Red River

I read quite a few references to the ending and how it should have been an "unhappy " one. The screenwriter, Borden Chase, was also very unhappy with it. The original ending was The Duke's death. Hawks changed the ending and Chase never spoke to him again. Mr. Chase was married in 1920 to my Grandmother, Lillian Doran. But, that is another story!

Dimitri Tiomkin's thunderous score sets the tone for this rousing story of cowboy ranchers in nineteenth century Texas headed north, with a thunderous herd of cattle in tow. It's the archetypal story of the American West, with its strong, ethical male leader, Thomas Dunson (John Wayne), and his pursuit of a big dream, set in an era when men were men, times were tough, hardships were inevitable, guns ruled, and Native Americans were the bad guys. What a saga ...

What makes "Red River" such a grand adventure is its high quality. Its story is simple, direct, exciting, and well told, with complex characters, interesting and sympathetic because they show weakness as well as strength. Dunson is a good man, but he's stubborn and headstrong. His semi-adopted son, Matt (Montgomery Clift), is good with a gun but a little softhearted. Dunson's chief sidekick is Groot (Walter Brennan), a cantankerous old buzzard who has problems with his teeth.

It's the relationship between these three men that is the heart and soul of "Red River". Trouble ensues along the way, you can be sure. And how that trouble unfolds and plays out presents viewers with engaging human drama, and humor, centered on these three main characters. The lonesome High Plains, with all its inherent risks, adds grandeur to the epic story.

At strategic points in the film, the page of a book appears on screen with text that briefly summarizes upcoming events. It's like we, the viewers, are reading a book about some long ago trailblazers. It's a technique that could have been intrusive. But here, it is handled with such finesse that it actually helps the narrative, by functioning as a transition from one sequence to the next.

The acting is fine. John Wayne is more than convincing as Dunson. Walter Brennan is characteristically funny. And Montgomery Clift is terrific. Had he maintained his looks, and if real-life circumstances not intervened, Monty could have been one of the truly top actors through at least the 50s and 60s.

If the film has a weakness, it might be the cinematography. Not often, but at times, the actors appear to be standing in front of a canvas, an effect that renders a shallow depth of field. Maybe this was the result of technical limitations of photography at the time the film was made.

There are few film westerns that can compare in quality with "Red River". And I don't know of any other cinematic cattle drives that are this good. So, the next time you herd your cattle to market, this is the film to watch. Even if you have no cattle, "Red River" is still a wonderfully entertaining cinematic experience.

Red River (1948)

A Western with a huge cattle drive at its core. John Wayne plays the head rancher, and among his workers and upstarts are a son-like youngster (Montgomery Clift) and a old-timer best friend (Walter Brennan). There are rivalries, Indians, opposing ranchers, and a woman or two who each intrude or help out Wayne in various ways.

A Howard Hawks Western is about as close as you can get to a John Ford Western. Ford is the one who re-discovered a languishing John Wayne in 1939, and Hawks was a parallel director, about the same age, specializing in male-dominated adventure dramas. But Hawks also directed some amazing other kinds of films, including a few classic screwball comedies, the terrific "Only Angels Have Wings," and some film noirs including his film before this one, "The Big Sleep."

So I expected something really special here and in fact this is well done all around. But it falls into so many of the already established stereotypes of the genre, I was surprised and had to keep my disappointment in check. Wayne is terrific as the kind of John Wayne you'd expect, and Brennan is the earthy, witty, likable type he always plays. It is probably Montgomery Clift who shines best, here in his first year in Hollywood, just before "The Heiress" and a string of other great films. This is apparently his first major acting role, as the film was shot in 1946, though another movie, "The Search" (which is very good), was released first.

It's interesting to see co-directing status for Arthur Rosson (the photographer's brother), partly because Hawks would not seem to need a second hand. But then that points to some of the really complex scenes here--mostly shot on location and with easily hundreds if not a thousand or more actual cattle. You realize as you watch this long trek through the low dry hills that the actors on horses are having to really move the cattle through this country for the filming. I'm sure they have help, and all those extras must have been good hired hands. It's still pretty neat to watch that aspect, going for example through a wide river.

In a way you can get fully invested in the movie based on the action and the acting and the characters. Directly. They are strong, believable, and their lines are well written. It's the plot that will seem to fall into familiarity too often for many of you.

