In Texas 1851, Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) is bringing his cattle to Red River, when his adopted son Matthew Garth (Montgomery Clift) turns against him.
Director John Ford was the undisputed master of the western, and the man who launched John Wayne to stardom in "Stagecoach" (1939). That being said, it is no surprise that when Howard Hawks made "Red River", his first western, he consciously used Ford as his marker. This paid off. While relatively few of Hawks' overall output was westerns, he may be best remembered for this film and "Rio Bravo".
Both Ford and Hawks are now considered the best in the western genre, though the edge is still Ford's. While Ford was the first to admit that Hawks got the best performance of Wayne's career (up to this point) out of "Red River", Ford still has the more iconic western films overall. And Hawks probably did his best work in other genres, or through no specific genre at all. Geoffrey O'Brien wrote that Hawks was "inclined more toward unsentimental comedy than soul-searching melodrama." (With regards to Wayne's acting, his acting is indeed melodramatic at times, but less so here than in other roles.)
Allegedly, there was some concern that John Wayne and Montgomery Clift would not get along due to political reasons and Clift's known homosexuality. In some ways, this background is more interesting than the film itself. Imagine an openly gay man co-starring alongside Wayne and Walter Brennan. Wayne actively tried to get Clift thrown off the set, rumors started that he was having an affair with John Ireland... and when Clift was offered a role in "Rio Bravo", he turned the part down to avoid Wayne.
The homosexuality may even have been written in as a subtext. There is the scene between Ireland and Clift, where they compare guns and take each other's measure by "walking" a can across the ground with their pistol shots, which is now a film classic. The odd thing is that Ireland may not have been gay, so how the rumor has spread is unclear. (Further confusing the matter is that if this was Clift's first acting gig, how were his politics and sexuality known quantities to the other stars?)
Walter Brennan's distinctive voice is good for some subtle humor, and Montgomery Clift looks like Tom Cruise in his prime when he wears a hat. Clift is better as a priest ("I Confess") than a cowboy, though. Clift was apparently directed by Hawks to play down his acting around Wayne, even to hide behind a coffee cup so as not to steal a scene, so we have to give him a little credit, even if this is not his best work.
Interesting, when John Wayne was asked about what film he considered his best, this did not immediately come to mind. Instead, after listing several others, he said this film has the best cattle drive of his films. That says very little, though it does call to mind the brilliance of the 360-degree shot that Hawks used to give the impression of thousands of cattle when they only had hundreds. Look for the cuts and you likely will not find them.
If editor Christian Nyby is to be believed, and there is no reason to doubt him, much of the film's success actually falls on him. At one point, Hawks was over budget and was shooting too much material, while his two editors were not bringing forth a decent film from all this. Nyby was called in by Hawks as a favor (after convincing Jack Warner to loan him out) and worked on "Red River" at night while editing Raoul Walsh's "Fighter Squadron" (1948) during the day. He received a much-deserved Oscar nomination for this.
The Criterion Collection released the film in 2014, and gave it the royal treatment: two versions of the film, the picture cleaned up to the best it has ever looked, a great interview with Peter Bogdanovich. On top of this, a nice booklet and even the original story the film is based on. Definitely a must-own for fans.
Director John Ford was the undisputed master of the western, and the man who launched John Wayne to stardom in "Stagecoach" (1939). That being said, it is no surprise that when Howard Hawks made "Red River", his first western, he consciously used Ford as his marker. This paid off. While relatively few of Hawks' overall output was westerns, he may be best remembered for this film and "Rio Bravo".
Both Ford and Hawks are now considered the best in the western genre, though the edge is still Ford's. While Ford was the first to admit that Hawks got the best performance of Wayne's career (up to this point) out of "Red River", Ford still has the more iconic western films overall. And Hawks probably did his best work in other genres, or through no specific genre at all. Geoffrey O'Brien wrote that Hawks was "inclined more toward unsentimental comedy than soul-searching melodrama." (With regards to Wayne's acting, his acting is indeed melodramatic at times, but less so here than in other roles.)
Allegedly, there was some concern that John Wayne and Montgomery Clift would not get along due to political reasons and Clift's known homosexuality. In some ways, this background is more interesting than the film itself. Imagine an openly gay man co-starring alongside Wayne and Walter Brennan. Wayne actively tried to get Clift thrown off the set, rumors started that he was having an affair with John Ireland... and when Clift was offered a role in "Rio Bravo", he turned the part down to avoid Wayne.
The homosexuality may even have been written in as a subtext. There is the scene between Ireland and Clift, where they compare guns and take each other's measure by "walking" a can across the ground with their pistol shots, which is now a film classic. The odd thing is that Ireland may not have been gay, so how the rumor has spread is unclear. (Further confusing the matter is that if this was Clift's first acting gig, how were his politics and sexuality known quantities to the other stars?)
Walter Brennan's distinctive voice is good for some subtle humor, and Montgomery Clift looks like Tom Cruise in his prime when he wears a hat. Clift is better as a priest ("I Confess") than a cowboy, though. Clift was apparently directed by Hawks to play down his acting around Wayne, even to hide behind a coffee cup so as not to steal a scene, so we have to give him a little credit, even if this is not his best work.
Interesting, when John Wayne was asked about what film he considered his best, this did not immediately come to mind. Instead, after listing several others, he said this film has the best cattle drive of his films. That says very little, though it does call to mind the brilliance of the 360-degree shot that Hawks used to give the impression of thousands of cattle when they only had hundreds. Look for the cuts and you likely will not find them.
If editor Christian Nyby is to be believed, and there is no reason to doubt him, much of the film's success actually falls on him. At one point, Hawks was over budget and was shooting too much material, while his two editors were not bringing forth a decent film from all this. Nyby was called in by Hawks as a favor (after convincing Jack Warner to loan him out) and worked on "Red River" at night while editing Raoul Walsh's "Fighter Squadron" (1948) during the day. He received a much-deserved Oscar nomination for this.
The Criterion Collection released the film in 2014, and gave it the royal treatment: two versions of the film, the picture cleaned up to the best it has ever looked, a great interview with Peter Bogdanovich. On top of this, a nice booklet and even the original story the film is based on. Definitely a must-own for fans.