Rio Grande (Oliver Signature Collection) 05/21 Blu-ray (Rental)

Rio Grande, the third and final installment in John Ford’s loosely-conceived Cavalry Trilogy (preceded by Fort Apache and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon) stars John Wayne as Lt. Col. John Kirby Yorke (the role he inhabited in Fort Apache) alongside Maureen O’Hara (in the first of five films she’d co-star in alongside Wayne) as his estranged wife, Kathleen, a woman set on keeping their son, Jefferson (Claude Jarman Jr., The Yearling), now under Yorke’s command, out of harm’s way. Filmed throughout Moab, Utah and the majestic Professor Valley – photographed in exquisite gradations of black and white by Stagecoach cinematographer Bert Glennon – Rio Grande offers nuanced observations on love, family, and honor, while firmly adhering to the western genre, showing Ford at his most measured and mature as a storyteller. Written by James Kevin McGuinness (Men of Boys Town) based on the Saturday Evening Post story by James Warner Bellah, Rio Grande features J. Carrol Naish and a supporting cast of familiar faces, many of them from the Ford stock company of actors including Harry Carey, Jr., Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, Chill Wills, and Grant Withers." "OLIVE SIGNATURE FEATURES - New High-Definition digital restoration - Audio commentary by Nancy Schoenberger - ""Telling Real Histories"" – Raoul Trujillo on representations of Indigenous Americans in film - ""Songs of the Rio Grande"" – Marc Wanamaker on the Sons of the Pioneers - ""Strength and Courage"" – Patrick Wayne on his father - ""Bigger Than Life"" – with Claude Jarman, Jr. - Visual essay by Tag Gallagher - ""The Making of Rio Grande"" – with Leonard Maltin - Essay by Paul Andrew Hutton - Theatrical trailer RIO GRANDE (OLIVE SIGNATURE)