Rio Conchos

Posted by Martina Birk on Sunday, July 28, 2024

Rio Conchos is a big, tough, action-packed slam-bang western with as tough a set of characters as ever rode the sage. It is Old West adventure at its best.

Rio Conchos is a big, tough, action-packed slam-bang western with as tough a set of characters as ever rode the sage. It is Old West adventure at its best.

Producer David Weisbart has woven fanciful movement along with lush settings via on-the-spot color lensing in Arizona. To this, Gordon Douglas has added his own version of what a lusty western should be in the direction, getting the most from a batch of colorful characters. Music score by Jerry Goldsmith is a particularly valuable asset in striking a fast mood from the opening scene.

Script by Joseph Landon and Clair Huffaker, adapted from latter’s novel, limns the quest of four men for 2,000 stolen repeating rifles that a group of former Confederate soldiers have been running to the Apaches. Quartet is composed of Stuart Whitman, a cavalry captain, who heads the party; Richard Boone, an ex-reb who hates Apaches; Tony Franciosa, a Mexican gigolo-type killer whom the army was about to hang; and Jim Brown, a cavalry corporal. Their destination is the camp of a demented Confederate gun-runner (Edmond O’Brien) who wants vengeance on the North for the South’s defeat.

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Whitman acquits himself excellently in his tough role but interest principally lies in characters played by Boone and Franciosa, both killers and a director’s dream. Brown, too, handles himself well, and Vito Scotti, as a laughing bandit, registers particularly in his brief menacing role before being killed.

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Rio Conchos

  • Production: 20th Century-Fox. Director Gordon Douglas; Producer David Weisbart; Screenplay Joseph Landon, Clair Huffaker; Camera Joe MacDonald; Editor Joseph Silver; Music Jerry Goldsmith; Art Director Jack Martin Smith, William Creber
  • Crew: (Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1964. Running time: 105 MIN.
  • With: Richard Boone Stuart Whitman Anthony Franciosa Jim Brown Wende Wagner Edmond O'Brien

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