History Film / RioLobo

* BareYourMidriff: Maria wears a shirt that does this in one scene.

* JurisdictionFriction: Shasta is introduced reporting a murder committed by Hendricks and his men, only for the sheriff she reports it to to tell her that it's out of his jurisdiction.

* ShesGotLegs: Old Man Phillips notes this of Shasta, although her legs are covered at the time.

* CorruptHick: Ketcham, Sheriff Hendricks and their men have been forcibly taking all of the good land near Rio Lobo, having gotten started with the money Ketcham made selling the gold shipments.

* CoolHat: Bide's top hat.

* AllForNothing: Name-dropped by a frustrated Cordona once the South loses the war, in reference to the time he spent as a prisoner and the train robberies.

* BeeBeeGun: Cordona's raiding party throw a hornets' nest into a train car carrying some Union soldiers and a large gold supply they were guarding. One of the Union soldiers even dies from injuries sustained by throwing himself out of the train to escape said bugs.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Shasta and Cordona start out this way, before it gets tenderer.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: Cordona, who gets the main romantic subplot, plenty of good action scenes and about as much development and screen time as Wayne's character.

* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: Cordona. When (in response to being nicknamed "Frenchie") he exasperatedly tells [=McNally=] that he's half Mexican too, [=McNally=] joking asks if it's the Mexican half that's been wooing Shasta.

* FeminineWomenCanCook: Maria makes [=McNally=], Shasta and Cordona some dinner when they arrive at her house.

* TheGambler: Cordona, who bet [=McNally=] before the war at a card game, with Cord holding him at gunpoint due to believing he'd cheated him by betting a lame horse.
* GoodSamaritan: Amelita, who takes Cordona hiding out at her house in stride (albeit with a little flirtation) and later goes to warn them about Hendricks sending men to search Maria's house.
* HandOrObjectUnderwear: Amelita covers her breasts with her arms when Cordona breaks into her home to hide from Hendricks' men.

* LastKiss: They don't die, but Cordona asks Shasta for one while they're hiding from a pair of Hendricks men at one point.

* MaybeEverAfter: Cordona and Phillips are the ones who get the romantic interests, but [=McNally=] has a moment which could be taken this way with Amelita at the end as he comforts her for [[spoiler:shooting Hendricks]], although the two have no real interaction prior to that.

* MookHorrorShow: While not always fatal, there's a few scenes where [=McNally=] and Cardona take out sentries for the villains this way, one by one, with Cordona once dropping a lasso over one man's neck and hanging him.

* NobodyHereButUsBirds: Tuscarora uses birdcalls to alert Cordona to his presence a few times when stealth is required.

* PrisonerExchange: At the climax [[spoiler: Cordona]] has been captured to trade for Ketcham. The two of them both walk across an empty space between buildings. [[spoiler: Cordona dives into a stream at the half way point where Phillips is waiting with guns, removing him from the line of fire, while [=McNally=] then tells Hendricks how Ketcham signed over all of the deeds they'd stolen, getting him shot by his own men]].

* PunchClockVillain: Cordona and his men are portrayed as simply soldiers fighting for a cause (with none of his men showing any resentment about having a Mexican commander), and perform a HeelFaceTurn and are willing to cooperate with their former enemy after the war.

* ShamefulStrip: After fainting, Shasta is briefly irritated to find out that Cordona took off her dress, due to concerns that it was making it hard for her to breath.

* StayInTheKitchen: Cordona has a bit of this attitude about keeping Shasta out of harms way later in the movie.

* TrainJob: The opening scene of the movie shows one in great detail. Cordona and his men eavesdrop on the telegraph to find out when the train will be coming. Then they grease the tracks to stop the engine. Knock out the engineer and brakeman, and shoot any of the Union soldiers in the baggage car (with the gold) who try to come out and fight. Then they detach the rest of the train from the engine, to go rolling down the tracks, while tossing a hornets nest into the car to force all of the Union guards to jump out (tossing in a torch to smoke out the hornets once all of them are gone). Several miles down the track, more of the Confederates have tied lots of ropes across the track, to trees, which are pulled out of their roots when the train hits home, serving as an anchor which stops the train. The confederates then split up several times. First they move the gold in a wagon (which they had filled with rocks on the way in so its tracks won't look deeper leaving) then split up several times while carrying the gold on horseback.
* TrustPassword: Cordona recounts details about his and Tuscarora's first battle to convince Old Man Phillips that he is who he says he is.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Shasta doesn't hesitate to help Cordona in the climax and Maria tries to stop Hendricks and his men from arresting Tuscarora on trumped up charges.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Cordona wears a bloody bandage (borrowed from one of his men) on his leg to pretend to be a Confederate straggler and lower [=McNally=]'s guard to capture him.

