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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Any short list of the all-time greatest Westerns is bound to include this 1948 Howard Hawks classic about an epic cattle drive. Red River features one of John Wayne's greatest performances. Like his Ethan Edwards in John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers, the Duke plays an isolated and unsympathetic man who is possessed by bitterness. Wayne is Texas rancher Tom Dunson, who adopts a young boy orphaned in an Indian massacre. That boy, Matthew Garth (played as an adult by Montgomery Clift in his screen debut), becomes Dunson's assistant and heir apparent--until Dunson's temper gets out of control during a long cattle drive and Matt intervenes to stop him. From that moment on, Dunson swears he will kill Matt. Red River has everything a great Western ought to have: a sweeping sense of history, spectacular landscapes, stampedes, gunfights, Indian attacks, and, of course, Walter Brennan as Dunson's crusty old cook and comic sidekick, Nadine Groot. As a special bonus, the film also features the legendary Harry Carey (upon whom Wayne would base some of his gestures in The Searchers) and his son Harry Carey Jr, who became a fixture in Ford and Hawks' Westerns. Red River is essential for anyone who loves Westerns, or movies in general. This one's a real beaut. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The importance and quality of this movie is beyond doubt. But the transfer of this dvd is rather poor. There are mistakes as in an old film-copy, and the resolution especially with bright landscapes ist rather low. The sound is so faint I had to turn the tv on maximum volume.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
If you can see past the ending of this film (pretty poor...) you will have witnessed one of the best westerns ever made.
ps its in B&W as thats how it was filmed.
ps its in B&W as thats how it was filmed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
If you want a western that has its being outdoors in the wide open spaces, then Red River fits the bill perfectly. It also concentrates on the hard life of the true cowboy in the context of a 1,000 mile cattle drive from Texas to Missouri, rather than on the gunfighter. Director Howard Hawks pulls out all the stops in his pictorial description (and I longed for the film to have been made in colour) of the drive, with a cast of thousands of beasts driven by c. 20 men, and we experience the stresses of their task up hill, down dale and at river crossings, all wonderfully conveyed in close-up and long-shot by Hawks' roving camera.
The human drama, a battle for supremacy, prestige and authority fought out from almost the first moment to the last by a cattle baron (John Wayne) and his adopted son (Montgomery Clift), both men of exceptional will and stubbornness, forms the emotional heart of the picture, and the rest of the large cast essentially make up both backcloth and chorus against which and whom the protagonists test themselves and each other. Both actors demonstrate great energy of being and feeling, and if Clift in the end takes away the main acting honours, this is because his role is the more subtle - a young man of sensibility made tough and unbending from Wayne's example and the requirements of the harsh terrain.
But the movie has its faults. First, it's too long at 133 mins; there are periods where neither story nor pictorial record are advancing. Second, the concentration on the two main characters leads to a lack of differentiation in the secondary players. In particular, when Cherry (John Ireland, always an intriguing actor), a cowboy gunfighter, is introduced, he promises to introduce an interesting sub-plot of malevolence and rivalry with Clift. But both character and this sub-plot soon dwindle away and are wasted, with Cherry becoming an anonymous figure well before the end. Third, as other reviewers here have pointed out, the sentimental ending is so disappointing. Everything has pointed to a final reckoning and then at the last minute Hawks ducks the issue - not only reducing the stature of the two protagonists but diminishing the whole point of the previously feisty Joanne Dru.
These drawbacks are enough, to my mind, to ensure that people who rate this up there with John Ford's "The Searchers" are fairly wide of the mark.
The human drama, a battle for supremacy, prestige and authority fought out from almost the first moment to the last by a cattle baron (John Wayne) and his adopted son (Montgomery Clift), both men of exceptional will and stubbornness, forms the emotional heart of the picture, and the rest of the large cast essentially make up both backcloth and chorus against which and whom the protagonists test themselves and each other. Both actors demonstrate great energy of being and feeling, and if Clift in the end takes away the main acting honours, this is because his role is the more subtle - a young man of sensibility made tough and unbending from Wayne's example and the requirements of the harsh terrain.
But the movie has its faults. First, it's too long at 133 mins; there are periods where neither story nor pictorial record are advancing. Second, the concentration on the two main characters leads to a lack of differentiation in the secondary players. In particular, when Cherry (John Ireland, always an intriguing actor), a cowboy gunfighter, is introduced, he promises to introduce an interesting sub-plot of malevolence and rivalry with Clift. But both character and this sub-plot soon dwindle away and are wasted, with Cherry becoming an anonymous figure well before the end. Third, as other reviewers here have pointed out, the sentimental ending is so disappointing. Everything has pointed to a final reckoning and then at the last minute Hawks ducks the issue - not only reducing the stature of the two protagonists but diminishing the whole point of the previously feisty Joanne Dru.
These drawbacks are enough, to my mind, to ensure that people who rate this up there with John Ford's "The Searchers" are fairly wide of the mark.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A would-be classic handicapped by an idiotic ending.
This is a brilliantly done western about a cattle drive following father and orphan as they take along with their men cattle to sell. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Joseph
Red River - In Colour!
I saw a colourised version of this classic western on tv today, so I am thinking it exists in dvd as well, and may be a Ted Turner Productions version. Read more
Published 9 months ago by stunsail
avid watcher
Bought as present for father in law, but already had this one, so had to return.
Good service on refunds.
Good service on refunds.
Published 15 months ago by K. Jacobs
For A Great Actor
I have always been a fan of John Wayne films, I think that this film was quite a good one. The remake of this film with different actors didn't come anywhere near to the original. Read more
Published on 23 May 2010 by Mr. Cyril H. Morse
An outstanding western
In my opinion, one of John Wayne's finest films. He is more than matched by Montgomery Clift who shows the star quality that he fully deserved. Overall an outstanding western!
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by Mark Time
Clift and Brennan can't save this.
Another very poor, overrated western by H Hawks.
Music ok despite being repetitive.
Wayne play an obnoxious , bullying , tyrannical, madman. Read more
Music ok despite being repetitive.
Wayne play an obnoxious , bullying , tyrannical, madman. Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2009 by MrViewer
Despite a serious flaw this movie is a Great ride!
This Howard Hawks 1949 production is hailed by most reviewers as one of the truly great Westerns - and it is. The only flaw is the deviation from the Borden Chase novel. Read more
Published on 23 May 2009 by DoDo Fan
A Western Masterpiece - Buy it.
You like westerns? Buy this.
You like John Wayne? Buy this.
You like Howard Hawks-directed movies? Buy this. Read more
You like John Wayne? Buy this.
You like Howard Hawks-directed movies? Buy this. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2009 by P. Bayley
Respect for an old classic
Red River concerns the story of an epic cattle drive. John Wayne portrays Thomas Dunson the ranch owner, and Montgomery Clift portrays Matthew Garth his adopted son. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2008 by Bob Salter
One of the best of the genre
Either you're into Westerns or you're not. I have a list, starting with "Western Union" and ending with "Red River," though not necessarily in that order. Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2007 by boytoy
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