| Rio Conchos | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Gordon Douglas |
| Written by | Joseph Landon Clair Huffaker (novel) |
| Produced by | David Weisbart |
| Starring | Richard Boone Stuart Whitman Tony Franciosa Edmond O'Brien Jim Brown |
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Edited by | Joseph Silver |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,500,000 (US/ Canada)[1] |
Rio Conchos is a 1964 AmericanCinemascopeWestern film directed byGordon Douglas and starringRichard Boone,Stuart Whitman,Anthony Franciosa,Edmond O'Brien, and in his motion picture debut,Jim Brown, based onClair Huffaker's novel "Guns of Rio Conchos" published in 1958.
Huffaker's novel is reminiscent of theJohn Wayne filmsThe Comancheros (for which Huffaker co-wrote the screenplay) andThe Searchers. The main female role, played byWende Wagner in a black wig, has no English dialogue.Rio Conchos was filmed inMoab, Utah, though theConchos River and most of the action of the film takes place in Mexico.
Jerry Goldsmith's complete soundtrack was given a limited release on CD in January 2000 byFilm Score Monthly that featured atie-in title song byJohnny Desmond.[2]
On June 21, 2011,Shout! Factory released the film on DVD as part of adouble feature withTake a Hard Ride (1975).[3]
An ex-Confederate States Army officer (Richard Boone) named Jim Lassiter, who has been avenging himself onApache Indians for their massacring of his family, recovers a stolen new-typeU.S. Armyrepeating rifle from some Apaches he has killed.
The U.S. Army arrests Lassiter for possession of the stolen gun. The army is concerned should the Apaches become equipped with the new superiorfirepower rifles, so offers Lassiter his freedom if he will lead a small scouting unit into Mexico to discover what became of the other stolen rifles, and if necessary destroy them. The unit consists of army captain Haven (Stuart Whitman), theBuffalo Soldier sergeant Franklyn (Jim Brown), a knife-wielding Mexican prisoner Rodriguez (Tony Franciosa) who Lassiter has befriended, and later an Apache woman warrior, Sally (Wende Wagner). They take with them 50 barrels of gunpowder, for use as required.
After battling their way throughbandits and Apaches, they discover Colonel Pardee, an embittered former high-ranking Confederate army officer (Edmond O'Brien) who has set up a stronghold camp and wants to revive the war against the Union Army. Pardee's plan is to sell arms and ammunition to the Apaches and have them do the fighting. He has sold guns to those Apaches who slaughtered Lassiter's family.
The unit infiltrates Pardee's camp, claiming to be motivated by the money from the sale of the gunpowder to Pardee. The ruse is exposed when the Apache leader recognizes Lassiter as the man who kills Apaches whenever possible, and realizes Lassiter would not be doing anything that puts weapons in Apache hands. The men from the unit are assaulted and tied up, and told to expect much worse. Sally saves Lassiter's life and secretly releases him, and his hatred softens. He and Franklyn sacrifice themselves, holding off Pardee and his men long enough to enable Sally and Haven to get away, having succeeded in blowing up the gunpowder and in so doing destroying the new rifles and much of Pardee's camp.
| Actor | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Boone | Major James 'Jim' Lassiter | |
| Stuart Whitman | Captain Haven | |
| Tony Franciosa | Juan Luis Rodriguez aka Juan Luis Martinez | |
| Edmond O'Brien | Colonel Theron 'Gray Fox' Pardee | |
| Jim Brown | Sergeant Franklyn | |
| Wende Wagner | Sally (Apache girl) | |
| Warner Anderson | Colonel Wagner | |
| Rodolfo Acosta | Bloodshirt (Apache chief) | |
| Barry Kelley | Croupier at Presidio | |
| Vito Scotti | Bandit chief | |
| House Peters, Jr. | Major Johnson | |
| Kevin Hagen | Major Johnson, aka "Blondebeard" | |
| Robert Adler | Pardee Soldier | Uncredited |
| Timothy Carey | Chico (cantina owner) | |
| Abel Fernandez | Mexican Guard | |
| Mickey Simpson | Bartender who refuses to serve Franklyn |
Parts of the film were shot at Professor Valley,Fisher Towers,Castle Valley,Arches, andDead Horse Point inUtah.[4]
The posters used the same approach to billing asWarner Bros. had in 1948'sKey Largo, for whichHumphrey Bogart had been listed first butEdward G. Robinson was placed in the middle of the three above-the-title leads with his name elevated higher than the other two (the third name beingLauren Bacall's). In the case ofRio Conchos, Whitman was billed as Bogart had been, with Boone in Robinson's middle slot and Franciosa in Bacall's spot, with his name listed third going left to right and at the same height as Whitman's. Boone, however, was billed before Whitman during the beginning onscreen credits, with each name appearing onscreen one at a time.
According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $5,300,000 in film rentals to break even, but it made only $4,610,000.[5]
Gold Key Comics published a filmtie-in comic book in 1964.