* MotorMouth: Shasta has her moments. This is lampshaded after she provides a distraction for the others.

* BadassMustache: Sheriff Cronin of Blackthorne has one, and refuses to let Whitey and his men take away Shasta, while also helping shoot it out with them when they won't back down.

* BadassBeard: Old Man Phillips is a reliable shotgun user and a bearded man.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rio_Lobo.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rio_Lobo.jpg]]

At the tail-end of the Civil War Colonel Cord [=McNally=] (Creator/JohnWayne) finds himself pursuing a gang of Confederate guerrillas, led by Captain Pierre Cardona, who hijacked a train of gold and killed a friend of his. Through some trickery and a little bit of luck, he manages to capture Cardona and Sergeant Tuscarora Phillips, although neither man will reveal the Union traitor who has been helping them. Once the war has ended, however, the two feel humbled and more willing to talk, confirming that the Union traitor was motivated by greed. [=McNally=] convinces the men to tell him if they ever come across the traitor. When they do, [=McNally=] finds himself journeying to the town of Rio Lobo, where a criminal conspiracy is underway. He is joined by Cardona, and Shasta Delaney, the companion of a man who was shot by the criminals. The climax ends with him and his allies holed up with their prisoner, as his criminal associates lurk outside.

The film is a (very) loose remake of Wayne's previous films ''Film/RioBravo'' and ''Film/ElDorado''. All three movies were directed by Creator/HowardHawks, with ''Rio Lobo'' being his final film. At the time of its release, the film was largely derided as too derivative of Hawks' previous films, even by several critics who liked it (such as Creator/RogerEbert), although its opening action sequence received appreciation, and it currently has a respectable rotten tomatoes rating.

Wayne's castmates include fellow iconic western Actor Creator/JackElam as Old Man Phillips, Creator/PeterJason as Lt. Forsythe, future Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios president Sherry Lansing as Amelita, and Christopher Mitchum (who would later play the son of Wayne's character in ''Film/BigJake'' and whose father, Creator/RobertMitchum, was Wayne's co-star in ''Film/ElDorado'') as Tuscarora Phillips.

!! Contains Examples Of:

At the tail-end of the Civil War Colonel Cord [=McNally=] (Creator/JohnWayne) finds himself pursuing a gang of Confederate guerrillas, led by Captain Pierre Cardona, who hijacked a train of gold and killed a friend of his. Through some trickery and a little bit of luck, he manages to capture Cardona and Sergeant Tuscarora Phillips, although neither man will reveal the Union traitor whose been helping them. Once the war has ended, however, the two feel humbled and more willing to talk, confirming that the Union traitor was motivated by greed. [=McNally=] convinces the men to tell him if they ever come across the traitor. When they do, [=McNally=] finds himself journeying to the town of Rio Lobo, where a criminal conspiracy is underway. He is joined by Cardona, and Shasta Delaney, the companion of a man who was shot by the criminals. The climax ends with him and his allies holed up with their prisoner, as his criminal associates lurk outside.

* AffablyEvil: Two of the henchmen staking out Old Man Phillips ranch and threatening him through Tuscarora are fairly non-malicious when Shasta comes up in the medicine wagon, with one asking to have some of the whiskey in the back, and the other asking why she's came back and stopped running in a simple, curious fashion.

* BedmateReveal: There's a bit where [=McNally=] wakes, after sleeping under the stars, to find Shasta woman snuggled up to him, and his arm draped over her. His startled, "Hey! What's she doing here?" is quite funny. So is his irritation that she cuddled up to him because she thought it'd be safer than with either of the young studs in their group. Occasionally during the rest of the film he sarcastically describes himself as "comfortable," because that's how she had put it.

