RIO GRANDE (1950)

RIO GRANDE is a 1950 American romantic Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. It is the third installment of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", following two RKO Pictures releases: Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). Wayne plays the lead in all three films, as Captain Kirby York in Fort Apache, then as Captain Nathan Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and finally as a promoted Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke in Rio Grande.[a] Rio Grande's supporting cast features Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman Jr., Harry Carey Jr., Chill Wills, J. Carrol Naish, Victor McLaglen, Grant Withers, the Western singing group the Sons of the Pioneers and Stan Jones.

In the film, Yorke leads a cavalry regiment at the border of Texas and Mexico. He has been estranged from his wife Kathleen and son Jeff for the last fifteen years. Jeff recently flunked out of West Point and enlisted in the Army as a private. He comes under Yorke's command, where Yorke promises not to give him special treatment. Kathleen soon arrives at the fort, trying unsuccessfully to get Jeff to return to military school. As Kathleen and Yorke deal with their son, their relationship revives. Meanwhile, Apaches have been attacking the fort and taking refuge in Mexico so that Yorke's regiment can't retaliate against them. After an attack on the fort's women and children where the children are kidnapped, Yorke pursues Apache raiders into Mexico and raids their villages with permission from his general. He saves the kidnapped children, and returns to Kathleen settling into her role as military wife on the fort.

While originally Ford was uninterested in directing another Western, his studio wouldn't permit him to start The Quiet Man until he directed Rio Grande. The script was based on a short story by James Warner Bellah, which was inspired by historical events. The film was shot in only 32 days in Monument Valley, Utah. After its release, it made a modest profit, with reviewers praising the music and the action, but noting that the themes were well-worn. Later reviews praised the natural beauty of the shooting location, but were mixed about its efficacy. The film can be read as anticipating the frustration with international borders the US military would experience in the Vietnam War, with the solution to ignore international borders reflecting the conservative politics of Bellah and scriptwriter James Kevin McGuinness. The film is one of the least sympathetic of Ford's Westerns to Native Americans, depicting them as bloodthirsty and villainous. In contrast to its one-sided portrayal of Native Americans, its treatment of the reconciliation of an estranged couple and their son is emotionally complex. Rio Grande also addresses issues of class, showing a rejection of class privilege common in Ford's work.

PLOT:
In the summer of 1879, Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke is posted on the Texas frontier in command of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment to defend settlers against attacks by marauding Apaches. Yorke has just captured the Apache's leader. Apaches have been using Mexico as a sanctuary from pursuit, and the regiment is suffering from a serious shortage of troops.

Yorke has been estranged from his wife and son for 15 years, after he set fire to his wife's family's plantation in the South under orders from his commanding officer during the Shenandoah Valley campaign of the American Civil War. Yorke's son, Trooper Jefferson (Jeff) Yorke, is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment. After failing mathematics and flunking out of West Point, he immediately enlisted as a private in the Army. In a meeting with his father, Yorke informs him that he will receive no special treatment in the brutal way of life he has chosen; Jeff declares he wants none. Through his willingness to undergo any test or trial, Jeff befriends Travis Tyree and Daniel "Sandy" Boone. Tyree is on the run from the law for killing a man, but wants to wait to go to trial until after his sister's wedding. Yorke's estranged wife, Kathleen, arrives unexpectedly to buy the underage Jeff out of his enlistment. In a showdown with his mother, Jeff refuses her attempt to buy him out of the Army. The struggle over their son's future rekindles the romance the couple once felt for each other.

The Apaches attack the fort one night. Many of them are killed by the awakened troopers, but they succeed in freeing their leader. When Yorke's patrol reaches the Rio Grande, too late to capture the Apaches he was following, he meets a Mexican patrol. They exchange cordialities and both confirm that the US troops cannot cross into Mexico. Yorke is visited by his former Civil War commander, Philip Sheridan, now Commanding General of the Military Division of the Missouri, the headquarters responsible for pacifying the Great Plains. Sheridan has decided to order Yorke to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico in pursuit of the Apaches and kill them all, an action with serious political implications. Sheridan promises that if Yorke draws a court-martial as a result of the orders Sheridan legally cannot give him, he will ensure that the members of the court will be his fellow soldiers from the Civil War. Yorke accepts the assignment.

Before Yorke leads his men toward Mexico, he sends the women and children to Ft. Bliss for safety, with an escort including Jeff. Jeff and Boone meet Tyree, who has gone Absent Without Leave to evade a Texas marshal who is looking for him. Tyree informs them that there are Apaches in the area. The Apaches attack the wagons and capture the one carrying the children and Corporal Bell's wife. The braves kill some of the escorting cavalry. While the remainder fends off the Apaches, Jeff returns to the fort for reinforcements. Tyree saves him from an Apache attack on the way.

The Second meets the survivors of the escort and follows the Apache raiders. They discover the burnt-out wagon and the body of Corporal Bell's wife, but there is no sign of the children. In the meantime, Tyree rejoins the regiment and tells them he trailed the Apaches to their hideout in Mexico. Working with Tyree, Yorke permits three troopers, Tyree, Boone, and Jeff, to infiltrate the village where the Apaches have taken the children. Then Yorke leads his regiment in an all-out attack. The cavalrymen rescue all of the children unharmed, though Colonel Yorke is wounded by an arrow that he orders Jeff to remove. He is taken back to the fort by his victorious troops, where Kathleen meets him and holds his hand as he is carried on a travois into the post.

After Colonel Yorke recovers, Troopers Tyree, Boone, Jeff, Corporal Bell, and Indian Scout Son of Many Mules are decorated. At the ceremony, when one of the Texas marshals reappears Trooper Tyree continues his run from the law, stealing General Sheridan's horse for the purpose. As the troops pass in review, the regimental band plays Dixie at the General's request, apparently to please Mrs. Yorke.

CAST:
John Wayne as Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke
Maureen O'Hara as Kathleen Yorke
Ben Johnson as Trooper Travis Tyree
Claude Jarman Jr. as Trooper Jefferson Yorke
Harry Carey Jr. as Trooper Daniel "Sandy" Boone
Chill Wills as Dr. Wilkins, Regimental Surgeon
J. Carrol Naish as General Philip Sheridan
Victor McLaglen as Sergeant Major Quincannon
Grant Withers as Deputy Marshal
Sons of the Pioneers as the Regimental Singers
Ken Curtis as the lead singer of the Regimental Singers
Shug Fisher as Regimental Singer and regimental bugler
Peter Ortiz as Captain St. Jacques
Steve Pendleton as Captain Prescott
Karolyn Grimes as Margaret Mary
Alberto Morin as Mexican Lieutenant
Stan Jones as Sergeant
Fred Kennedy as Trooper Heinze