The 1959 film Rio Bravo, directed by Howard Hawks, was released during a period of great tension in the United States, with the fear of communism still looming, even in the post-war period It was from the red scare. The film, starring John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, reflects the popularity of American Westerns at the time the film was produced. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The film's plot centers on the arrest of Claude Atkins' character, Joe Burdette, whose men attempt to break him out of prison throughout the film, ultimately thwarted into a final surrender by the film's protagonists. As someone who had virtually no experience watching American Westerns before this film, this film made me appreciate it much more than before and made me see John Wayne's roles in a different light, as his character appeared more dynamic, not one-dimensional like me. I would have believed it without having seen this film. The film's use of camera angles was superb, and although some shots were limited, they were used very well and effectively to understand the plot of the film. John Wayne's character, John T. Chance, is introduced through the use of the film's first close-up, as he comes to the aid of Dean Martin's character, Dude, in the film's first scene. Dude is present in most of the close-ups that occur in the film, including a close-up where Dude is upset and hits his leg in anger, and another where Dude's face is shaved by Feathers, Angie Dickinson's . character. I think the most effective use of these close-ups came before Dude was attacked by Joe's men, showing a close-up of Dude's reflection in the water, almost anticipating the attack, but surprising the viewer. I was also particularly impressed with the film's use of dissolve transitions between different scenes, as a means of not only changing settings, but also speeding up physical time in the film's plot. There are some technical aspects of Rio Bravo that intrigue me, as not all methods can be easily explained by looking at them from the perspective of a different era. Notably, there was a scene in the film where Joe Burdette jokes and taunts Dude from his prison cell, in which Dude responds by throwing a full beer bottle at the cell, which breaks on impact. Of course in today's films, computer generated imagery could easily make this possible, but since such imagery did not exist at the time of this film's productions, I am genuinely curious as to how this was achieved? I would be inclined to believe that the bottle was a prop, but the effect was very realistic for a movie released in 1959. In a later scene, Dude and Ricky Nelson's character, Colorado, sings "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me". which I assume was pre-recorded in a studio and not performed live during the film's production, but I'm still curious if my belief is actually true in this film. In relation to the present day, I was impressed that this film was seemingly able to pull off a breakout performance with a cast that I would perceive as "star-studded" for the time period, an achievement that various modern films attempt to achieve, packaging a film with a cast of actors who are typically individually accomplished, but are seemingly incompatible together, resulting in a film with poor box office success. For example, if there had been another director instead of Howard Hawks, or another actor instead of John Wayne, I wonder if this_1.