* BondOneLiner: During the capturing of Ketchum, Old Man Phillips is assigned to take care of a man guarding the gate. When they ask him how that went:

* ChekhovsSkill: Tuscarora Phillips skill with a ReedSnorkel.

* CorruptHick: Ketchum, Sheriff Hendricks and their men have been forcibly taking all of the good land near Rio Lobo, having gotten started from the money Ketchum made selling out the gold shipments.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: When Hendricks is first mentioned, [=McNally=] refers to him as "Blue Tom" and mentions chasing him several times but never capturing him, although whether this is refers to Hendricks being a Civil war guerrilla or a pre-war outlaw is never mentioned.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Shasta was married to an alcoholic gambler who left her a widow, forced to work as a saloon girl, getting groped a lot, and the man who offered aher a job to get away from all of that, with no ulterior motive, ended up murdered by Whitey Carter.
* DefiantCaptive: [=McNally=] when he's a prisoner of the confederates.
* DepravedDentist: Subverted, the local dentist is a good friend of the Phillips family and a reliable ally, although he does have to inflict some pain on [=McNally=] in order to fool some spies who were suspicious about his claims of coign into town to get his tooth pulled.

* DirtyCoward: Ketchum is quick to kowtow to all of [=McNally=] and the others orders as a prisoner.
* DistressedDude: Phillips spends a long time as a prisoner of the villains, and [[spoiler: Right after he's freed Cardona is captured for a while]].
* TheDogBitesBack" [[spoiler: Hendricks is shot dead by Amelita, whose face he had slashed while looking for the heroes]].
* DragonAscendant: [[spoiler: Hendricks guns down Ketchum after finding out that he signed over the deeds while a prisoner, and takes over trying to kill the heroes himself]].

* EasilyForgiven: [=McNally=] tells Cardona that he doesn't;t blame him or his men for what happened to Lieutenant Forsythe, as it was an act of war. The traitor, on the other hand....
* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: Cordona. When (in response to being nicknamed "Frenchie") he exasperatedly tells [=McNally=] that he's half Mexican to, [=McNally=] joking asks if its the Mexican half that's been wooing Shasta.

* GoodSamaritan: Amelita, who takes Cordona hiding out at her house in stride (albeit with a little flritation) and later goes to warn them about Hendricks sending me not search Maria's house.

* LastKiss: They don't die, but Cordona asks Shasta for one while their hiding from a pair of Hendricks men at one point.
* LetsSplitUpGang: A (somewhat) justified example. [=McNally=] and his pursuit force have to split up as the confederates their chasing split up, and then when the confederates reach a river and travel through the water to hide their tracks, to the point where [=McNally=] is alone, and easy to capture, once he finally finds them.
* ManOnFire: Ketchum is briefly set on fire during a fight, and they don't put it out until he agrees to sign back all the deeds he's stolen.

* MookLieutenant: Bide to the confederates, and Whitey and Deputy Riley to Hendricks and Ketchum.
* MotorMouth: Shasta has her moments. This is lampshades after she provides a distraction for the others.

* OldSoldier: [=McNally=], at least while he's in the service. Creator/JohnWayne was 63 at the time of the movie, and [=McNally=] is implied to have been in the army before since before the war.

* PapaWolf: Phillips father is one of Ketchum's last opponents, with only the threat of death to his son making him consider giving up, and the chance to rescue his son causing him to throw in with the heroes.
* PrisonerExchange: At the climax [[spoiler: Cordona]] has been captured to trade for Ketchum. The two of them both walk across an empty space between buildings. [[spoiler: Cordona dives into a stream at the half way point where Phillips is waiting with guns, removing him from the line of fire, while [=McNally=] then tells Hendricks how Ketchum signed over all of the deeds they'd stolen, getting him shot by his own men]].

* ReedSnorkel: Tuscarora Phillips uses one to try and escape from the Union soldiers after [=McNally=] tricks the confederates into riding into a Union camp, as well as to sneak up on the bad guys in the climax.
* RememberTheNewGuy /WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Presumably for budgetary reasons, hardly any of the actors playing Hendricks and Ketchum's goons appear in more than one scene, causing a lot of instances of thugs disappearing after one scene, or a bunch of strangers fighting along with Hendricks in the final shootout.

