Rio Grande (1950)

Set in the 1879 Texas frontier, a Lieutenant Colonel (John Wayne) in the U.S. Cavalry is shocked to see his estranged son (Claude Jarman Jr.) among the new recruits. He is shortly followed by his mother (Maureen O'Hara), the estranged wife of the Lt. Colonel who wants her son out of the Cavalry. Based on a magazine story MISSION WITH NO RECORD by James Warner Bellah and directed by John Ford (THE INFORMER). The third entry of John Ford's beloved Cavalry trilogy following FORT APACHE (1948) and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949) and the least interesting of the bunch. Though there's the usual Cavalry vs. the Indians narrative, the focus of the film is the relationship between Wayne and O'Hara and their contention over the future of their son. I'm not a big admirer of Ford's cavalry trilogy but this movie lacks the tension of Wayne's Captain and Henry Fonda's Lt. Colonel which was at the core of FORT APACHE and the stunning Technicolor visuals of SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. Unfortunately, Ford retains the overdone Irish ham of Victor McLaglen whose mugging is every bit as shameful here as it was in the first two movies. With Ben Johnson, J. Carrol Naish, Chill Wills and Harry Carey Jr.