Road to Rio $4.5 million in rental income in its initial release period in the United States and was placed sixth in the top-grossing films of 1947. The critics liked it, with "The New York Times" saying in its review of February 19, 1948, inter alia: "With Bing Crosby and Bob Hope on the tramp again in “Road to Rio,” recklessly scattering jokes and rescuing perennial girl friend Dorothy Lamour from dangerous hypnotic trances, there’s fun to be had at the Paramount. Maybe this is not the funniest picture ever made; maybe it is not even quite as rewarding as some of those
Buddy film who starred in "Half Shot at Sunrise" (1930). Bing Crosby and Bob Hope starred together in the 1940 Paramount Pictures film "Road to Singapore", which led to other 1940s buddy films that the "Los Angeles Times" described as "escapist wartime fantasies". Hope and Crosby starred together in a series of films that lasted to the 1960s. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a popular duo in the 1950s, and Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon were famous in the 1960s, starring in the hit 1969 film "The Odd Couple". A major departure from the more comic buddy films of the era