Known as the Rio Grande in the United States and as the RÃo Bravo (or, more formally, the RÃo Bravo del Norte) in Mexico, the river, 1,885 mi (3,034 km) long, is the third longest river system in the United States.
Rio Grande is a 1950 film and the third installment of John Ford's "cavalry trilogy", following Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). John Wayne stars in all three films, as Captain Kirby Yorke (York) in Fort Apache, then as Capt. of Cavalry Nathan Cutting Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and finally as a promoted Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke (York) in Rio Grande.