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.

Angry and defiant ex-Confederate soldier Major James Lassiter (a splendidly gruff performance by Richard Boone) is forced to lead a small ragtag group into Mexico. While in Mexico Lassiter and company run across Colonel Theron Pardee (robustly essayed with fierce brio by Edmond O'Brien), a crazed megalomaniac Confederate soldier who's selling guns to a local tribe of Apaches. Director Gordon Douglas, working from a compact script by Joseph Landin and Clair Huffaker, relates the entertaining story at a swift pace, maintains a tough serious tone throughout, makes fine use of the dusty desolate dessert terrain, and stages the thrilling shoot-outs with rip-roaring aplomb. The sound acting from the excellent cast rates as a major plus: Stuart Whitman as the rugged Captain Haven, Jim Brown as the noble Sargeant Franklin, Wende Wagner as feisty Apache maiden Sally, and Rodolfo Acosta as bitter and formidable Native American chief Bloodshirt. However, Anthony Franciosa easily steals the whole show with his delightfully lively'n'lusty portrayal of vain, shifty, yet still oddly likable womanizing half-breed Juan Lois Rodriguez. The singular Timothy Carey has a neat and sizable uncredited role as hearty bartender Chico. A nice underlying theme concerning trust, loyalty, and betrayal gives the picture additional dramatic substance. Both Jerry Goldsmith's stirring full-bodied score and Joseph McDonald's sumptuous widescreen cinematography further enhance the sturdy quality of this enormously fun sagebrush opus.

For it's time, a remarkably grim and violent Hollywood western. It almost seems to sense the impending arrival of Leone and Peckinpah in it's blurring of the boundaries between good and evil and presenting the audience with conflicting characters beset by dubious motivations. In fact, it seems to bridge the gap in a transitional way between the old style of western and the newer, harsher, more explicit breed that was just around the corner.Richard Boone gives a powerhouse performance as an alcoholic ex-Confederate major on a personal mission to kill as many Apache as possible. The film opens with him clinically and precisely taking out an Indian burial party with a rifle. Sort of sets the tone. Boone ends up sidetracked into guiding Whitman's disgraced cavalry officer in pursuit of a rogue Confederate general supplying the Indians with rifles. It's an uneasy alliance played out in a doom-laden atmosphere of distrust and danger. There are some moments that still have the power to shock - Boone putting the ravaged white woman out of her misery at point blank range, the death of the rescued baby, etc.An overlooked classic, also featuring Jim Brown in his debut and Anthony Franciosa. Plenty of action and chewing of scenery, but it's really Boone's show all the way. He was a character actor par excellence and dominates every scene he appears in.

Rio Conchos is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Joseph Landon from the Clair Huffaker novel. It stars Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, Jim Brown, Tony Franciosa, Wende Wagner and Edmond O'Brien. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and Joseph MacDonald is the cinematographer. Out of 20th Century Fox it's a CinemaScope production filmed in De Luxe Color, and primary location used for filming was Moab, Utah.One ex-Confederate officer out for revenge against the Apache, one Army Captain driven by a sense of duty, one Buffalo Soldier continuing to prove himself and one Mexican convict getting a second shot at freedom. Four men, one journey, a mission to find who is arming the Apache with repeating rifles. Danger, mistrust and hostility are their only companions.The plot may be routine, and certainly it owes a debt to The Comancheros (Huffaker involved there too), but this is a tough and dark Western propelled by fine acting, quality direction and photography to die for. Structured around a men on a mission basis, each one with their own particular issues, it's very much a character driven piece. It's the time spent in the company of these men that makes the film so riveting, it never gets dull, the character dynamics are such, that we never quite know what to expect from the next part of the journey. Director Douglas also doesn't shy from action, pitting our odd group against Mexican Bandits and Apache Indians along the way, and then delivering a high octane finale that has a few twists and turns to keep it away from being formulaic.Whitman and Brown acquit themselves well enough, as does Wagner as the sole female of the piece. But acting wise this film belongs to Boone and Franciosa. The former portrays a bitter vengeful heart with ease, with a lived in alcoholic face, his destiny you feel is mapped out from the off. The latter shines as the ebullient character of the group, shifty, sly and as untrustworthy as it gets, Franciosa's play off of Boone gives the film its central pulse beat. But arguably all players are trumped by MacDonald's photography and Douglas' use of the scenery. From pretty much the first frame the landscape is the big character here. Douglas wisely using many long shots to reveal miles of vistas, then knowing when to pull in close to envelope the characters to give off the feeling of mental claustrophobia. Exterior work here belies the budget afforded the film, and all told it's a far better movie than the bigger produced Comancheros. Goldsmith's score is also a plus point, striking the mood from the get go, his arrangements flow at one with the hazardous destiny of the four men.One of the better 60's Westerns, it's in desperate need of a remastering job being done on it. 8/10