Red River

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Eduardo F Pew. pew. Pew. pew. Pew. What a movie! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/17/24 Full Review Alec B Easily one of the greatest westerns ever made. Unlike a lot of these films from the era, it never really engages in sentimental mythmaking about "The West" as it is often brutally honest about how violence is exercised to assert dominance. Also, the barely coy homoerotic tension between Clift and Ireland is truly something to behold. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/20/24 Full Review Luke S OMG!!! This movie is such a classic. I rate it a 5 out of 5 Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/06/23 Full Review Matthew B Red River was one of the most influential westerns ever made, and elements of the movie were to be used and reused over and over again throughout the 1950s and beyond. Red River is also one of those rare westerns that explore the darker side of John Wayne's screen persona. Like other movies of this kind (The Searchers or The Shootist), it ultimately comes out in his favour, but we get a glimpse of the uglier aspects of his characters – the dangerous mixture of lawlessness and authoritarianism that becomes a threat to others. In all fairness, Wayne rose well to the challenge of playing a more complex version of his usual role. The three films mentioned showcase some of his best acting. After seeing Red River, John Ford famously remarked, "I didn't know the big son of a bitch could act." Howard Hawks however always believed in Wayne's abilities, and this encouragement may have helped. For this movie, the third highest grossing movie of 1948, Howard Hawks aimed for an epic style. The cinematography is remarkable, especially the many scenes that lovingly capture the river of cattle travelling along the plains. 9,000 steers were used in the film. Studio sets were barely used at all, and most of the film takes place outside. It is perhaps surprising that so ambitious a movie should be made in black-and-white, but this was quite common with 1940s westerns. Sometimes it adds to the movie's ambience, as in the scene where nervous men standing in the fog watching for an enemy that they know is trailing them. This ending strikes a false note. Perhaps the problem is that Hawks was too much of a conservative to fully deconstruct the John Wayne mystique. John Ford and Don Siegel did not go all the way either, but their politics were ambivalent enough for them to produce more convincing endings to The Searchers and The Shootist that supported the John Wayne myth whilst still managing to critique it. Still the ending does not spoil Red River. We have had well over two hours of exciting story, effective character development and stunning cinematography to feast our eyes on. Hawks was too great a director to ruin a film with as much promise as Red River. In later years, Hawks would produce weaker westerns by continuing to re-tread the path that he had used earlier with diminishing results, but at this stage Hawks was fresh to the genre, and Red River is as exciting today as it was then. I wrote a longer appreciation (with spoilers) of Red River on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2019/05/25/red-river-1948/ Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/05/23 Full Review Andy F A majestic, epic western. Wayne and Clift are superb in this beautifully shot movie. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/15/23 Full Review Babak H One of the greatest Western of all time! John Wayne and Montgomery Cliff at the height of their careers. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Red River

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