Trivia
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-Final film of Howard Hawks.
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-Howard Hawks later said, "I didn't think it was any good." He also blamed the film's poor critical and commercial performance on John Wayne, saying that at 63 the star was now too old to carry a movie.
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-When John Wayne visits Bill Williams in the sheriff's office, there is a wanted poster on the wall for Hondo Lane, the character Wayne played in Hondo, l'homme du désert.
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-John Wayne was in poor health during filming, and had great difficulty getting on and off his horse.
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-Jack Elam, playing the "Old Man", was more than a decade younger than John Wayne.
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-During a break in filming John Wayne collected his Best Actor Oscar for 100 dollars pour un shérif from Barbra Streisand at The 42nd Annual Academy Awards. When he returned, every member of the cast was wearing an eye patch - including his horse!
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-Film debut of Peter Jason.
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-Writer and reporter George Plimpton was cast in a minor role in this film (4th Gunman) while collecting research on the film industry. In a TV documentary shown during this time he commented that John Wayne kept calling him "Pimpleton" as a joke.
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-The actress who portrays Amelita is Sherry Lansing, who was the first woman to head a major Hollywood studio when she became president of 20th Century Fox in 1980. In 1992 she became the chairman of Paramount Pictures, stepping down as CEO in 2004.

Not quite as bad as people make out

Author: latic from United Kingdom
10 January 2010
After an excellent start with the train ambush, the movie loses steam and never really picks up, an unhappy way for a great director like Hawks to bow out. But I did not get too bored and was happy enough to stick it out to the end, even though the writing is too flat and derivative with echos of half a dozen better movies. Rivero lacks the charisma that could have helped to save things but I do not think O'Neill is as bad as some reviewers claim – not expressive enough with her dialogue at this stage but I think you can see the spark that gave her a respectable career in movies. But, as usual, Wayne saves the day. Even in a disappointing movie like this, that enormous screen presence reminds you just what a great star he was.

Much maligned, better than you're told

Author: (maxbrand) from NY, NY
20 June 2004
OK, put down the film criticism texts and just watch this fun movie for what it is. Feels like a TV movie, but several cuts above one. The opening train robbery sequence is pretty damn breathtaking for a "bad" movie. Bet some action directors have studied that one. "Lobo" is collection of a lot of good Hawks-ian moments recycled, sort of like a retrospective of his bag of tricks ie. "Yer necks broken," etc. The Duke aging, beat up, but still The Duke. Sherry Lansing pretty hot looking in her one role. Jack Elam the scene stealer. Too bad they didn't have the money to cast the other parts better--Mitchum or Martin would have helped a lot. Duke looks a little lonely.

Plot sorta strung together, but Hawks was concentrating more on characters in his Bravo/Dorado/Lobo "trilogy." "Smart" dialog, while not up to 30s & 40s banter, still has clever moments by today's standards. Clever rifle bit at the end shows old timers' practical knowledge of things, like weapons. If you like old westerns, you'll like this one. Not among his greatest, but low end Hawks is better than no Hawks. I've seen much thinner stuff win awards.

Howard Hawks loved this movie

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
2 August 2004
This has to be unique in the history of Hollywood. Leading director and screen legend Howard Hawks loved this film so much that they made three variations of the same movie. By the time Rio Lobo was made, the theme was getting a bit thin, but it's still grand entertainment.

The first part of the film is set during the Civil War with John Wayne pursuing Confederates who are stealing army payrolls. He does catch up with them and the Civil War ends. He befriends his erstwhile enemies and asks for their help in locating the informer who was giving them information.That all sets the scene for the third variant of Rio Bravo/El Dorado theme. Playing the old codger part is Jack Elam who by now had quit being a screen menace and was doing comedy and doing it well. The two younger sidekicks are the former Confederate enemies, Jorge Rivero and Chris Mitchum.

Rio Lobo had the presence of two stars of the Mexican cinema, Jorge Rivero and Susana Dosamantes. Dosamantes played Mitchum's girlfriend and Jennifer O'Neill played the Angie Dickinson part although Wayne was now deciding he was too old for the romance. She pairs off with Rivero.In a small bit part is Sherry Lansing who left acting soon after Rio Lobo and really hit the big time, going into the production end of the movie business and becoming head of first 20th Century Fox and later CEO of Paramount.

The two principal villains are Victor French who played the neighbor on Little House On The Prarie and Mike Henry who was one of several screen Tarzans.It's a good John Wayne western and that takes in a whole lot of territory pilgrim.