Howard Hawks originally wanted Montgomery Clift for the role of Dude in RIO BRAVO ('59). When Dean Martin's agent pushed him to go for the part, he hired a private plane to fly him to a meeting with Hawks after performing all night in a Vegas club. Hawks was so impressed he signed him on the spot. | Turner Classic Movies: TCM

Rio Bravo is a 1959 American Western film directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond. Written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on the short story "Rio Bravo" by B. H. McCampbell, the film stars Wayne as a Texan sheriff who arrests the brother of a powerful local rancher for murder and then has to hold the man in jail until a U.S. Marshal can arrive. With the help of a cripple, a drunk and a y