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RED RIVER
Directed by Howard Hawks; with John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne
Dru, Walter Brennan, Coleen Gray, John Ireland, Noah Beery, Jr., Shelley
Winters, Harry Carey, Jr., and Harry Carey, Sr.
1948
outed
as one of the best westerns of all time and featuring one of the greatest
roles for the genre's king, John Wayne, this film embodies the big scale
Texas myth: miles and miles of untamed land that can bring wealth and
prestige to any man possessing hardscrabble pioneering qualities (of
course it has to be stolen away from the American Indians or the Mexicans,
first). Wayne is the determined Tom Dunson, hardened by personal loss,
who breaks free from a wagon train headed west to settle in Texas. Starting
with a measly herd of two cows, he grows the largest cattle ranch north
of the Rio Grande. But Dunson isn't cash rich, and he's forced to drive
his herds to Kansas for the sale. In a story that recounts the creation
of the Chisolm Trail while visiting the themes of mutiny, power, regret,
and rebirth, the unsympathetic authoritarian Dunson is ultimately corralled
by his more humane surrogate son (played by the dashing Montgomery Clift).
Wayne has a memorable line in the first moments of the film, when Dunson
first realizes he's in Lone Star land. "We're in Texas," says
his faithful companion, Goot. "It feels good to me," Wayne
answers.
outed
as one of the best westerns of all time and featuring one of the greatest
roles for the genre's king, John Wayne, this film embodies the big scale
Texas myth: miles and miles of untamed land that can bring wealth and
prestige to any man possessing hardscrabble pioneering qualities (of
course it has to be stolen away from the American Indians or the Mexicans,
first). Wayne is the determined Tom Dunson, hardened by personal loss,
who breaks free from a wagon train headed west to settle in Texas. Starting
with a measly herd of two cows, he grows the largest cattle ranch north
of the Rio Grande. But Dunson isn't cash rich, and he's forced to drive
his herds to Kansas for the sale. In a story that recounts the creation
of the Chisolm Trail while visiting the themes of mutiny, power, regret,
and rebirth, the unsympathetic authoritarian Dunson is ultimately corralled
by his more humane surrogate son (played by the dashing Montgomery Clift).
Wayne has a memorable line in the first moments of the film, when Dunson
first realizes he's in Lone Star land. "We're in Texas," says
his faithful companion, Goot. "It feels good to me," Wayne
answers. 
