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Red River (1948)  
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Director:
Howard Hawks |
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COUNTRY
USA |
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Genre
Western |
NORWEGIAN
TITLE
- |
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RUNNING
TIME
127
minutes |
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Producer:
Howard Hawks |
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Screenwriters:
Borden Chase
Charles Schnee |
Review
This Western version of
Mutiny
On the Bounty tells of the first cattle drive on the trail now known as
The Chisholm Trail, used by Texas ranchers who needed to find buyers
for their overstocks of cattle in the wake of the Civil War. Set in the
1860s, Red River is all about various kinds of male relations, which
would be a familiar theme for anyone in a post WWII world. And at its
best, the picture is able to touch upon timeless truths in this respect,
both with regards to the Dunson/Garth relation, with Dunson/Groot and
with Garth/Valance (with its vague homoerotic undertones). Despite this,
long portions of the film don't work, particularly in the first half. We're supposed to be
in awe of the grandeur of it all, from the at times beautiful sets to
the weightiness of the characters' actions, but the scenes have a staged
quality that makes them drag. Only when the tension ultimately starts
rising among the wranglers does the film tap into its dramatic potential
and is Montgomery Clift given the latitude from which to rise above the
melodrama and archetypes he is surrounded by. John Wayne, on the other
hand, plays his Thomas Dunson as a whiny, obstinate little child with
seemingly few conflicting emotions. Somewhat ironically, Wayne was
concerned that Clift would not be able to come off as manly enough
opposite him, but there's not much manly about Dunson's bitching. And
then there's not much plausible about his sudden change of heart in
the end. It seems all these men were suckers for a histrionic lady.
Director Howard Hawks occassionally is able to accentuate the vastness
of the lands and the panting of the cattle, but it's not enough to make
Red River a historically important document from the West.
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