John Wayne Made His Greatest Western Rio Bravo Twice

Published Sep 22, 2026, 11:50 AM EDT Richard Craig is a Senior Author at Screen Rant covering film and TV. Richard has also written extensively about horror and film soundtracks, contributing a chapter to the first major academic collection on the folk horror genre, The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Richard is also a performing musician and holds an MA in Music and Sound Art. A legendary John Wayne Western was so good that Hollywood decided to make it all over again eight years later. Across a career that produced more than 170 films, Wayne became the face of the Western through classics like Stagecoach, Red River, The Searchers, and True Grit. Yet when conversations turn to the greatest film he ever made in the genre, Rio Bravo consistently rides to the front of the pack. Released in 1959, Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo came out when the Western was one of Hollywood's dominant genres. Rather than relying on sprawling frontier battles or epic wagon-train journeys, Rio Bravo distinguished itself by focusing on a handful of memorable characters trapped in a tense situation. John "The Duke" Wayne plays Sheriff John T. Chance, who arrests the brother of a powerful rancher and suddenly finds himself holding a prisoner while an army of gunmen gathers outside town. Wayne is joined by Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan, and Angie Dickinson, creating one of the strongest ensembles in any Western of the era. Rio Bravo's reputation has only grown in the decades since its release. Filmmakers continue to cite it as an influence, while critics regularly place it among the greatest Westerns ever made. Remarkably, Hawks was so convinced they had struck gold that he eventually decided to mine the same ideas again – with Wayne in the same role. Why Rio Bravo Is John Wayne's Greatest Western Rio Bravo earned widespread acclaim upon release and has only become more celebrated with time. Critics frequently cite it as one of Howard Hawks' greatest achievements, while many historians regard it as one of the defining American films of the twentieth century. Rio Bravo succeeds because it focuses on character relationships rather than spectacle. Wayne's Sheriff Chance is competent and confident, but he cannot maintain order alone. His allies include Dean Martin's recovering alcoholic deputy Dude, Walter Brennan's aging deputy Stumpy, and Ricky Nelson's young gunfighter Colorado Ryan. Rio Bravo invests heavily in their personalities, allowing audiences to understand why they choose to stand together against overwhelming odds. Martin's performance is impressive. Best known as a singer and comedian, his nuanced dramatic turn earned some of the strongest reviews of his career. His redemption arc gives the story an emotional core that elevates it beyond a conventional shootout narrative. Rio Bravo's cultural impact has been equally significant. In 2014, the Library of Congress selected Rio Bravo for preservation in the National Film Registry, recognizing it as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Its reputation among critics, filmmakers, and audiences has secured its place as one of the greatest Westerns ever produced and arguably the finest Western of Wayne's career. How 'The Duke' Ended Up Making It Twice By the mid-1960s, Howard Hawks returned to familiar territory with El Dorado (1966). Although El Dorado features a different setting and cast, its similarities to Rio Bravo are impossible to ignore. Wayne plays a veteran gunslinger who must defend a family against villainous ranchers. He is aided by an aging companion, a younger sheriff, and a cast of colorful supporting characters. The structure, themes, and character dynamics are essentially the same but with the sheriff and the gunslinger's role reversed. The similarities were not accidental. Screenwriter Leigh Brackett later revealed that El Dorado began as a completely different project before evolving into what she described as a direct rewrite of Rio Bravo. Brackett recalled that her original screenplay was one of the best she had written and featured a far darker ending in which Wayne's character died (via Tangent). According to Brackett, Hawks initially praised the script, and both the studio and Wayne approved of it. However, the project gradually shifted toward recreating the formula that had worked so successfully before. Brackett explained that she became increasingly frustrated as the film transformed into another version of Rio Bravo. She even objected to rewriting scenes that closely mirrored moments from the 1959 classic. Hawks reportedly dismissed those concerns, arguing that if a scene had worked once, it would work again. Wayne agreed, jokingly backing the director's position and effectively ending the debate. The result was El Dorado, a film that many viewers affectionately describe as Rio Bravo revisited. While it never eclipsed the original's reputation, it is also one of Wayne's strongest later-career Westerns. Rio Bravo Release Date March 18, 1959 Runtime 141 minutes Rio Bravo is a 1959 Western film directed by Howard Hawks featuring John Wayne as the sheriff of a small town. The story follows his efforts alongside a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter to keep the brother of a local troublemaker incarcerated in the town jail. Cast John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Estelita Rodriguez, Claude Akins, Malcolm Atterbury, Harry Carey, Jr., Walter Barnes, George Bell, Noble 'Kid' Chissell, Cecil Combs, Myron Healey, Cactus Mack, Mathew McCue, Frank Mills, Kansas Moehring, Jack Perry, Danny Sands, Sailor Vincent, Bob Whitney Director Howard Hawks Writers Jules Furthman, Leigh Brackett Main Genre Western Studio(s) Armada Productions Distributor(s) Warner Bros El Dorado Release Date June 7, 1967 Runtime 126 Minutes Cast John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey Director Howard Hawks Writers Leigh Brackett Main Genre Western Studio(s) Laurel Productons Distributor(s) Paramount Pictures