44 years after his death, John Wayne remains the epitome of the Western hero. For a classic entry in his filmography, we go to 1959’s Rio Bravo.

Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) arrests Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) after the latter kills a man in cold blood during a bar fight. This doesn’t sit well with Joe’s brother Nathan (John Russell), and he causes tension in the town that puts Chance on guard.

Chance deputizes alcoholic gunslinger Dude (Dean Martin) and elderly coot Stumpy (Walter Brennan), as they’re about the best he can do on short notice. They prepare for an inevitable attempt by Nathan and his cohorts to break out Joe.

Wagon master Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond) offers the services of his men, but Chance declines since he thinks the amateurs will get in the way – except for young hotshot Colorado (Ricky Nelson), who becomes part of the posse.

A woman with a shady past (Angie Dickinson) starts to fall for Chance, and she also joins their group. They try to hold out against attempts to free Joe Burdette.

Although the 2007 DVD offered my first screening of Bravo, I didn’t go into it blind. 1976’s Assault on Precinct 13 - and by association, its 2005 remake - liberally borrowed from Bravo. They updated the story and put it in a different setting, but the basics remained the same.

Of those three, the original certainly seems to be the best. The Assault remake became a stinker, while Carpenter’s version brought an iffy pleasure. Actually, I liked it in most ways, but its low budget, amateurish origins made it less than satisfying at times.

None of those issues mar Bravo. In no way could I call the production “amateurish”, as it boasts fine production values and many other strong elements. Obviously Bravo comes with a fine director via the legendary Howard Hawks, and the acting talent also stands out as a positive.

I must admit that factor surprised me. I respect Wayne as an icon but maintain my doubts about his performance skills.

Nonetheless, he provides a terrific turn as Chance. The Duke offers nice depth to his character, as he presents strength and honor but doesn’t turn Chance into a cardboard, stoic stud.

Wayne also makes sure we see the role’s fear and uncertainty. This is a rounded performance that makes the character memorable.

The supporting cast also does well, with another surprising positive from Martin. I think of him as a comedic presence, not a dramatic actor, so his rich work as Dude is a revelation.

Martin doesn’t rely on cheap drunken gimmicks. He lets us see his flawed character’s pros and cons in a fine manner and adds real heart to the flick.

In theory, I might complain that Hawks takes quite a while to move along the story. At 141 minutes, this is a long movie for a pretty basic plot, and it starts to drag at times.

Nonetheless, Hawks occupies our attention well enough so that the slow spots don’t linger. Bravo boasts good natural character development and it allows for the personalities to grow and change in a believable manner. The film also dollops out exposition in a realistic way and evolves naturally.

The first half suffers somewhat from a paucity of action, though Hawks makes sure it’s not just talk. We get a smattering of livelier scenes to maintain our attention before the long climactic battle sequence.

This factor allows the tension to grow ala something like High Noon. We know what’s coming, so the movie toys with us and makes us wait for it.

All of these factors turn Rio Bravo into a memorable western. An involving tale filled with interesting characters, it creates a good little action piece. The movie keeps us with it despite some slow spots and ends up as a winner.

Rio Bravo appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The film came with a pretty solid transfer.

Sharpness largely satisfied. A few soft spots appeared, and these seemed to stem from the source.

However, these were infrequent and not a problem. The majority of the film looked well-defined and concise.

The image came with no issues related to jagged edges or moiré effects, and I witnessed no edge haloes. A little noise reduction might’ve occurred, but grain remained a clear presence, and I saw no print flaws.

Though the Western setting dictated an amber/brown impression much of the time, the movie nonetheless boasted a nice array of additional hues. The 4K made these look full and rich, with added impact from the disc’s HDR.

Blacks felt dark and dense, while low-light shots appeared smooth and appropriate. HDR gave extra punch to whites and contrast. I felt pleased with this appealing image.

As for the DTS-HD MA monaural audio of Rio Bravo, it appeared fine for a 64-year-old flick. Speech could be a little thin, but the lines showed reasonable warmth and never suffered from any form of defects.

Music lacked great dimensionality as well, but the score showed acceptable clarity and definition. Effects came along the same lines, as they were clean and without distortion but they failed to present much range. This was a more than competent track for its age.

How does the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2015? Audio felt similar, though the 4K cleaned up the noise that slightly marred the Blu-ray.

Visuals demonstrated major improvements, as the 4K looked better defined, cleaner and more vivid than the Blu-ray. The BD brought mediocre picture so the 4K offered a nice step up in quality.

Only one extra appears here: an audio commentary from filmmaker John Carpenter and critic/film historian Richard Schickel. Both provide separate running, screen-specific tracks edited into one piece where they discuss cast and crew, story, characters and themes, sets and locations, music, and Hawks’ style as a director.

When we hear from Carpenter or Schickel, they offer some fine information. Schickel provides the majority of the material and he even presents some criticism of Bravo, a welcome choice given the preponderance of praise usually found in commentaries.

We find nice insights into Hawks’ preferences in terms of visuals and story, his self-plagiarism, and the impact of his dislike of High Noon on Bravo.

Too bad we encounter so much dead air during this commentary. This doesn’t turn into a problem during the movie’s first third or so, but after that, we find lots and lots of gaps.

Given the presence of two participants, this becomes a real drag. I think the track’s informative enough to overcome the flaws, but the problems make it less impressive than it could have been.

Note that although the Blu-ray included a documentary, two featurettes and a trailer. All go absent here, and oddly, Warner didn’t include a Blu-ray with the package.

Despite its length and casual pacing, Rio Bravo deserves its status as a classic flick. The movie involves us with its simple but powerful story, lively dialogue and interesting characters. The 4K UHD offers decent picture and audio along with a decent commentary. This becomes the best version of the movie on home video, but the absence of existing supplements disappoints.

To rate this film visit the original review of RIO BRAVO