''Rio Conchos'' is a 1964 American

Cinemascope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring

Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early lif ...

Stuart Whitman Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...

Anthony Franciosa Anthony George Franciosa (né Papaleo; October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of t ...

Edmond O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (; September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor of stage, screen, and television, and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on th ...

, and in his motion picture debut,

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

, based on

Clair Huffaker Clair Huffaker (September 26, 1926 – April 3, 1990) was an American screenwriter and author of westerns and other fiction, many of which were turned into films. Biography Born in Magna, Utah, Huffaker wrote of his childhood in ''One Time ...

's novel "Guns of Rio Conchos" published in 1958. Huffaker's novel is reminiscent of the

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

films '' The Comancheros'' (for which Huffaker co-wrote the screenplay) and ''

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...

''. The main female role, played by

Wende Wagner Wende Wagner, also known as Wendy Wagner, (December 6, 1941February 26, 1997) was an American actress known for her roles in ''The Green Hornet'' and ''Rio Conchos''. Life and career Born to a U.S. Navy commander and swimming and diving coach ...

in a black wig, has no English dialogue. ''Rio Conchos'' was filmed in

Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitor ...

, though the

Conchos River The Río Conchos (Conchos River) is a large river in the Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It joins the Rio Grande, Río Bravo del Norte (known in the United States as the Rio Grande) at the town of Ojinaga, Chihuahua. Description T ...

and most of the action of the film takes place in Mexico.

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...

's complete soundtrack was given a limited release on CD in January 2000 by

Film Score Monthly ''Film Score Monthly'' is an online magazine (and former print magazine) founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 as ''The Soundtrack Correspondence List''. It is dedicated to the art of film and television sc ...

that featured a

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, website, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original proper ...

title song by

Johnny Desmond Johnny Desmond (born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone; November 14, 1919 – September 6, 1985) was an American singer who was popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early years Desmond was born Giovanni de Simone in Detroit, Michigan. ...

. On June 21, 2011,

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released the film on DVD as part of a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with '' Take a Hard Ride'' (1975).

Plot

An ex-Confederate States Army officer (

) named Jim Lassiter, who has been avenging himself on

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

Indians for their massacring of his family, recovers a stolen new-type

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

repeating rifle A repeating rifle is a single-barreled rifle capable of repeated discharges between each ammunition reload. This is typically achieved by having multiple cartridges stored in a magazine (within or attached to the rifle) and then fed individually ...

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 superior

firepower Firepower is the military capability to direct force at an enemy. It involves the whole range of potential weapons. The concept is generally taught as one of the three key principles of modern warfare wherein the enemy forces are destroyed or ...

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 (

), the Buffalo Soldier sergeant Franklyn (

), a knife-wielding Mexican prisoner Rodriguez (

Tony Franciosa Anthony George Franciosa (né Papaleo; October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of t ...

) who Lassiter has befriended, and later an Apache woman warrior, Sally (

). They take with them 50 barrels of gunpowder, for use as required. After battling their way through

bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

s and Apaches, they discover Colonel Pardee, an embittered former high-ranking Confederate army officer (

) 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.

Cast

Production

Parts of the film were shot at Professor Valley, Fisher Towers, Castle Valley,

Arches An arch is a curved vertical structure span (engineering), spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th mill ...

, and Dead Horse Point in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Billing

The posters used the same approach to billing as

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

had in 1948's ''

Key Largo Key Largo () is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by U.S. Highway ...

'', for which

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

had been listed first but Edward 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 being

Lauren Bacall Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), professionally known as Lauren Bacall ( ), was an American actress. She was named the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the America ...

's). In the case of ''Rio 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.

Reception

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.

Comic book

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. History Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...

published a film

comic book in 1964.

References

External links

* * * {{Gordon Douglas 1964 films 1964 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Apache Wars films Films based on Western (genre) novels Films based on American novels Rio Conchos Films set in Mexico Films shot in Utah Films directed by Gordon Douglas Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith 20th Century Fox films CinemaScope films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films English-language Western (genre) films