Quentin Tarantino’s favorite and least favorite Westerns are part of John Wayne’s Rio Bravo trilogy. Wayne made Rio Bravo as a response to High Noon, a classic Western that Wayne was personally offended by. He had plenty of issues with the film, but Wayne especially hated how Gary Cooper’s Marshal ran around town asking people for help.

Hence, Rio Bravo sees Wayne’s Sheriff Chance fending off gunmen while holding a dangerous prisoner and without asking for help; in response, his misfit crew of deputies and the town itself rally around him. The movie is another classic from Wayne, while John Carpenter has remade Rio Bravo twice as ᴀssault on Precinct 13 and Ghosts of Mars.

Rio Bravo has also been cited many times by Quentin Tarantino as not only one of his favorite Westerns, but one of his favorite films, period. The influence it had on QT’s own work is obvious too, from the breezy conversational tone to the sudden, shocking bursts of violence. Compared to Tarantino’s work, however, Rio Bravo is WAY less bloody.

Rio Bravo Is Quentin Tarantino’s Favorite Western

Rio Bravo has a pretty straightforward premise, but the special ingredient is how patient it is. The John Wayne Western has shootouts and punch-ups aplenty, but what makes it so much fun is just hanging out with the cast of characters. Director Howard Hawks never forgets about the ticking clock element, but he wants audiences to enjoy the characters too.

That’s part of why Tarantino adores Rio Bravo so much; it’s a great “hangout” movie. There are long scenes of Chance, his deputies Dude (Dean Martin) and Stumpy (Walter Brennan) and other characters just talking, and not always about the plot. The great dialogue by screenwriter Leigh Brackett makes these scenes just as compelling as the shootouts.

Tarantino has personal connections to Hawks’ film, too. He once stated that as he grew up without a father, he looked to Rio Bravo as a model for how men should behave and act with dignity and honor.

Tarantino even made Rio Bravo into a date movie. He revealed in a Vanity Fair conversation the Wayne Western had become a test of sorts for new girlfriends, saying, “When I’m getting serious about a girl, I show her Rio Bravo and she better ****ing like it!”

How Rio Bravo Influenced Tarantino’s Work

The extra time Rio Bravo takes to develop its leads really helps, as it means getting to know their fears and flaws. The development means that when they are in danger, audiences care more. Tarantino borrowed this tactic in everything from Jackie Brown to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Nearly all of his films feature long scenes of great actors just shooting the breeze with each other, from talking about pop culture to their inner demons. In keeping with Rio Bravo’s formula, Tarantino’s dialogue scenes can be interrupted by sudden violence, such as the opening scene of Inglourious Basterds.

Sadly, QT has yet to helm a scene like Rio Bravo’s “My Rifle, My Pony and Me” sing-along, a divisive moment where Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson’s characters sing a duet while under siege inside the police station. It was a corny scene even way back in 1959, but it’s also an oddly endearing one.

Tarantino Disliked Rio Lobo So Much It Inspired His Early Retirement Plan

Much has been made of Tarantino’s plan to retire after making ten movies, which means he only has one film left after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Despite his immense love for Rio Bravo, one of the key films that encouraged Tarantino to wrap up early was Rio Lobo, the third and final entry in Wayne’s unofficial Rio Bravo series.

This 1970 Western cast Wayne as a Union cavalry officer hunting down traitors who helped stage a train robbery, which leads him to the тιтular town. Rio Lobo feels a little tired and drab next to Rio Bravo, and proved to be Howard Hawks’ final film.

Even he didn’t think much of it, with Hawks once labeling Rio Lobo a “damn piece of junk.” Speaking with American Cinematheque (via Deep Glamour), Tarantino went into detail about why he wants to retire before his work becomes “corny,” and he wants to make a complete set of movies he can stand behind.

.. the most cutting-edge artist, the coolest guys, the hippest dudes, they’re the ones that stay at the party too long. They’re the ones that make those last two or three movies that are completely out of touch and do not realize the world has turned on them. And they have no idea how corny they are.

Tarantino then cited John Ford’s Cheyenne Autumn and Rio Lobo as two key examples of movies made by filmmakers who should have stopped earlier. It’s easy to see Tarantino’s point; while Rio Lobo is far from terrible, it doesn’t hold a flickering candle to Hawks’ greatest works like The Big Sleep or Red River.

Why The Rio Bravo Trilogy Is Unofficial

Wayne and Hawks clearly enjoyed making Rio Bravo because with its “sequels,” El Dorado (1967) and Rio Lobo (1970), they basically remade it. None of the three movies share returning characters or storylines, but they all feature Wayne as a stoic good guy finding himself in another siege scenario.

The two sequels remix the basic ingredients. For example, while James Caan’s character “Mississippi” from El Dorado is a riff on Ricky Nelson’s gunslinger Colorado from Rio Bravo, Caan’s character is useless with guns but good with knives. Of the three, El Dorado might be the breeziest watch, while Wayne and Robert Mitchum spark off each other nicely.

Reportedly, when Wayne was told Rio Lobo was going to be another reworking of Rio Bravo, he pᴀssed on reading the script, joking that he’d made the movie twice already. So, while not an official franchise, Wayne and Hawks’ Rio Bravo trilogy very much shares DNA between entries.

Source: Vanity Fair, Rotten Tomatoes, American Cinematheque/Deep Glamour