Kelly WandRed River
October 4th 2006 02:51
I like being surprised and “Red River” is full of surprises. My father used to prefer a simple morality in his movies. He liked his hats black or white. John Wayne used to be his favourite actor but I doubt he would have responded well to Wayne’s performance here.
It is not so much that Wayne’s character is a bastard (which he is). Even his values – which are as usually sacrosanct as the Stars and Stripes they wrap themselves in – are marked as both questionable and hypocritical. Even in “The Searchers”, Wayne still upholds the family he has banished himself from. Born of post war darkness, its central themes virtually predict the Rock and Roll years thanks in no small part to the performance of Montgomery Clift.
I haven’t seen “Red River” since I was a teenager and that was as part of an all night movie marathon of Clift films. In retrospect, I may have dosed off. Actually that would have been fairly unlikely given the amount of amphetamines in my system at the time. A word to the wise; speed and cinema are not as compatible as one might imagine! I made the same mistake with Usual Suspects and had to remain in the cinema for an additional two sessions based on some peculiar idea I had that it might have ended differently on alternate viewings.
This film seemed completely different to the one I’d seen and research tells me there is a much maligned alternate version of the film that includes a spoken narration - so there is that possibility too. Certainly, watching it again last night , I was in completely unknown territory.
The film opens with Wayne breaking off from a Wagon Train. The Wagon Master begs him to stay; this is a wilderness where only community can survive. Wayne’s girl wants to come too but he refuses to take her. He tells her it is for her safety but her arguments are convincing. One senses Wayne continues to say no merely because that was the first word that escaped his lips.
As Wayne reaches the Red River, he sees smoke on the horizon. The Wagon Train has been wiped out. One might suspect Wayne’s judgement to be prudent except he has lost the woman he loves. Wayne and sidekick Walter Brennan join up with a young boy - the only survivor of the massacre – and they head off into Texas.
Wayne selects some land he wants. A pair of friendly Mexicans arrive to tell them that this land belongs to their boss. They are welcome to stay the night but then they should be moving on. Wayne says this is too much land for any one man to own (except maybe him) and he kills the messenger. He justifies himself by saying that the Mexicans had only stolen the land from the Indians anyway.
I wonder how this line went down when the film was first released. With the levels of casual racism running rampant within the society of the day, did many audience members simply accept Wayne’s position? Certainly, given its context within the film, director Howard Hawk knew what he was saying. Scene by scene, he scratches away at Wayne’s good guy image. The whole notion of manifest destiny had been bought into question by war with the Nazis. Whilst racial stereotypes were (and are) still common in cinema, films were beginning to emerge that questioned racism. The civil rights movement was a decade away but the questions were starting to be asked.
Back in the film, it is fourteen years on and Wayne’s ranch is now a sea of cattle. The young boy has grown up to be Clift and is accepted as heir and son. The cattle must be driven north to the railway. Wayne discusses his plans in front of the graveyard of those he has killed to keep the land.
What follows has been described as a Western version of “Mutiny on the Bounty” but it is far more subtle than that. Wayne’s threats to flog or hang deserters may run contrary to his own wagon train departure but they are not delivered with the eye rolling ham of a Captain Bligh. Wayne plays the bad guy as hero and his actions are merely half a shade to the left of what we expect from Western heroes of the time.
Clift takes the herd and the script may as well have been written by Freud. Wayne vows revenge and the resolution is a cracker. When two titans square off, what possible force could step between them. Fans of Hawk’s work will not be surprised.
Hollywood churned out thousands of horse operas. Most of them are fairly ordinary, some are good and a few are great. This is one of the best.
It is not so much that Wayne’s character is a bastard (which he is). Even his values – which are as usually sacrosanct as the Stars and Stripes they wrap themselves in – are marked as both questionable and hypocritical. Even in “The Searchers”, Wayne still upholds the family he has banished himself from. Born of post war darkness, its central themes virtually predict the Rock and Roll years thanks in no small part to the performance of Montgomery Clift.
I haven’t seen “Red River” since I was a teenager and that was as part of an all night movie marathon of Clift films. In retrospect, I may have dosed off. Actually that would have been fairly unlikely given the amount of amphetamines in my system at the time. A word to the wise; speed and cinema are not as compatible as one might imagine! I made the same mistake with Usual Suspects and had to remain in the cinema for an additional two sessions based on some peculiar idea I had that it might have ended differently on alternate viewings.
This film seemed completely different to the one I’d seen and research tells me there is a much maligned alternate version of the film that includes a spoken narration - so there is that possibility too. Certainly, watching it again last night , I was in completely unknown territory.
The film opens with Wayne breaking off from a Wagon Train. The Wagon Master begs him to stay; this is a wilderness where only community can survive. Wayne’s girl wants to come too but he refuses to take her. He tells her it is for her safety but her arguments are convincing. One senses Wayne continues to say no merely because that was the first word that escaped his lips.
As Wayne reaches the Red River, he sees smoke on the horizon. The Wagon Train has been wiped out. One might suspect Wayne’s judgement to be prudent except he has lost the woman he loves. Wayne and sidekick Walter Brennan join up with a young boy - the only survivor of the massacre – and they head off into Texas.
Wayne selects some land he wants. A pair of friendly Mexicans arrive to tell them that this land belongs to their boss. They are welcome to stay the night but then they should be moving on. Wayne says this is too much land for any one man to own (except maybe him) and he kills the messenger. He justifies himself by saying that the Mexicans had only stolen the land from the Indians anyway.
I wonder how this line went down when the film was first released. With the levels of casual racism running rampant within the society of the day, did many audience members simply accept Wayne’s position? Certainly, given its context within the film, director Howard Hawk knew what he was saying. Scene by scene, he scratches away at Wayne’s good guy image. The whole notion of manifest destiny had been bought into question by war with the Nazis. Whilst racial stereotypes were (and are) still common in cinema, films were beginning to emerge that questioned racism. The civil rights movement was a decade away but the questions were starting to be asked.
Back in the film, it is fourteen years on and Wayne’s ranch is now a sea of cattle. The young boy has grown up to be Clift and is accepted as heir and son. The cattle must be driven north to the railway. Wayne discusses his plans in front of the graveyard of those he has killed to keep the land.
What follows has been described as a Western version of “Mutiny on the Bounty” but it is far more subtle than that. Wayne’s threats to flog or hang deserters may run contrary to his own wagon train departure but they are not delivered with the eye rolling ham of a Captain Bligh. Wayne plays the bad guy as hero and his actions are merely half a shade to the left of what we expect from Western heroes of the time.
Clift takes the herd and the script may as well have been written by Freud. Wayne vows revenge and the resolution is a cracker. When two titans square off, what possible force could step between them. Fans of Hawk’s work will not be surprised.
Hollywood churned out thousands of horse operas. Most of them are fairly ordinary, some are good and a few are great. This is one of the best.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Its an amazing film full of depth and emotion, its the attention to detail that make this film above average. Superb filmmaking allround.