Enough with that “bolt the doors and look after each other while we prepare to shoot it out with the bad guys” stuff…we need to take a break and deliver a nice little musical interlude for the folks. You know, like those 1940s Abbott & Costello comedies would do when they’d stop the narrative in its tracks so the Andrew Sisters could sing a tune. Same concept.
The melody of the first tune is one of the dominant themes heard in Howard Hawks‘ Red River, which he directed some 12 or 13 years before Rio Bravo. More often than not you’ll find a lot of sentimentality under the hides of supposed tough guys, especially when they get older.