Red River(1948) is a film that gets better with age. This was the first of five Howard Hawks/John Wayne features. Red River(1948) was Howard Hawks third straight gem right after To Have & Have Not(1944) and The Big Sleep(1946). John Wayne had come a long way from his low budget Lone Star film days.

The film is considered a Western take on The Mutiny on the Bounty. The relationship between Tom Dunson and Matt Garth is deeply complex. Although they're prepared to kill each other, deep down they still respect for one another. This relationship is based on control, idealism, respect, and trust.

It takes a fascinating look at the cattle drive during the Wild West. The film shows the responsbility that went with driving cattle across country and the different road blocks that many riders were faced with. Red River(1948) shows that the cattle drives were a cowboy's main source of work. City Slickers(1991) would do a wonderful homage to this Howard Hawks classic.

Tom Dunson, Ringo Kid, and Ethan Edwards to name a few are some of the best characters played by the duke. He exhibits here that he was a great actor as well as a great Hollywood star. Its a shame that his best performances were overlooked by by many people during his lifetime(he's definitely a superior actor compared to the likes of Stallone, Arnold, and Willis combined). It was actually filmed during 1946 but was shelved for two year due to a legal battle with Howard Hughes.

Montgomery Clift stands out on his own as Matt Garth in acting next to John Wayne. Walter Brennan is excellent in the role of Tom Dunson's sidekick. Red River(1948) was one of the best film to come out of 1948. Red River(1948) contains a trademark flirtious man-woman relationship between Matt Garth and Tess that also evident in some of the director's other works...I.E., His Girl Friday(Walter & Hildy), Ball of Fire(Potts & O'Shea), To Have & Have Not(Harry & Slim), The Big Sleep(Phillip Marlowe & Vivian Sternwood), and Rio Bravo(John T. Chance & Feathers).

From 1939 to 1948, two major Westerns done with taste and skill and with an eye to beauty could be mentioned: John Ford's "Stagecoach," and Howard Hawks' "Red River."

"Red River" is a great adventure Western considered as the very best among all Westerns... But could we compared it to Ford's splendidly filmed "Wagon Master"? John Ford maintains his shooting eye at a certain distance while Howard Hawks keeps it nearby... But both are skilled directors of a bunch of great movies…

Ford is closer to Western movies, and Hawks to other genre... Ford treats his Western characters as people behave... Hawks displays it in vivid adventure... In "Red River," "Rio Bravo," and "The Big Sky" Howard Hawks is far from the magnitude of Ford's "The Searchers." Under Ford's instruction, John Wayne is fluent and moderate, refined in conduct and manners as in "The Quiet Man." With Hawks, Wayne's character prevails differential tendency toward passion and fury...

It is soon evident that the cattle boss is tough to the point of obsession… It could be argued that only men of this spirit could have handled and survived the first pioneering cattle drives… One of the drovers (John Ireland) wants to make for Abilene but gets no change out of Wayne… When the cattle stampede Wayne goes to 'gun-whip' one of the hands, Clift intervenes… It was then evident that Wayne was going to drive his men just as hard as he intends to drive the cattle…

"Red River" is a Western just as much concerned with human relationships and their tensions as with spectacle and action—a hallmark of Hawks' films and this element is introduced when the pair meet up with a boy leading a cow… The boy confirms the wagon-train massacre, and the boy and the cow from then on are included in the partnership… This is not only a key-point of the narrative but also a highly symbolic moment…

For some years Garfield was the only screen rebel... But in Clift's appearance in "Red River," another rebel was born… In "Red River," Clift plays the adopted son who opposes his father's domineering attitudes and behavior towards himself and also towards the cowhands who work for them on the drive to market… The struggle between father and adopted son, compels delighted interest... Dunson's unfeeling hardhearted style remembers us Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty." In the beginning of the film we had admiration for Wayne's persona... We concluded finding him unfriendly, unconscious, unacceptable and faulty... Clift wins our sympathy!

Clift was the withdrawn, introverted man who quietly maintains his integrity as he resists all pressures… These qualities were summed up in the words of Private Prewitt in "From Here to Eternity" probably Clift's finest rebel role!

"Red River" will remain a film with a unique flavor… It has, and will continue to have, its own special niche among honored Westerns…

With two Academy Award Nomination for Writing, splendid music score by Dmitri Tomkin and excellent acting including the supporting cast, the film had all the concepts of Howard Hawks' quality: vigor in action, reality as opposed to emotions and a faculty of scale...