August 2011
Rio Bravo screened at LACMA

Rio Bravo was screened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Tuesday, August 2nd, as part of the museum’s summer series, “Celebrating Classic Cinema: Curator and Audience Favorites.” Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan believes the series comprises some of the greatest films ever made. More than 50 years have passed since the 1959 film impressed an earlier L.A. Times critic as a folksy Western. In the film’s opening title sequence Tiomkin’s name appears in the same size font as the credit for the producer and director, Howard Hawks. Those days are gone. And the opportunity to see classic studio-era 35mm and 70mm films projected on the big screen are also dwindling.

Fortunately, home theater enthusiasts can purchase Rio Bravo on high-definition discs issued by Warner Home Video. Days before the collection’s May 26, 2007 release, a Los Angeles Times article praised the film (“Rio Bravo deserves a hallelujah”) and quoted film critic Robin Wood: “If I were asked to choose a film that would justify the existence of Hollywood, I think it would be Rio Bravo.”

Dimitri Tiomkin’s music from Rio Bravo was performed live in concert by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester (Munich Radio Orchestra), conducted by Frank Strobel, on July 12, 2011.

Sources

  • Turan, Kenneth. “Let’s protect the classics, LACMA,” Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2011
  • Scheuer, Philip K. “‘Rio Bravo’ Scores as Folksy Western,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1959, accessed through ProQuest
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