Rio Lobo

This movie starts in the Civil War and progresses from there. I don't know if the Rebs ever had an with a Latin accent but it is okay. The bee hive trick is a nice switch from blocking and blowing up the train. Wayne plays what appears to be his favorite rank, a Union colonel. He catches the two Rebs who engineered the robbery, jails them and meets them when the war is over to try and find out who the Union traitor was. Now civilians they proceed the town of Rio Lobo Here they run into Jennifer O'Neill who does a poor acting job in my opinion. They meet Jack Elam in town and he joins the team. I think Elam is fantastic in this role, funny as all get out. Of course they eventually find the bad guy and his crew, fight it out and win.

Considering this is Howard Hawks-directed film and John Wayne is the star, this was a huge disappointment. This movie stunk; there is no other way to put it. It had terrible acting and terrible dialog. Wayne wasn't bad but other two leads - Jorge Rivero and Jennifer O'Neill - were absolutely horrible. The supporting cast, in general, is the worst I have ever seen in a John Wayne film. As one reviewer put it, "This is painful to watch." Very true. The dialog was straight out of a Class B-type sci-fi or horror film of the 1950s. If you saw Rio Bravo and thought, as I did, this would be of similar caliber, well, think again. Don't waste your money renting this clunker, yet another from 1970, perhaps the worst year in film history.

When Confederate raiders rob a shipment of gold and kill his friend, Union Colonel John Wayne vows to bring the traitors who sold the rebels the information to justice, leading to a post-war showdown with vicious carpetbagger Victor French. Helping Wayne is Jorge Rivero, the leader of the raiders! Although Rio Lobo is not quite as legendary as other John Wayne/Howard Hawks collaborations and things aren't always up to snuff in the acting department, this is still a lot of rip-roaring fun. This has a very amusing script co-written by Leigh Brackett and some incredible action sequences supervised by Wayne's old pal, the legendary Yakima Cannut. There's great comedic guest roles for shotgun-toting, scene-stealing Jack Elam and David Huddleston as Rio Lobo's resident tooth-puller. Jennifer O'Neill looks great too! Enjoy it for what it is. Some of you guys take your John Wayne movies WAY too seriously!