Rio Lobo is a 1970 American Western film directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, from a screenplay by Burton Wohl and Leigh Brackett.

It was the third Howard Hawks film to explore the theme of a town sheriff defending his office against belligerent local outlaws; the others were Rio Bravo (1959) and El Dorado (1966), both also starring John Wayne.

During the American Civil War, a secret Union army payroll train is raided by Confederates, led by Captain Pierre Cordona and Sergeant Tuscarora Phillips.

When McNally arrives in Blackthorne, he meets a young woman, Shasta Delaney, who has come to report the murder of her employer by a deputy of Rio Lobo's sheriff, "Blue Tom" Hendricks.

He tells McNally that Tuscarora needs help; his father and other ranchers are having land stolen by a rich man named Ketcham, who had the previous sheriff killed and installed Hendricks in his place.

[8] Roger Ebert, who gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, wrote, "Rio Lobo is just a shade tired, especially after the finely honed humor and action of El Dorado.

The consensus is that "Howard Hawks and John Wayne reunite to riff on their own Rio Bravo, and while the results are less memorable the movie does offer a curiously cynical perspective.

"[11] In a retrospective review, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote, "The fact that its best action sequence, the first, was directed by the second unit is emblematic of Hawks's relative lack of engagement with the material.

"[12] TV Guide wrote, "for such a refined director as Hawks to end his career on a note like this, having made some of the finest films in the history of American cinema, is an atrocity not worth the silver used in the negative.

"[13] Writing for Time Out, Geoff Andrew said, "If it lacks the formal perfection of Rio Bravo and the moving elegy for men grown old of El Dorado, it's still a marvellous film".

[14] Empire writer Ian Nathan wrote in January 2000, "this well-bred Western is just a routine canter through themes and gunfights as worn as the saddles.

"[15] Quentin Tarantino cited Rio Lobo as one of the reasons he wanted to have a short directing career: "the most cutting-edge artist, the coolest guys, the hippest dudes, they’re the ones that stay at the party too long.