Red River

Amazing.

I would have thought Marshall Dillon could play John Wayne better than he did. But I wouldn't have thought there'd be a reason for having him do it in the first place. The confrontation scenes called for Wayne's swaggering in-your-face style, but, despite his lines, James Arness seemed to be trying to defuse his own fight, keeping law and order in Dodge City on Saturday night.

Taking a truly classic movie and trying to improve it by having different actors repeat the same lines is basically stupid. Adding a minor twist here and there in an otherwise identical plot only makes the viewer think someone made a mistake.

As for realism, where did they get the height-challenged cattle to walk around the street? Were they all calves born during the drive? I know the actors are tall, but not that tall. And need I mention the Indians that kept getting shot off their horses while the number riding in circles uselessly shaking tomahawks never decreased, and there were never any casualties lying on the ground?

If a band of village idiots ever remake The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly they'd better keep the original music, or they'll find that only it and Clint Eastwood made the movie a legend. If anyone doubts this, they need only watch the remake of Red River to understand.

Though James Arness and Bruce Boxleitner are a good fit for the roles originated by John Wayne and Montgomery Clift and Ray Walston stands in very well as the old-timer sidekick to both instead of Walter Brennan, the television remake of Red River sinks right to the bottom.

The thing that I missed most from the original film was Dimitri Tiomkin's music, one of the finest film scores ever done. It really set the tone for the film, actually helped give you that sense of movement of the cattle, helped you empathize with the size and scope of the herd and the task that John Wayne undertook in the original.

If the producers had done nothing else, they should have paid whatever price was necessary to get that music.

Whole chunks of dialog from the original is taken. There is a new plot component in this film that of black cowboy Stan Shaw who Boxleitner and Arness take on despite racial objections from some of the ex-Confederate soldiers would have made. Shaw does a fine job and his inclusion is the only improvement on the original because in real life Wayne and Clift would no doubt have had black cowboys on their drive.

Laura Johnson as a Civil War widow is an extreme let down from Joanne Dru's slinky Tess Millay from the original. It wasn't Johnson's fault, just not a good idea to change her type. But that was necessary to set up the confrontation between Bruce Boxleitner and Gregory Harrison who has John Ireland's part which is also a big plot change from the original.

I think those who remember fondly the John Wayne classic will be much let down with this one.

This movie made for TV. Aired on April 10 1988 starring James Arness as Thomas Dunson, Bruce Boxlietner as Matthew Garth and Ty Hardin as Cotton. Thomas Dunson as a dream and the dream is to have the biggest cattle ranch in Texas. Years later, Dunson has forefeel his dream, however he has one problem? There know place to take his cattle to market unless he takes his cattle across 1000 dangerous miles of Texas land. Dunson also doesn't have to much help and there's several dangerous. Not only does Dunson have to deal with the dry conditions, he also has to deal with Indians, Cattle Rustlers, and a few unexpected circumstances that Dunson didn't count on. This wasn't a bad TV movie because it had what makes a good western. Plenty of action adventures and cows. Based on that I give this movie 6 weasel stars.

A great cast for a television remake with the exception of Gregory Harrison. He couldn't sweep the floor John Ireland walked on yet alone give a performance like in the 48 version of this rugged western. Lets face it, some just aren't meant to be cowboys even if they can't surf. Boxleitner and Arness work good together and pretty much carry this production. A probable reason why they paired again for the 1994 made for television film "Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice." I'll have to admit that I kept waiting for Peter Graves to come on after commercial breaks and announce "and now, back to Gunsmoke, staring James Arness !"

The last time I saw the original 1948 "Red River" with John Wayne was when I was about ten years old. I don't remember a whole lot of it other than it was a rich, enthralling Western like "The Searchers" (1956) and in no need for a remake. But, four decades after its release, it was remade…and rather poorly, which is very disappointing since its two leads were very well-cast.

Wayne's friend James Arness takes his role in the remake and Montgomery Clift's role is redone by Bruce Boxleitner. These two would later work well again in one of the "Gunsmoke" movies. And even with this mincemeat teleplay, they manage to communicate much of the spirit that the original actors did in the original film.

However, that does not make the remake of "Red River" a good movie. Rather, it's a flat and mediocre adaptation of a beloved classic. There is some nice scenery, good performances, and swell intentions, but the problem is that the screenwriters wrote this with such low enthusiasm and maybe a little too much respect for the original, as if they realized in the process of writing that they couldn't even come close to the source and didn't bother to put much effort into it. It seems like they expected all viewers to already know the original "Red River" by heart and therefore be able to close up all the holes and gaps that were being formed here. The point of a remake is to at least illuminate the original, update it, and maybe strength a few weak spots, not open new ones. There is very little character strength, no real sense of connection, gaps of logic, a completely unnecessary addition of a love triangle, and an ending that is even more rushed than the surprisingly sudden ending of the original. In short, the remake of "Red River" can be described in two simple words: boring and unnecessary.