RED RIVER (75)

Directed by: Howard Hawks (1948)

Starring: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, John Ireland

The Pitch: A rancher and his adopted son lead a massive cattle drive across thousands of miles of hostile terrain.

Theo Sez: Classic but surprisingly messy, and you have to give it time : I actually started watching it in the cinema some years ago but slunk out after 20 minutes, too embarrassed by the audience howls of laughter at the hideous overacting and clunky lines (Wayne's soliloquy in praise of beef must be heard to be disbelieved). Only really comes together when the "Bounty" sets sail, i.e. the cattle drive gets underway, with the Wayne-Clift dynamic in full swing (rigid immobility vs. nervous energy, as well as old-school, be-yourself acting vs. Method) and Russell Harlan making the rocks and clouds (all the pitiless beauty of the West) as central to the drama as the battle of wills between father and son. Begs to be interpreted within the schema stated most explicitly in MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE - Wayne (who worships strength) representing the old cowboys who mastered the land through sheer bloody-mindedness, Clift representing the New West, and the virtues required to thrive in a civilised society, viz. flexibility (changing destination in mid-drive) and the ability to work with others (he never does "tangle" with the rival gunman played by Ireland, despite old-timer Brennan's theory that a showdown is inevitable). What's unusual here is its brisk optimism, a very long way from Ford's elegaic sentimentality, most remarkably in the resolution - collapsing the drama as abruptly as one of those infuriating it-was-just-a-dream endings yet highly satisfying on a deeper level, suggesting old and new can in fact be reconciled through the mediating influence of a woman (Wayne's RIO BRAVO character is in many ways a synthesis of himself and Clift here, combining force with first-among-equals teamwork). Magnificent vistas and performances, plus a terrifying glimpse of something icy and inhuman in the Duke's comforting persona ; aims at folk-epic, works better as psychological thriller. Essential viewing, either way.