In Yugoslavia, the synonym for the Western—one of the most popular of all Hollywood genres—was the “cowboy film”. However, cowboys as main protagonists are actually quite rare in classic works of the genre. One of those rare instances can be found in Red River, the 1948 epic directed by Howard Hawks. The film is based on The Chisholm Trail, a 1946 story by Borden Chase originally published in the Saturday Evening Post.
The plot begins in 1851 when the protagonist Thomas Dunson (played by John Wayne) abandons a California-bound wagon train to try his luck in Texas. He leaves his fiancée Fen (played by Coleen Gray) and, together with his trusted elderly helper Nadine Groot (played by Walter Brennan), travels southwards with a bull and a cow he hopes to breed into a large herd. Soon afterwards he learns that the wagon train was attacked by hostile Indians and everyone, including Fen, was massacred. The only survivor is a boy named Matthew “Matt” Garth (played by Mickey Kuhn), whom Dunson takes as his semi-adopted son.
Fifteen years later, Dunson has succeeded in his efforts to build a cattle empire, but, due to Civil War deprivations and an overabundance of beef in Texas, his herd becomes an intolerable financial burden. The solution lies in the north, where beef is much scarcer and more expensive. Matt, now an adult (played by Montgomery Clift), helps Dunson launch a great cattle drive during which 9,000 head of cattle will be brought from Texas to Missouri. The trek is long, beset with all kinds of deprivations and dangers ranging from devastating stampedes to Indians and bandits, but the greatest danger comes from Dunson himself, who becomes increasingly paranoid and tyrannical and refuses Matt’s suggestion to take the easier route towards Abilene. Their conflict escalates and is further complicated after Matt falls in love with Tess Millay (played by Joanne Dru), a dance hall girl whose wagon train he had saved from an Indian attack.
Despite Howard Hawks already being established as one of the most experienced and successful action directors in classic Hollywood, Red River represented his first western. Even the more experienced viewers couldn’t tell, because Hawks directs this expensive and ambitious production, shot mainly on Arizona locations, with great ease, skill and confidence. Hawks, despite rejecting the idea of making the film in Technicolor, manages to give Red River an epic feel. This is mostly due to spectacular scenes that involve the movement of thousands of cattle, or the increasingly demanding nighttime stampede sequence.
Hawks had fine talents at his disposal, including cinematographer Russell Harlan and famed composer Dimitri Tiomkin, whose theme—barely used in Red River—later served as the basis for the popular theme song in another Hawks classic western, Rio Bravo.
Hawks’ handling of the new genre was in many ways helped by the casting of John Wayne, an actor who had appeared in countless westerns before and did not hesitate to give advice to Hawks. Wayne also contributed to the film with one of the best performances of his career, not hesitating to portray his character as unusually dark. Thomas Dunson is perhaps the darkest of all characters in Wayne’s filmography—a man who ruthlessly kills people in cold blood only to later become driven by pride and paranoia, escalating into near madness. Wayne also worked hard to portray the actual ageing of his character, doing it subtly through small gestures rather than makeup. Wayne got along with Hawks so well on set that he would appear in a number of the director’s later westerns.
Hawks and Wayne, on the other hand, did not get along that well with Montgomery Clift, the young actor for whom Red River—originally shot in 1946 and released only two years later because of an unresolved plagiarism dispute with Howard Hughes—represented his feature debut. Clift was one of the first actors of a new generation that came to Hollywood following World War II and earned stardom by promoting Method acting. Clift played a much more rational and less intense character than Dunson, and he did it very convincingly, even in fight scenes with Wayne, making audiences not pay much attention to his relatively short stature. Although they did not like Clift, partly because of his left-wing politics and homosexuality, both Hawks and Wayne praised his professionalism and the quality of his work.
There were other troublesome relations on the set, and some of them affected the general quality of the film. That was most notable in the case of Hawks clashing with John Ireland, the actor playing Matt’s rival cowhand and former gunslinger Cherry Valance. Hawks resented Ireland’s being drunk or smoking marijuana on set, as well as their romantic rivalry over actress Joanne Dru, who would later marry Ireland. As a result, the character of Cherry Valance remained undeveloped.
The character of Tess Millay also appears relatively late in the film and serves as a not-so-convincing deus ex machina that provides the obligatory happy ending for what would otherwise be a very dark film.
Red River, on the other hand, benefited from a very good set of character actors that include the legendary Walter Brennan, who also provides effective narration. Despite its flaws, Red River easily won over not only critics but audiences, becoming one of the biggest hits of its time. It helped launch Clift’s career and finally established Wayne as a serious actor, especially in the eyes of John Ford, who would later cast “Duke” in some of the most celebrated westerns in history. Because of that, Red River has deserved its status as a genre classic.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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