Rio Grande

Rio Bravo is not the average Western film. While it does encompass many of the elements of a traditional western, it also changes around many themes, such as centering on a singular nomadic warrior. In Rio Bravo Sheriff Chance is anything but a wandering warrior, but is rather a stationary figure who keeps law and order within the town. Another element that has changed from the average western theme that doesn’t fit with Rio Bravo is that when normally the landscape of the film is in itself a character which brings forth the complications of the plot, the landscape here is only used to represent parts of the town. Also not presented in Rio Bravo that is traditional in most Westerns is a “damsel in distress”, not counting the incident where the hotel manager and his wife were captured. Another change from the traditional western is the choice of Sheriff Chance’s weapon, as he uses a rifle as opposed to most Western protagonist who use revolvers more often. Another important difference between Rio Bravo and traditional westerns is its use of minorities. While most westerns would use minorities as stereotypical villains, Rio Bravo instead uses them as people to populate the town, including the undertaker, an Asian man, and the hotel manager and his wife, both Mexicans. While all these differences may show that Rio Bravo doesn’t contain many of the hallmarks of a traditional western, at its core it still contains many of the important features, such as saloons, horses, tobacco, gun fights, and dynamite, as well as lessons of morality, such as Dude giving up alcohol and the love interest with gambling.