Red River (film)

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Red River
Image:Red River DVD cover.jpg Red River DVD cover
Directed by	Howard Hawks Arthur Rosson
Produced by	Howard Hawks
Written by	Borden Chase Charles Schnee
Starring	John Wayne Montgomery Clift
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	September 30, 1948 (USA)
Running time	133 min.
Language	English Spanish
IMDb profile

Red River is a 1948 Western film giving a fictional account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. The dramatic tension stems from a growing feud over the management of the drive, between the Texas rancher who initiated it (John Wayne) and his adopted adult son (Montgomery Clift).

The film was directed by Howard Hawks and, in addition to Wayne and Clift, also starred Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, John Ireland, Noah Beery Jr. and Harry Carey, Jr.. Borden Chase wrote the script with Charles Schnee, based on Chase's story, "The Chisholm Trail".

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Awards and recognition
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot

Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) is a stubborn man who wants nothing more than to start up a successful cattle ranch in Texas. Shortly after he begins his journey to Texas with his trail hand, Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), Dunson learns that his love interest (Coleen Gray), whom he had told to stay behind with the wagon train on the understanding that he would send for her later, was killed in an Indian attack. Despite this tragedy, Dunson and Groot hand press on, only to chance on a young orphaned boy named Matthew Garth (played as an adult by Montgomery Clift), whom Dunson effectively adopts. With only a couple head of cattle, Dunson and the boy enter Texas by crossing the Red River and Dunson proudly proclaims all the land about them as his own. Two Mexican men appear on horseback and inform Dunson that the land already belongs to their boss. Dunson dismisses this inconvenient fact, kills one of the men, and tells the other man to inform his boss that Dunson now owns the land. Dunson names his new spread the Red River D, after his chosen cattle brand for his herd. Fatefully, he promises to add M (for Matt) to the brand, once Matt has earned it.

Fourteen years pass and Dunson now has a fully operational cattle ranch. With the help of Matt and Groot, his herd now numbers over a thousand cattle, but he is also broke as a result of having been on the losing side in the American Civil War. With the price of cattle in Texas not to his liking, Dunson decides to drive his massive herd hundreds of miles north to Missouri, where he believes they will fetch a much better price. After hiring some extra men to help out with the drive, they and cattle all set off on their perilous journey northwards. Along the way, they encounter many troubles, including a stampede caused when one of the men makes a sudden noise while trying to steal sugar from the chuck wagon, and Indian attacks while crossing the Indian territory (present day Oklahoma). During one of these encounters, the men repulse an Indian attack on a wagon train. One of the people they save is Tess Millay (Joanne Dru), who attracts both Dunson and Matt.

Deeper problems arise when Dunson's tyrannical leadership style begins to affect the rest of the men and causes Matt to rebel. Eventually, Matt takes control of the drive in order to take it to the closer railhead in Abilene, Kansas, leaving Dunson behind. This naturally infuriates Dunson, who vows to track down Matt and murder him. When Matt reaches Abilene, he finds men there who have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of such a herd to buy it; Matt happily accepts an excellent offer for the cattle. Unknowingly, he has just completed the first cattle drive along what would become the Chisholm Trail. Shortly thereafter, Dunson arrives in Abilene with a posse and attempts to follow through with his vow to kill Matt. The two men begin a fight to the death, which Tess interrupts the battle by drawing a gun on both men, and demanding that they realize the love that they share for each other. Dunson and Matt see the error in their ways and make peace with each other. The film ends with Dunson telling Matt that he will incorporate Matt into the brand as he had promised to do years before.

While Red River is a work of fiction, the plot also has a substantial historical and economical background, sketched in the entry Chisholm Trail.

[edit] Cast

John Wayne as Thomas Dunson
Montgomery Clift as Matthew 'Matt' Garth
Joanne Dru as Tess Millay
Walter Brennan as 'Groot' Nadine
Coleen Gray as Fen
Harry Carey as Mr. Melville
John Ireland as Cherry Valance
Noah Beery Jr. as Buster McGee
Harry Carey Jr. as Dan Latimer
Chief Yowlachie as Quo
Paul Fix as Teeler Yacey
Hank Worden as Simms Reeves
Ray Hyke as Walt Jergens
Wally Wales as Old Leather
Mickey Kuhn as Matt (as a boy)

Hawks had originally offered the role of Cherry Valance to Cary Grant. Grant, who had previously worked with Hawks as a leading man, declined the role because he did not deem it suitable or important enough.^[1] Shelley Winters appears uncredited as a dancer in a wagon train.

[edit] Production

Red River was filmed in 1946 but not released until September 30, 1948, reportedly because Howard Hughes threatened legal action against Hawks and United Artists, claiming Red River was too similar to Hughes' film The Outlaw starring Jane Russell.^{[citation needed]} This, by the way, is one of the few pre-1951 UA films that the studio continues to own (sister company MGM now handles distribution).

[edit] Awards and recognition

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Film Editing (Christian Nyby) and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story. In 1990, Red River was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Todd McCarthy. (2000). His Girl Friday commentary track [DVD]. Columbia Tristar. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. Event occurs at 01:15:00. "Hawks had offered a major role in Red River to Cary Grant--the gunslinger character of, Cherry Valance, played by John Ireland eventually--but, Cary Grant didn't think it was exactly suitable and wasn't really an important enough role so he turned that down."