Rio Grande (1950)

John Wayne is Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, in command of a cavalry garrison in the southwest and dealing with warring Apache when his fort turns into a reunion site of sorts.

No sooner has he gotten word that his son flunked out of West Point than that son — Claude Jarman Jr. as Jefferson Yorke — shows up on the base as a raw cavalry recruit.

He’ll get no special treatment, Kirby warns him. No problem, says the son he hasn’t seen in 15 years. He isn’t looking for special treatment. Nor is he looking for someone to call dad.

Next to arrive is Kirby’s estranged wife Kathleen. During the Civil War, his troops burned down her family mansion in the Shenandoah Valley. She rebuilt the home. The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Kirby Yorke, however, is still very much in disrepair.

She’s come to fetch her son, eager to pay the $100 fee to get him out of the service. Problem is, Kirby won’t sign the release papers. And her son doesn’t want to be released from duty.

But Kirby does try to keep Jeff out of harm’s way when he gets orders to cross the Rio Grande, find the Apache and burn them out.

He assigns him to help escort a wagon train carrying the women and children to the safety of Fort Bliss.

Then the Indians attack that wagon train, taking a wagon load of children hostage.

John Wayne as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, frustrated by his inability to pursue his enemy into Mexico in Rio Grande (1950)

Maureen O’Hara as Kathleen Yorke, arriving to take her son home in Rio Grande (1950)

Review:

The third film in John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, this followed “Fort Apache” (1948) and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949). Published reports say Ford agreed to make the film in return for permission to make the movie he really wanted to film — “The Quiet Man,” which also starred Wayne and O’Hara.

And for the first hour, this is a slow-moving affair, focusing on the strained relationship between Kirby and Kathleen and the training of the new recruits. And featuring a surprising number of musical interludes.

But once the action starts, Ford serves up a pair of exciting large-scale battle scenes — the Indian attack on the wagon train trying to take the women and children to safety and the subsequent attack on the south-of-the-border Indian village in an attempt to free them.

Ben Johnson has an interesting role as one of the new recruits, a Texan wanted for manslaughter from an incident in which he was trying to protect his sister’s reputation. He’s so respected as a trooper and horsemen that Yorke and company are constantly helping him escape the law.

Harry Carey Jr. plays another of new recruits. You might notice Ken Curtis, later of “Gunsmoke” fame as Festus, as the lead singer for the Sons of the Pioneers. And here’s another interesting casting note: Wayne’s real-life son, Patrick, plays one of the children in the film. It marked Patrick’s film debut.

This was also the first of five films in which Wayne and O’Hara would appear together. The others included the Westerns “McLintock” (1963) and “Big Jake” (1971).

Harry Carey Jr. as Trooper Daniel ‘Sandy’ Bonne and Claude Jarman Jr. as Trooper Yorke in Rio Grande (1950)

Ben Johnson as Trooper Travis Tyree, wanted in Texas, valued as a cavalryman in Rio Grande (1950)

Directed by:
John Ford

Cast:
John Wayne … Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke
Maureen O’Hara … Kathleen Yorke
Ben Johnosn … Travis Tyree
Claude Jarman Jr. … Jefferson Yorke
Harry Carey Jr. … Daniel “Sandy” Boone
Chill Wills … Dr. Wilkins
J. Carrol Naish … Lt. Gen. Sheridan
Victor McLaglen … Sgt. Maj. Timothy Quincannon
Grant Withers … U.S. deputy marshal
Peter Ortiz … Capt. St. Jacques
Steve Pendleton … Capt. Prescott
Karolyn Grimes … Margaret Mary
Alberto Morin … Lieutenant
Stan Jones … Sergeant
Fred Kennedy … Trooper Heinze
Ken Curtis … Donnelly (regimental singer)
Patrick Wayne … Young boy

Runtime: 105 min.

Victor McLaglen as Sgt. Maj. Timothy Quincannon meeting new recruits in Rio Grande (1950)

Chill Wills as Dr. WIlkins, the regimental surgeon, helping solve another problem in Rio Grande (1950)

Memorable lines:

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, to his new recruits: “I don’t want you men to be fooled about what’s coming up for you. Torture, at least that. The War Department promised me 180 men. They sent me eighteen. You are the eighteen… so each of you will have to do the work of 10 men. If you fail, I’ll have you spread-eagled on a wagon wheel. If you desert, you’ll be found, tracked down and broken into bits. That is all.”

Mrs. Kathleen Yorke: “Ramrod, wreckage and ruin. Still the same Kirby Yorke.”
Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke: “Special privileges to special born. Still the same Kathleen.”

Lt. Gen. Sheridan: “I sacrificed the happiness of your home once Kirby to the needs of war. Now I’ll probably ruin your army career. I’m going to issue you an order, and give it to you personally. I want you to cross the Rio Grande. Hit the Apache and burn him out.”

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke: “What I said about the women and children is true: You’re leaving in the morning for Fort Bliss. Jeff is going with you. He’ll be one of the escorts.”
Kathleen Yorke: “He’ll hate it, Kirby. He’ll think that …”
Kirby: “He’s my son — our son. He’s too young to ..”
Kathleeen: “He’ll still hate it, Kirby. But I love you for it.”

J. Carrol Naish as Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, giving Yorke the orders he’s been awaiting in Rio Grande (1950)

Fred Kennedy as Trooper Heinz, the cavalryman who gets in a fistfight with recruit Jefferson Yorke in Rio Grande (1950)

Kathleen Yorke: “Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?”
Kirby Yorke, before doing just that: “I never want to kiss you goodbye, Kathleen?”

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke: “Any liquor in this (Indian) village?”
Trooper Travis Tyree: “Mucho tequila. They were slugging it down, copious like.”

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke: “I know you’re an excellent judge of horse flesh, Trooper Tyree. Proved that when you stole my horse. But how are you as a judge of men for a dangerous mission.”
Tyree: “I consider myself a good judge of the men I trust, sir.”

John Wayne as Lt. Col. Kirby York about to meet his new recruits in Rio Grande (1950)

Claude Jarman Jr. as Trooper Thomas Jefferson Yorke with his mother Kathleen (Maureen O’Hara) in Rio Grande (1950)

Ken Curtis (left) as Trooper Donnelly with the rest of the regimental singers in Rio Grande (1950)

John Wayne as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke and Maureen O’Hara as his estranged wife Kathleen, listening to a performance by the regimental singers in Rio Grande (1950)