* ShesGotLegs: Old Man Phillisp notes this of Shasta, although her legs are covered at the time.

* TrainJob: The opening scene of the movie shows one in great detail. Cordona and his men eavesdrop on the telegraph to find out when the train will be coming. Then they grease the tracks to stop the engine. Knock out the engineer and brakeman, and shoot any of the Union soldiers in the baggage car (with the gold) who try to come out and fight. Then they detach the rest of the train from the engine, to go rolling down the tracks, while tossing a hornets nest into the car to force all of the Union guards to jump out (tossing in a torch to smoke out the hornets once all of them are gone). Several miles down the track, more of the Confederates have tied lots of ropes across the track, to trees, which are pulled out of their roots when the train hits home, serving as an anchor which stops the train. The confederates then split up several times. First they move the gold in a wagon (which they had filled with rocks on the way in so it's tracks won't look deeper leaving) then spilt up while carting the gold on horseback several times.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Shasta doesn't' hesitate to help Cordona in the climax and Maria tries to stop Hendricks and his men from arresting Tuscarora on trumped up charges.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Cordona wears a bloody bandage (borrowed from one of his men) on his leg to pretend to be a confederate straggler and lower [=McNally=]'s guard to capture him.
* WouldHitAGirl: Hendricks repeatedly hits Tuscarora's fiancee Maria and also slashes her friend Amelita's face for helping the heroes.

* ReedSnorkel: Tuscarora Phillips uses one to try and escape from the Union soldiers after [McNally=] tricks the confederates into riding into a Union camp, as well as to sneak up on the bad guys in the climax.

* Deuteragonist: Cordona, who gets the main romantic subplot, plenty of good action scenes and about as much development and screen time as Wayne's character.

* HandOrObjectUnderwear: , Amelita covers her breasts with her arms when Cordona breaks into her home to hide from Hendricks' men.

* ItsPersonal: Sums up [=McNally's] determination to capture the traitor.
* JurisdictionFriction: Shasta is introduced reporting a mruder committed by Hendricks and his men, only for the sheriff she reports it to to tell her that it's out of his jurisdiction.

* ManOnFire: Ketchum is briefly set on fire during a fight, and they don't put it ut until he agrees to sign back all the deeds he's stolen.
* MaybeEverAfter: Cordona and Phillips are the ones who get the romantic interests, but [McNally=] has a moment which could be taken this way with Amelita at the end as he comforts her for [[spoiler:shooting Hendricks]], although the two have no real interaction prior to that.

Wayne's castmates include fellow iconic western Actor Creator/JackElam as Old Man Phillips, Creator/PeterJason as Lt. Forsythe, future Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios president Sherry Lansing as Amelita, and Christopher Mitchum (son of Creator/RobertMitchum, Wayne's co-star from ''Film/ElDorado'') as Tuscarora Phillips.

* FrameUp: Hendricks arrests Tuscarora for stealing his own cattle in order to use him as a hostage to make his father sign over his ranch.
* TheGambler: Cordona, who bet [=McNally=] before the war at a card game, with Cord holding him at gunpoint due to believing he'd cheated.

* MaybeEverAfter: Cordona and Phillips are the ones who get the romantic interests, but [McNally=] has a moment which could be taken this way with Amelita at the end.

* OldSoldier: [=McNally=], at least while he's in the service. Creator/JohnWayne was 63 at the time of the movie, and [=McNally=] is said to have been in the army before since before the war.

* PunchClockVillain: Cordona and his men are portrayed as simply soldiers fighting for a cause, and perform a HeelFaceTurn and are willing to cooperate with their former enemy after the war.

* MookLieutenant: Bide to the confederates, and Whitey to Hendricks and Ketchum.

The film is a (very) loose remake of Wayne's previous films ''Film/RioBravo'' and ''Film/ElDorado''. All three movies were directed by Creator/HowardHawks, with ''Rio Lobo'' being his final film. At the time of its release, the film was largely derided as too derivative of Hawks' previous films, even by those who liked it (such as Creator/RogerEbert), although its opening action sequence received appreciation, and it currently has a respectable rotten tomatoes rating.

