Red River (1948)
Director: Howard Hawks
Honors:
Here is a a western that left several impressions in cinema
history by marking director Howard Hawks first major foray in the genre,
Montgomery Clift’s first role in Hollywood, and a massive step in the career of
the legendary actor John Wayne in a darker, more dramatic role. With a plot
that has been likened to Mutiny on the
Bounty set in the Wild West, Red
River has become one of the most well received westerns in history of the
genre. Entangled with its history was a complicated impending legal battle over
its ending that stalled its release for nearly two years. Today the picture
proves to be an epic production that shares a more intimate tale of a kinship soured
by desperation.
Red River is a
western about a younger cowhand on a large cattle drive that must rebel against
his father-figure, the drive’s leader, for the safety of the men working and
the success of the endeavor. Weathered and stubborn cattle rancher Thomas
Dunson (Wayne) experiences economic strife as business for beef has dried up in
Texas due to the Civil War, causing need for him to drive his cattle north to
Missouri where he can sell his herd for profit. Among his recruits for the
cattle drive are his trusty friend Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan) as the
journey’s cook and Matthew Garth (Montgomery Clift), Dunson’s to a certain
extent adopted son who he took in after being the lone survivor of an attack on
his wagon train when he was just a lad known to have skill with a gun.
Garth being uniquely close to Dunson observes the
ruthlessness Dunson takes to his crew of cow hands on the drive being jaded
with life, stubborn with advice, and brutal with distributing punishments
amongst the men. This leaves Garth no choice, but to hijack the cattle drive
from Dunson, leaving his now vengeful minded mentor behind, with all men,
including Groot, to successful lead the herd. Garth guides the cattle to a new
destination in Kansas through a much safer route than Dunson’s dangerous path
to Missouri, where a new train line provides a great opportunity in selling the
herd. Following the successful delivery and selling of the cattle Dunson
arrives with a posse to confront Garth despite attempts by various members of
the drive to keep the two men apart. Following a furious confrontation both men
see the errors of their ways, with Garth earning Dunson’s respect and made a
full partner in his Red River ranch.
To a casual viewer Red
River appears to be an undistinguished western, but looking beyond the
horse riding, gun slinging, and cattle driving exterior is a complex story of a
father-son relationship jeopardized by the stubbornness of two men. It is not merely
the on going battle of the old and young, the steadfast vs. the progressive,
but rather an unspoken kinship between men where ideals come between them, but
their love and respect for each other keeps them from doing what they would do
to any other man that would oppose them.
This is easily the most dramatic role of John Wayne’s to
this point in his career, delivering a more complicated tone for a darker
character we struggle with, wanting to like, but given so much to hate. Monty
Clift is a new comer, not just in character, but in acting style, contrasting
the ruggedness of Wayne. Here we observe the older style of Hollywood meeting
the emerging new wave of acting coming out of the younger New York school of performing
that will change the profession and medium of films, here in a picture whose genre
would peak in popularity over the next decade. To round out this great contrast
is the supporting acting of the wonderful Walter Brennan as the loveably and
miserly cattle drive cook that must abandoned his long time friend due to all
the wrong he had caused. Brennan’s character provided the movie’s moments of
contemplation, as well as giving audiences a chance to breathe with his
humorous moments as the classic toothless prospector-like character of Groot.
With John Wayne being from a previous generation of acting
and Montgomery Clift from the emerging new form of method acting, the two did
not mix very well as individuals. On set the two were professional and had
discovered a respect for each other’s performance within the picture, but away
from the set the two did not fraternize. Hawks, Wayne, and Brennan were known
to spend time together when the cameras were not rolling, whether it games of
poker and/or drinking, but Clift with his more liberal beliefs and background
was not invited to be included, and nor was Clift seeking to be included with
the overly conservative group. Although there was an opportunity for the two
stars to work together again in the future, Wayne and Clift would no do so,
refusing the chance for a reunion in later features.
The major let down in Red River could be its forced loved
story centering on character of Tess Millay, a traveling card dealer portrayed
by Joanne Dru. The character of Tess proves to be a foil which connects the two
then separated friends to share moments of love interest in the lady, proving
the two are similar and both have soft spots, ultimately using her to convince each
man that they do not want to kill each other. Tess appears to be a fine
character in the plot, but the performance of Dru stands out like a sore thumb,
as the film’s gruff and gritty style is segmented by the moments of glamour from
this female portrayal of the character by of Dru, that clashes with the dust covered
men ready for a showdown. The performance just does not gel with the overall
film.
Howard Hawks in his first attempt at westerns brings epicness
to his filmmaking. He makes the 1500 head of cattle used during filming appear
to be 10,000 with creative assemblage of shots, edited to convince us, that
this drive was a massive endeavor. Not to say that 1500 heads of cattle,
several actors on horseback and an entire camera crew working to tell a story
was not an achievement in its own right. Hawks mimics the style of John Ford
with his vast shots, however Hawks left out the use of a Technicolor camera in
order to free the production of the additional complication to an already
ambitious production. John Ford, the man that would help make John Wayne a
figure head of the western, never believed Wayne to be able to carry such a
dramatic role as Dunson, but upon viewing Red
River exclaimed how impressed he was with Wayne’s performance under Hawks,
stating “I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act!”
The production of Red
River took place over 20 weeks in 1946 in the process doubling its budget to
complete, but its greatest hurdle came when the feature was being edited. Midway
through editing Hawks found the picture unsatisfying and called upon editor
Christian Nyby to improve the film with his skill. Hawks’ original intent was
to have the different segments of the story broken up by cutaways to a book
describing the transition in the story, but upon see this completed cut Hawks
found these transition slowed down the film too much, and at a length of 133
minutes during this preview stage he felt it was too long. To help tighten
these transitions Walter Brennan provided a voice over narration, utilizing his
warm, homey voice to tie together the breaks in the story, while shaving off several
minutes to the feature.
The final obstacle to Red
River came in the form of Howard Hughes, famed aviator, rival movie producer,
and recent head of RKO studios. Hughes objected to Hawks’s ending confrontation
as the story originally intended, believing it too similar to his 1943 western The Outlaw, threatening infringement if
the ending was not altered. After careful cutting and re-cutting by Nyby and
Hawks, they found the ending they needed and willing to settle on that we see
in Red River now. By eliminating just
a moment in the confrontation and an extra bit of gunfire between the two rival
friends, the change would appease being just different enough from The Outlaw. In the end Red River’s final length ran 127 minutes,
becoming the official cut of the picture for release. In time irony would play
with the picture as the theatrical cut would come to be considered lost, with
only the 133 cut left for people to view for years. Eventually edits utilizing
Brennan’s narration would recreate the theatrical cut Hawks would intend for
future generations to enjoy.
Red River after a
two year hiatus in editing would finally see its official release in 1948. By
that time Montgomery Clift, this being his first Hollywood role, would have
found critical success in his second movie performance, but first released The Search. The film would open to high
praise and hefty box office numbers, winning nearly universal critical acclaim.
Despite not being an award winner at any of the major events, Red River became a western classic,
opening the door for Wayne’s more complicated roles in the future and ushering
in Clift’s forthcoming fruitful career. Contemporary critics praise for Red River led to the feature being named
to many best westerns lists, including AFI’s in 2008. Eighteen years prior in
1990 the National Film Registry elected the picture to its preservation list
very soon after its creation. Today Red
River remains one of the finest films of its genre, praised for its
artistry and look into complicated paternal relationships.
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