Rio Bravo

While Rio Bravo is visually and structurally fitting to the cliché western genre, which is hard to avoid when you involve any cowboy character, the roles and typical positions for the characters in Rio Bravo are unlike most similar westerns. Commonly the hero/lawman is on a one-man hunt for the villain against the whole world, and somehow succeeds against all odds, but not for our hero John Wayne. With his trusty six shooter at his side and a heart of gold, he has to bunker down with two half-witted and half-equipped but trusty deputies and keep the world together. This is a physical manifestation on the hero's attempts to maintain order; the bad guys keep attacking and pressuring the structure of western society and attempting to cause chaos , while our hero must do what he can to keep the peace and hold the framework of society together. While the good guy is usually the one on the hunt chasing the bad guys, the theme of the good guy having to hold strong [sometimes holding out in one location] is apparent in other westerns such as appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. With the good vs evil conventional western theme present, there are numerous other themes Rio Bravo contains. The damsel in distress card is covered, in an odd sort of romance. And as if we haven’t seen the same open baren western plain in every other cowboy flick. As in all other westerns, even against all odds, our hero still stays true to his laws and morals and always prevails.