Product Details

• Actors: Ben Johnson, John Wayne
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 1, 2002
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000X25F78
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,280 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #75 in Movies & TV > DVD > Westerns

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 10/05/2007 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SOLID VEHICLE FOR THE GREAT JOHN WAYNE, December 4, 2008

By 

Noel Serrano "Gala Foundation http://gfoundat... (Tampa, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rio Grande (DVD)

Rio Grande is a 1950 western film and the third installment of John Ford's "cavalry trilogy", following two RKO Pictures releases: Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).

John Wayne stars in all three films, as Captain Kirby Yorke in Fort Apache, then as Captain of Cavalry Nathan Cutting Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and finally as a promoted Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke in Rio Grande (the York/Yorke character's last name was spelled slightly differently in Fort Apache and Rio Grande).

The film is based on a short story "Mission With No Record" by James Warner Bellah, that appeared in the The Saturday Evening Post on September 27, 1947, and the screenplay was written by James Kevin McGuinness.[1][2]Ford wanted to make The Quiet Man first, but Republic Pictures studio president Herbert Yates, insisted that Ford make Rio Grande first, using the same combination of Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; Yates did not feel that the script of The Quiet Man was very good, and wanted Rio Grande to be released first to pay for The Quiet Man. (To Yates's surprise The Quiet Man, on its eventual release in 1952, would become Republic's number one film in terms of box office receipts

The film was shot in Monument Valley, and other locations in southeastern Utah around the town of Moab and along the Colorado River.[3]



In Rio Grande, Colonel Yorke is posted on the frontier to defend settlers against hostile Apaches. Col. Yorke is under considerable stress between the Apaches and the young-raw recruits sent to the post-in numbers far inadequate to the needs of his command.

Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years), Trooper Jeff Yorke (Claude Jarman Jr.), is posted to the fort. Not wanting the other men to think he is favoring his son, he ends up being harder on him. Jeff is watched over by a pair of more seasoned troopers, Tyree (Ben Johnson) and Boone (Harry Carey Jr.).

With the arrival of the estranged Mrs. Kathleen Yorke (Maureen O'Hara) who has come to take the under-age Yorke home with her, even more tension is added. The Colonel and Mrs. Yorke figure out it would be best to let young Jeff grow up and make the decision whether to stay or leave for himself; he chooses to stay. The tension brought about in the fight for their son rekindles the love they once had for each other.

Yorke is visited by his former Civil War commander, Philip Sheridan (J. Carrol Naish), now Chief General of Army. Sheridan has decided to order Yorke to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, an action with grave political problems since it could well be seen as an act of war against Mexico.

If Yorke fails in his mission to destroy the Apache threat he faces the threat of court-martial. Sheridan, in a quiet act of acknowledgment of what he is asking Yorke to risk, promises that the members of the court will be men who rode with Yorke through the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War. Yorke accepts the mission. Now Col. Yorke must fight to save, and put back together, his family and his honor.



Some aspects of the story, notably the regiment's crossing into Mexico, and undertaking a campaign there, loosely resemble the expedition conducted by the 4th Cavalry Regiment (United States) under Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie in 1873.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Classic, November 8, 2009

By 

Lionel Bourg "Rock and Roll Gypsy" (Natchitoches, LA---USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rio Grande (DVD)

RIO GRANDE(1950)---John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Claude Jarman, Jr., Chill Wills, J. Carroll Naish
The last film in John Ford's "cavalry trilogy" and, IMO, the best of the three. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are one of the great "screen teams" and they are in top form here. Wayne is "Lt. Col. Yorke", O'Hara is "Kathleen", his estranged wife, and Jarman is their son, who has enlisted in the Army and has been posted to his father's command. O'Hara has accompanied Jarman to his posting hoping to persuade his father to let her "buy out" his enlistment and return him to civilian life. To her chagrin, Jarman wants no part of that and refuses to allow it.

The film is "classic Ford". The characters are developed slowly and fully and, as always, the location photography is stunning---the film was shot in Moab, Utah. There is plenty of action involving an Apache uprising. McLaglen is a delight as the "top kick" for Wayne's unit. Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr., give fine performances. The scene where Johnson, Carey, and Jarman ride teams of horses bareback, "Roman style", is just incredible---especially so given the fact that each actor is doing his own riding---no stunt-doubles for any of them. Ben Johnson, who was a National Champion Rodeo Cowboy prior to entering films, is probably the best horseman to ever appear in the movies.

Anyway, this is another movie that I would recommend very highly to any fan of westerns, John Ford, or John Wayne.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This One Has It All!, March 21, 2009

By 

Dufus (Lom Poc, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rio Grande (DVD)

This film has it all: romance, action, gun battles, kidnappings. This is one of the finest western films ever made. The acting is superb and the cinamatography (sp?) is fabulous. See this in color? No way! There is something special about B/W films that is ruined when computerized into color. If you don't have this film, SELL YOUR HOUSE and buy it!