PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

LeonLouisRicci A Big Production Design Highlights this Mid-Sixties Western. The Cinematography, Score, and overall Look of the Movie is Stunning when Viewed Today in HD. The Colors Vibrate, the Landscape is Picture Post Card Beautiful, and the Sets in the Third-Act conclusion are nothing less than Surreal.The Cast, is Headlined by a Grizzly, Disheveled, Drunk, and Angry Richard Boone, straight from his Popular and long running "Have Gun, Will Travel" TV Show, with support from Tony Franciosa, Stuart Whitman, and Debuting Football Star Jim Brown.All do Adequate Work with Boone Chewing the Scenery often as He Overshadows Everyone. That is until the Climax when He Spars with Edmond O'Brien for Over Acting Honors. It is that aforementioned Third Act that is the Film's Highlight and is worth the price of admission.Although there are a few Action Scenes that lead up to the Violent and Explosive Conclusion that keep things Humming. It has its share of leftover Hollywood Stereotypes, but also shows Signs of the Transitional Western with some Brutality and a Touch of Sensitivity.Overall, it is riding the Gap between the Old and the New western (post Boetticher/Mann and pre Leone/Peckinpah) and is helped by the Stalwart Professionalism.

dougdoepke Two ex-Confederates are recruited from a Yankee prison to help prevent a load of repeating rifles from aiding an Apache uprising.On the whole, the screenplay is too complex with too many side diversions to deliver a suspenseful result. Nonetheless, there's another generic kind of problem that detracts heavily. Large-scale westerns like this are always a problem for actors. That's especially the case for the leads. The problem is how not to be over-shadowed by the scale of action in order to maintain star status. Most noticeable here is over-acting among several of the principals: Franciosa as a leering Frito Bandido, Boone as an overly smug revenge seeker, and O'Brien as an unhinged Confederate General. All go into unfortunate overdrive to compete with the explosive action. On the other hand, Whitman is barely noticeable amid the heavy competition (he was soon relegated to TV), while the unfortunate Wagner (Indian girl) could double as a cigar store manikin. Too bad the screenplay didn't take a page from The Magnificent Seven (1960), which it resembles in several respects. There, characterizations and performances are well integrated into the action, without a damaging competition.But then, acting is not what usually draws fans to action movies. And here, there's plenty of gunpowder, from skirmishes, to showdowns, to big pyrotechnics. Otherwise, despite the hoopla of an A-western, the 100-minutes is pretty forgettable.

Fred Schaefer I first saw RIO CONCHOS way, way back in the day when CBS used to run movies on Thursday and Friday nights in prime time, long before cable and the VCR. I must have seen it multiple times in my early teens, because when I recently saw it again for the first time in decades, it all came back and I could almost recite the dialog right along with the characters.Made back in 1964, when cinemas-cope westerns like this were still commercially viable, RIO CONCHOS was the perfect movie to capture my young imagination, for it had undeniably tough guys on a dangerous mission where some, if not all of them, were certainly going to lose their lives. There was plenty of suspense and violent confrontations every ten minutes or so, all leading up to a truly explosive climax.Directed by old pro Gordon Douglas and with a great score by Jerry Goldsmith, RIO CONCHOS is about four men who must track down a shipment of stolen rifles before they end up in the hands of the Apaches; many have said this plot is similar to THE COMANCHEROS, made a few years earlier, and while that is certainly true, stories centered around keeping rifles out of the hands of Indians was a staple on just about every TV western at that time. What makes RIO CONCHOS so memorable are the protagonists and the actors playing them, starting with the unforgettable Richard Boone, who portrays Dan Lassiter, an ex-Confederate officer with an intense hatred for the Apaches who massacred his wife and children. This was one of Boone's few leading roles in a big budget movie and it fits him like a glove; with his gravelly voice and hard features, he barely had to act at all to convince us he is a man driven by hate and obsessed with revenge and willing to go through anyone to get it. But Boone is in good company, for RIO CONCHOS marked the film debut of Jim Brown, late of the Cleveland Browns, who while no great actor, always cut quite an intimidating presence on film. Brown plays a Sergeant in the Union Army along on the trek south in Texas to find the rifles with his commanding officer, Stuart Whitman, the man responsible for the theft in the first place and determined to restore his honor. Whitman was a dependable leading man in a lot of 60's films, but he is clearly overshadowed here. Anthony Franciosa rounds out the quartet as Rodriguiez, condemned to hang, but brought on the mission by Lassiter; a charming but devious character whose loyalty is always questionable. The interaction between these men is the heart of the movie, as the viewer is always wondering who will the first one to betray the others before they reach their goal.That goal is reached when they find the rifles in the hands of Theron Pardee, a Confederate General determined to restart the Civil War in Texas by using the well armed Apaches to decimate the Union forces for him. Before the action filled finale, we are treated to a tense shoot out in a saloon, a desperate battle with the Apaches at a remote ranch, an ambush by a gang of bandits, and a brutal torture scene where the heroes are dragged behind horses by the screaming Apaches. No wonder I loved this as a kid.Seeing RIO CONCHOS now, it is obvious that a lot of the acting is unnecessarily broad, especially Franciosa's wily Latin portrayal. The Indians are the usual rampaging savages and the Mexican outlaws are the stereotyped Frito Banditos. The supporting cast has some notable over actors in it, starting with Edmond O'Brien as Pardee, but that was his stock in trade, which was on ample display in two other classic 60's westerns, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE and THE WILD BUNCH. Vito Scotti, a familiar face from television is one of the bandits. Mexican actor Rodolfo Acosta is Lassiter's Apache nemesis, Bloodyshirt; Acosta was in HONDO and cornered the market on playing Indian Chiefs on TV horse operas, but he and Boone have a terrific confrontation in Pardee's memorable mansion without walls or a roof by the river. And that is the great Timothy Carey in an uncredited part as a bartender; Carey was a notorious scenery chewer, but he is so restrained here as to be unrecognizable. Wende Wagner is a strong presence as a captured Apache woman, a remarkable thing since her character does not speak a word of English.Boone, the veteran of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, went on to play the villain in another great western, HOMBRE, and took on John Wayne in BIG JAKE and THE SHOOTIST; Franciosa would do most of his future acting on television, while Whitman would be little heard from after the '70's. Sadly, except for Jim Brown, all of them and RIO CONCHOS have been forgotten now, but they and the movie made quite an impression back in the day on a lot of impressionable kids like myself. But it's still out there, on cable, DVD and Neflix, begging to be rediscovered by a new generation.

JohnHowardReid Although co-scripted by Clair Huffaker — The Second Time Around, Flaming Star, The Comancheros, The War Wagon — and Joseph Landon — Von Ryan's Express, Finian's Rainbow — this is little more than just another western. I remember seeing it, coupled with an equally far from lively first-half feature, at a cavernous suburban theatre on first release. Few hardy souls had ventured into the theatre to begin with. By the time Rio Conchos ground to an end, there were fewer still. Not an uninteresting yarn, so far as routine westerns go, but rather flatly directed by Gordon Douglas and somewhat poorly played. Stuart Whitman, who lent admirable support to John Wayne in The Comancheros, is hardly a charismatic or heroic type, despite his earnest efforts to overcome these personality defects. Franciosa, as usual, tends to overact, despite being obviously miscast — which compounds his error. Edmond O'Brien's performance (in a small but important role) is the film's most impressive. I don't recall Wende Wagner at all. In fact I'd have bet good money that this was her only film. I'm surprised to discover that she actually made a few more. Joe MacDonald's CinemaScope photography along with Jerry Goldsmith's music score are this modestly produced (at least by comparable "A" standards) film's main assets.