red river

Generally considered as one of the greatest westerns ever made, this cattle-hauling epic sees John Wayne play outside his usual parameters as an ageing father-figure to Montgomery Clift. The film is basically a western remake (sort of) of 'Mutiny on the Bounty', with Clift forced to betray his mentor (Wayne) for the good of the cattle and the team, only for Wayne to swear death upon him and hunt him down.

It's sometimes said that John Wayne, whilst a prolific actor, only actually made a handful of films worth watching. When you take into account a lot of his earlier work in the 30s - hour-long serial-like westerns of an exceptionally low quality - well, you'd be hard pressed to argue that anything less than 50% of Wayne's overall output is of a substandard in terms of watchability, entertainment or critical worth. In short, Wayne made about 180 films, and at least half of them suck.

So if you had to narrow down Wayne's more favourable output to a Top 10, then 'Red River' would be in it. If you had to narrow it down to just one film, then this might just be it. Even if you were to narrow down all Western films to a Top 10, 'Red River' would probably be in it. And just as a film, outside of genre classifications, it stands as an astonishing piece of work as well.

Howard Hawks, along with John Ford, stands as one of the America's pioneer home-grown auteurs. His direction here is nothing short of exemplary and his use of panoramas and deft characterisation lend the film a mythic air that is almost impossible to create in today's age of CGI and post-modern winks to the audience. 'Red River' tells a simple story of revenge, loyalty and common-sense against the epic backdrop of the new frontiers of the old west. It's a father-son style relationship played out in near-Shakespearean proportions.

Of course, it all culminates in a showdown between the two principals. The fist-fight at the end is surprisingly brutal and excellently filmed, and Clift (in one of his first major film roles) manages to hold his own against the mighty John Wayne. In fact, the overall dynamic between the two actors is rather affecting and well-orchestrated... Wayne, of the old guard and (at the time) fastly emerging as one of the biggest box office draws of the era, and Clift, fresh talent and of the rising school of method acting, stand opposite one another in more ways than one.

This is a real gem of a film and should be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good story and good film-making.

TRIVIA: Gary Cooper turned down the role of Dunson as he felt the character was too harsh and ruthless.

Hawks intended for Cary Grant to play the role of Cherry Valance (a gunslinger)... when Grant turned down the role it was given to John Ireland and the part was greatly reduced in the script.

Wayne initially didn't want to play Dunson as the character was somewhat older than he was. His friend and director, John Ford, convinced him that the part would be good for his career. Indeed, it was probably one of Wayne's better acting efforts - way ahead of his Oscar-winning work in 'True Grit'.

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