Who would you rather have as armed allies against a gang of bloodthirsty bad guys — Team Rio Bravo or the Assault on Precinct 13 guys?
Would you prefer Austin Stoker‘s “Lt. Ethan Bishop”, Darwin Joston‘s “Napoleon Wilson”, Laurie Zimmer‘s “Leigh” and Tony Burton‘s “Wells” as fellow defenders? Or John Wayne‘s “John Chance”, Dean Martin‘s “Dude” (a recovering alky with the shakes), Ricky Nelson‘s “Colorado” and Walter Brennan‘s “Stumpy”?
In my book there’s no comparison. Plus you don’t have to listen to any jail-house singalongs in the Carpenter film. As I said in a related thread, there’s no character in Rio Bravo who comes even close to Joston’s Wilson in terms of steely machismo and seething, hard-boiled currents.
