Red River

A United Artists-Monterey Release

Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks. From the story "The Blazing Guns of the Chisholm Trail" by Borden Chase. Screenplay by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin. Art Direction by John Datu Arensma. Photography by Russell Harlan. Edited by Christian Nyby. 125 min.
Cast: John Wayne (Tom Dunson), Montgomery Clift (Matthew Garth), Joanne Dru (Tess Millay), Walter Brennan (Groot Nadine), Coleen Gray (Fen), John Ireland (Cherry Valance), Noah Beery, Jr. (Buster McGee), Harry Carey, Sr. (Mr. Melville), Harry Carey, Jr. (Dan Latimer), Paul Fix (Teeler Yacey), Mickey Kuhn (Matt as a boy), Chief Yowlachie (Quo), Ivan Parry (Bunk Kenneally), Ray Hyke (Walt Jergens), Hank Wordon (Simms), Dan White (Laredo), Paul Fiero (Fernandez), William Self (Wounded Wrangler), Hal Taliaferro (Old Leather), Tom Tyler (A Quitter), Lane Chandler (Colonel), Glenn Strange (Naylor), Shelley Winters (Dancehall Girl).

It has been said that John Wayne was at best a routine actor, someone who was typecast in the same role in endless westerns. It is true that he was typecast, especially in his later movies. However, the assessment that he was a routine actor has proven false. One only needs to screen some of his best works for directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks or Henry Hathaway. In films like "Stagecoach" (1939), "The Long Voyage Home" (1940), "Fort Apache" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "The Searchers" (1956), and "The Shootist" (1976) he portrays many varied sorts, proving that he was more versatile that he was accorded.
One of his best performances was in the 1948 classic RED RIVER, directed by Howard Hawks, who, with his usual flair for realism, created one of the all-time best westerns of the cinema. Utilizing a typical plot device which was found in countless westerns, it follows the journey of a trecherous cattle drive along the old Chisholm Trail, led by Tom Dunson (Wayne) and his foster son Matthew Garth (played by Montgomery Clift in his first screen role).

In actuality, RED RIVER is a western stlye reworking of "Mutiny on the Bounty", with Wayne giving a somewhat unsympathetic performance, as a sadistic cattle baron who incites "mutiny" among his men.
The film's major assets, of which there are many, includes wonderful cinematography by Russell Harlan, with it's breathtaking black and white landscapes coming to life backed by a superb musical score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Aside from the technical aspects, the film is filled with wonderful character studies as we get to know these cattle drivers' personalities and the almost fanatical compulsion behind Tom Dunson's ego.
Even though the plot line is rather straightforward, it does, however, bring forth a few surprises to the audience. The minute Matthew Garth (Clift) and Cherry Valance (John Ireland) meet, there develops an immediate rivalry between the two, although there is also evident an underlying respect besides. What the audience anticipates throughout the picture is for the inevitable gunfight to take place, which never does. Also a grand-scale attack by Indians, that the cattle drivers are trying to avoid, never takes place. This is not to say that nothing happens in RED RIVER. It it so jammed with sparkling performances and a feeling of desperate tension when the men are comfronted with Dunson's tyrannical behavior that one is never bored.
When RED RIVER was released, screenwriter Borden Chase was taken aback by a new ending that director Hawks had written and filmed instead of his.

As originally conceived, John Wayne, still out to gun down Matthew Garth, eventually rides into Abilene when confronted by Cherry. Wayne kills him, but not before taking a few fatal shots to the belly himself. He procedes to find Garth (Clift), and after firing about a half dozen shots at him, collapses. Lying on the ground mortally wounded, Garth and Tess Millay (Joanne Dru) take Dunson across the Red River, where he can die in his beloved Texas. This would have been a far more honest finale than the one that was released, but regardless of which ending they used, it couldn't have taken away from the superior filmmaking that preceded it.
Incidentally, during filming of RED RIVER, director Howard Hawks was becoming quite enamoured with leading lady Joanne Dru. But, much to his chagrin, her attentions were shifting to newcomer John Ireland. This did not endear Ireland to Hawks, and as a result, Hawks kept harrassing the young actor all through the making of the picture. To escape the wrath of the jealous director, Duke Wayne suggested to Ireland to "cool things down until shooting was completed". Fortunately, this advice was heeded, and the two were married after the picture wrapped!
Running time on RED RIVER was originally 133 minutes, showing the pages of a diary turning to depict the passage of time. When it was reissued in the 1950's, the film was cut to 125 minutes and instead of reading the diary's entries, Hawks inserted narration by Walter Brennan.

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