John Wayne, a staunch conservative and anti-Communist, was so angered by Fred Zimmermann’s High Noon (1952) that he teamed up with like-minded director Howard Hawks to create a response to a film he deemed "un-American" and critical of  Hollywood blacklisting. Rio Bravo was the response, the story of small-town Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne), who is forced to defend a prisoner arrested for murder from an onslaught by the rest of his gang. While in Zimmermann’s film, Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) spends most of High Noon running around begging for the support of his townsfolk, Chance is surrounded by allies. From Dean Martin's alcoholic deputy, Dude, to Walter Brennan's ageing cripple and Ricky Nelson's young gunslinger, there is no shortage of support for the Sheriff in Rio Bravo , but he heroically refuses support from anyone he doesn't feel able. Beyond the film's political posturing, however, Rio Bravo endures as one of the genres most shamelessly entertaining entries. Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett's tight screenplay is peppered with sharp dialogue, nailbiting tension and plenty of laugh-out-loud humour. Unlike many of John Ford's films, Hawks is more considerate of his female characters. Angie Dickinson is given a hugely memorable role as the leggy, sharp-tongued Feathers, who slowly falls for Chance while holed up at the hotel, waiting for the stagecoach. Hawks makes good use of his two crooners, giving both Martin and Nelson the chance to sing onscreen as well as get stuck into the action.

25/5

(Sat)

7:30pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

*Post-screening talk speaker changes to Sam Ho (in Cantonese)