agreed to so that Ford could finally get on to the film he really wanted to make and which remains to this day one of the most fondly remembered of all movies helmed by the director, 1952’s The Quiet Man.
Rio Grande is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.35:1. This is another really solid looking high definition presentation from Olive, aside from a few niggling concerns which are directly related to the condition of the elements. Contrast is generally extremely strong, with nicely brilliant whites and deep convincing blacks, as well as a well modulated gray scale. The image is sharp and clear, though occasionally suffers from a lack of shadow detail in some of the more dimly lit scenes. The high definition presentation makes some of the rear projection much more visible than it has been on previous releases, and there are a few sections that suffer from quite a bit of scratching and other damage (see screencap 14 for a good example). As is the standard operating procedure with most of the Olive Films releases, there appears to have been no digital tweaking of this film, so grain is apparent and natural.
Rio Grande is presented with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix which sounds remarkably good for its age, especially with regard to the colorful score by Victor Young. From the opening blast of the bugle to some of the rousing cues accompanying the attack scenes, Young's boisterous score sounds nicely full bodied. Dialogue is cleanly presented, though there are a few sound effects along the way which this lossless outing reveal as having been ported in, perhaps from effects libraries, with noticeably different reverb and ambience. While there is the expected boxiness, especially with regard to the midrange, this is one of the nicer sounding older mono tracks we've had from Olive.
Rio Grande was pretty much dismissed at the time of its original release as second rate Ford, and while that assessment can't be totally denied, the fact is the film has a lot of redeeming characteristics and it's held in much higher esteem now than it was in 1950. Performances are top notch, especially by the underappreciated Wayne, who manages to convey a lifetime of regret and pain in a glance or two. O'Hara is considerably more subdued than she is in The Quiet Man, but there is a real chemistry between these two stars that is palpable. The treatment of the Native Americans in the film is probably going to be the most problematic element to modern day audiences, but there's a reason Westerns used to be thought of as "Cowboys versus Indians", and that more or less is what's on display here. This release boasts solid video and audio and comes with an interesting (if misidentified) featurette. Recommended.
1948
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1949
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1965
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1954
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1961
1979
1951
1993
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1955
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1947
1959
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1965
1960
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1963
2018