Ricky Nelson..what do you think?

Director Howard Hawks was aware that Ricky Nelson was a somewhat wooden, callow actor, but Hawks said "Ricky Nelson added two million to the gross" -- back when hit movies made 5 to 10 million. Reason: Nelson was a teenage singing idol at the time.

Nelson's casting gave "Rio Bravo" one male star for each generation of fans: Walter Brennan, John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson.

I think the key to Ricky's coming out of the film OK is that the other characters treat him with respect on screen. Wayne acts like he respects young Nelson's skill with a gun, and his sense of honor and professionalism. So we believe it, too.

Why would anyone be afraid to be afraid to be a fan of John Wayne? He is without a doubt one of the top five greatest actors ever.
Political Correctness aside (which has already long past it lifespan), in 15- 25- 30 years but you will see John Wayne movies having a resurgance like you would not believe.
Just compare him to todays weenies, who can't even act let alone act like a real person (or man).

I haven't seen this movie in 40 years and still remember how bad Ricky Nelson was as an actor. Nelson was however very popular as a singer, so obviously I don't know everything.

I have this theory that Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver" taught Nelson how to act.
Now that is scarey!

John Wayne's Batjac company usually participated in the production and insisted on enlisting young hearthrobs into the cast to seduce the younger crowd to buy tickets. It was nothing more than a cheap ruse....Fabian in "North to Alaska", Frankie Avalon in "The Alamo", Nelson in "Rio Bravo", and others. It was all an experiment in mediocrity and cheapened the movie artistically.

Chaco's post nailed the issue perfectly. Every single western that Wayne starred in from the Searchers to The Shootist used the same formula of putting a young good-looking kid- not necessarily a singer- in the cast as a ruse to get young bums on seats. But being fair to Ricky Nelson were any of them any good? Take a look at the list:

The Searchers- Jeffrey Hunter-reasonable actor turned out a number of fine performances.
Rio Bravo- Ricky Nelson- made very few films after this one.
The Alamo- Frankie Avalon- well he did make a fleeting appearance in Grease.
North to Alaska- Fabian- as Ricky Nelson.
McLintock- Patrick Wayne- well he tried but never really made it.
Sons of Katie Elder- Michael Anderson Jr- destined for the small screen.
El Dorado- James Caan- Score 1.
The War Wagon- Robert Walker Jr- never heard of much again.
True Grit- Glen Campbell- swiftly went back to singing Wichita Lineman and other country ditties
The Undefeated- Roman Gabriel- Good quarterback- but actor?? on reflection he gave a fair portrayal of a wooden Indian!
Chisum- Geoffrey Deuel- tried to fill his brothers boots on TV-failed.
Rio Lobo- Chris Mitchum- some minor success as a character actor.
Big Jake- Bobby Vinton- Bobby went back to his singing.
The Cowboys- Bob Carradine- made a couple of so-so films downstream then almost obscurity.
The Train-Robbers- Bobby Vinton- Duke gives him his second chance but then proves beyond all reasonable doubt he really should stick with the vocals.
Cahill US Marshall- Gary Grimes- some very reasonable roles downstream.
Rooster Cogburn- Richard Romantico- Who?
The Shootist- Ron Howard- Good looking heart-throb??? Well there was Happy Days and he did turn out a pretty good director!

So this cavalcade of Wayne's "young teen heart-throbs come actors" is hardly a successful list and puts it into perspective when discussing Rick's performance in Rio Bravo. Nevertheless it seemed to work for Duke and his westerns and he rarely drifted from this apparently winning formula but did he really need to continually turn out movies with the same theme, surely his star quality alone would have guaranteed bonanza box-office.(another subject worth discussing on it's own)
The answer I believe was that he was just imitating his coach John Ford who also tended to inject youth into his westerns and in particular during the late 40's early 50's when he used John Agar (Who???) in a number of his westerns. Agar was indeed a bobby-soxers pin-up after he married Shirley Temple which kick-started his film career and Ford used his popularity to get those young females into the theatres to watch what were basically "guy- movies". He also said to Wayne during the filming of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon- which co-starred a young good looking Agar- "Duke even though you are playing an older man in this movie you are fast approaching the age when it wouldn't look right on screen for you to keep winning the hand of the young woman".
Ouch! but as Duke got older I think he remembered that.

On the collector's DVD of Rio Bravo - they talk about how Howard Hawks took Nelson aside and showed him how he wanted him to act - such as: the scratching of the face, the slow talking, rubbing the nose, etc..

I think if you look at Nelson's acting he's no different than most young actors at the time. He's kind of got the James Dean thing going on with the muttering and looking at the ground. He added a sense of pop-cool to the movie. But that being said - he doesn't know how to hold a rifle.