Rio Lobo

Set during and just after the American Civil War, Rio Lobo follows Union Colonel Cord McNally, who is escorting a gold shipment when Confederate raiders under Captain Pierre Cordona attack the train and make off with the gold. McNally is captured, turns the tables on his captors, and takes Cordona prisoner, but not before the raid has cost him a young officer he regarded almost as a son. The gold transport, it emerges, was betrayed from within, and McNally is determined to find whoever passed word to the raiders. The two men part as enemies, then meet again after the war, when McNally enlists Cordona's help in tracking down the informants. Their search leads them to Rio Lobo, a town held under the thumb of a corrupt sheriff, where a young woman, Shasta Delaney, has also come seeking justice.

The film was directed by Howard Hawks, his nineteenth of nineteen films and his last behind the camera, following El Dorado in 1966. John Wayne stars as McNally, with Jorge Rivero as Cordona, Jennifer O'Neill as Shasta, and Jack Elam and Christopher Mitchum among the supporting players. Leigh Brackett and Burton Wohl wrote the screenplay, and Hawks produced with Paul Helmick.

Released in April 1970, the western runs 116 minutes. On IMDb it holds a 6.7 rating from about 15,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from roughly 300 votes, and a critics' score of 6.6 from 23 reviews places it slightly above the audience averages.