The film is a (very) loose remake of Wayne's previous films ''Film/RioBravo'' and ''Film/ElDorado''. All three movies were directed by Creator/HowardHawks.

* AllForNothing: Name-dropped by a frustrated Cardona once the South loses the war, in reference to the time he spent as a prisoner and the train robberies.

* BeeBeeGun: Cardona's raiding party throw a hornets' nest into a train car carrying some Union soldiers and a large gold supply they were guarding. One of the Union soldiers even dies from injuries sustained by throwing himself out of the train to escape said bugs.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Shasta and Cardona start out this way, before it gets tenderer.

* Deuteragonist: Cardona, who gets the main romantic subplot, plenty of good action scenes and about as much development and screen time as Wayne's character.

* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: Cardona. When (in response to being nicknamed "Frenchie") he exasperatedly tells [=McNally=] that he's half Mexican to, [=McNally=] joking asks if its the Mexican half that's been wooing Shasta.

* TheGambler: Cardona, who bet [=McNally=] before the war at a card game, with Cord holding him at gunpoint due to believing he'd cheated.
* HandOrObjectUnderwear: , Amelita covers her breasts with her arms when Cardona breaks into her home to hide from Hendricks' men.

* MaybeEverAfter: Cardona and Phillips are the ones who get the romantic interests, but [McNally=] has a moment which could be taken this way with Amelita at the end.
* MookHorrorShow: While not always fatal, there's a few scenes where [=McNally=] and Cardona take out sentries for the villains this way, one by one, with Cardona once dropping a lasso over one man's neck and hanging him.

* PrisonerExchange: At the climax [[spoiler: Cardona]] has been captured to trade for Ketchum. The two of them both walk across an empty space between buildings. [[spoiler: Cardona dives into a stream at the half way point where Phillips is waiting with guns, removing him from the line of fire, while [=McNally=] then tells Hendricks how Ketchum signed over all of the deeds they'd stolen, getting him shot by his own men]].

* PunchClockVillain: Cardona and his men are portrayed as simply soldiers fighting for a cause, and perform a HeelFaceTurn and are willing to cooperate with their former enemy after the war.

* TrainJob: The opening scene of the movie shows one in great detail. Cardona and his men eavesdrop on the telegraph to find out when the train will be coming. Then they grease the tracks to stop the engine. Knock out th engineer and brakeman, and shoot any of the Union soldiers in the baggage car (with the gold) who try to come out and fight. Then they detach the rest of the train from the engine, to go rolling down the tracks, while tossing a hornets nest into the car to force all of the Union guards to jump out (tossing in a torch to smoke out the hornets once all of them are gone). Several miles down the track, more of the Confederates have tied lots of ropes across the track, to trees, which are pulled out of their roots when the train hits home, serving as an anchor which stops the train. The confederates then split up several times. First they move the gold in a wagon (which they had filled with rocks on the way in so it's tracks won't look deeper leaving) then spilt up while carting the gold on horseback several times.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Shasta doesn't' hesitate to help Cardona in the climax and Maria tries to stop Hendricks and his men from arresting Tuscarora on trumped up charges.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Cardona wears a bloody bandage (borrowed from one of his men) on his leg to pretend to be a confederate straggler and lower [=McNally=]'s guard to capture him.

* DepravedDentist: Subverted, the local dentist is a good friend of the Phillips family and a reliable ally, although he does have to inflict some pain on [=McNally=] in order to fool some spies who were susociiosu about his claims of coign into town to get his tooth pulled.

* LetsSplitUpGang: [=McNally=] and his pursuit force have to split up as the confederates their chasing split up, and then when the confederates reach a river and travel through the water to hide their tracks, to the point where [=McNally=] is alone, and easy to capture, once he finally finds them.

* ReedSnorkel: Phillips uses one to try and escape from the Union soldiers after [McNally=] tricks the confederates into riding into a Union camp, as well as to sneak up on the bad guys in the climax.

* TheCavalry: Bide and a lot of the other local ranchers arrive to help the heroes in the final shootout.