Book Review: Rio Bravo by Leigh Brackett
Rio Bravo is a small town near the river of the same name in southern Texas by the Mexican border. Ordinarily Sheriff John T. Chance is able to handle the local rowdies with the help of deputy Stumpy, who doesn’t walk well since a bullet smashed his leg. But these are not ordinary times. Nate Burdette, owner of the biggest cattle spread in the area, has bought up every young fellow around with decent shooting skills. His no-good brother Joe made himself unwelcome in Mexico, so was in town drinking, and murdered an unarmed man. Sheriff Chance didn’t have much choice but to arrest Joe, but he knows Nate isn’t going to take it well. There’s a confrontation coming!
The sheriff does have one or two possible helpers. Dude used to be his best friend and one of the top gunslingers in the territory. That is, until he fell for and was betrayed by a woman, and crawled inside a bottle. It’s been three years since he was sober, but Dude suddenly discovered a scrap of dignity, and might be able to stay on side if he can avoid falling off the wagon again. Then there’s Colorado, a young gun who came into town with the freight wagons of Pat Wheeler. He’s inexperienced in real life, but is fast with a gun, and after Wheeler is ambushed, Colorado has a reason to seek justice.
Oh, and there’s Feathers, a gambling woman who came into town on the last coach before the Burdettes shut travel down, who isn’t any good with a gun, but has a thirst for a good man. and thinks John T. is maybe what she’s looking for.
Against a small army of gunmen, will they be enough?
This is a novelization of the classic John Wayne Western movie by one of the scriptwriters. (You may also remember her from the script for The Empire Strikes Back.)
It’s a strong plotline with some memorable characters, and the novel takes the opportunity to delve a bit more than the movie could into the thought processes of Dude, Sheriff Chance, and Nathan Burdette. The last is a fellow who cannot abide being crossed, but has his own dignity and organizes his attempts to break Joe out like a military campaign. Colorado and Feathers aren’t as deeply characterized, allowing their actions and words to speak for them. Joe and Stumpy are relatively shallow characters, there for creating conflict and comic relief respectively.
The book also does a bit to smooth over some plot implausibilities in the movie by creating connecting material that sets up some coincidences.
One thing the book is perhaps a bit weaker at than the movie is that the musical motif El Deguello, “the call for no quarter” has to be described rather than heard. (For the few of you who didn’t see the movie, it’s originally a bugle call indicating that no mercy is to be shown the enemy. It was most famously for Texans played by Santa Ana’s troops when attacking the Alamo.) We also don’t get to hear Dean Martin as Dude and Ricky Nelson as Colorado sing.
Content note: A lot of people get shot or punched or kicked on the way to the explosive climax.
Overall: A good novelization of an excellent movie. Recommended to Western fans.
Let’s have a cover of El Deguello!
