5 Star

Ramrod, Wreckage, Ruin.

Rio Grande is the third installment of John Ford‘s “cavalry trilogy,” following two RKO Pictures releases: Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). This time we are dealing with Apache raids. Fifteen years after the events at Shenandoah, it is the summer of 1879 and Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke and those under his command are about to have a rough time. Once again Eureka and Masters of Cinema have put together a first rate package of a true classic film.

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne, My Darling Clementine, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Fighting Seabees, The Fighting Kentuckian) returns once more from a fruitless patrol to stop the lightning Apache raids before they fled across the Rio Grande and into inaccessable Mexico. Returning with their wounded, it is down to Dr. Wilkins (Chill Wills, The Alamo, McLintock!) to get them back to duty as soon as possible as the regiment is undermanned by 180 troopers.

What he gets are just 18 raw troopers, most notably a man on the run Trooper Travis Tyree (Ben Johnson, Hang ‘Em High, The Wild Bunch), Trooper Daniel ‘Sandy’ Boone (Harry Carey Jr., Red River, 7th Cavalry) and the shock of the film Trooper Jefferson ‘Jeff’ Yorke (Claude Jarman Jr., The Yearling, Intruder in the Dust, Fair Wind to Java) the son of Mrs. Kathleen Yorke (Maureen O’Hara, Miracle on 34th Street, Bagdad, The Quiet Man, The Parent Trap) and the Leiutenant Colonel.

The person who has to whip these new recruits into shape is Sgt. Maj. Timothy Quincannon (Victor McLaglen, The Quiet Man, Fort Apache) a man that will turn them into cavalry men in six months.

When the Colonel hears the name Yorke he has a chat with Junior about his expulsion from West Point and his immediate enlistment in the army.

“But put out of your mind any romantic ideas that it’s a way of glory. It’s a life of suffering and hardship, an uncompromising devotion to your oath and your duty.”

The next shock he gets is the arrival of his estranged wife Kathleen (O’Hara) who has one thing on her mind and that is to get Trooper Jefferson ‘Jeff’ Yorke out of the army and at home with her, but she has to deal with her strict army husband and her stubborn son.

The Colonel has to deal with all that and Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan (J. Carrol Naish, Beau Geste, Batman) who wants the renegade Apache Natchez (Barlow Simpson) eradicated, especially after he manages a raid on the fort and frees their comrades.

 

“To my only rival, the United States Cavalry.”

All this action is accompanied by plenty of rousing songs and serenades by the ‘Sons of the Pioneers’. Great stuff.

This is a proper western film a true classic that is now available to own on limited edition Blu-ray. Thank you Masters of Cinema.

 

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• Limited Edition O-Card (First print run only)
• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray, from a new transfer completed by Paramount s preservation department in 2019
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Brand new and exclusive feature-length audio commentary by western authority Stephen Prince
• Scene specific audio commentary with Maureen O Hara
• A video essay on the film by John Ford expert and scholar Tag Gallagher
• The Making of Rio Grande archival featurette
• Along the Rio Grande with Maureen O Hara archival documentary
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: a collector s booklet featuring a new essay by western expert Howard Hughes; a new essay by film writer Phil Hoad; transcript of an interview with John Ford; excerpts from a conversation with Harry Carey, Jr.

Rio Grande is available on Blu-ray.