Red River Vhs John Wayne
One of the finest westerns ever made, this “monumental, sweeping and powerful” masterwork (Variety) features ardent performances, stunning cinematography and adventure on a grand scale. Starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift (in his screen debut), Walter Brennan, Harry Carey, Sr. and Noah Beery, Jr., Red River is a hard-hitting, action-packed adventure that captures the grandeur, majestyand dangerof the wild American West.Wayne gives “one of the best performances of his career” (Cinebooks) as Tom Dunson, a self-made cattle baron who’ll do anything to protect his way of life. So when plummeting livestock values demand that he drive his herd through thetreacherous Chisholm Trail, Tom proves that he’ll danger anything to reach his destination even his own sanity.
Talk in regards to epic grandeur! This magnificently photographed account of the basi cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail has everything you could ever want in a western: gunfights, stampedes, Indian attacks, hangings, betrayal, revenge, romance, glorious scenery, and a towering performance by John Wayne that prefigured his definitive portrayal of the bitter Ethan Edwards in John Ford’s The Searchers eight years later. Tom Dunson (Wayne) adopts a young boy, Matt (brilliantly played as an adult by Montgomery Clift), whose family has been massacred by Indians. Years later, after Dunson has become a successful rancher, advisor and protege have an acrimonious falling out for the duration of a grueling cattle drive and go their discerned ways, with Dunson vowing to kill Matt. Red River is a true classic and unquestionably one of the greatest Westerns of all time. –Jim Emerson
Red River Vhs John Wayne Picture
Red River Vhs John Wayne Pic
Red River Vhs John Wayne Photo
Red River Vhs John Wayne Photo
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102 of 103 people found the following review helpful.
 ***** Movie. ** DVD.
By J. Michael Click
“Red River” deserves the adulation that critics, film scholars, and most significantly audiences have lavished on it since it is premiere in 1948. One of the earliest “psychological” westerns, preceded by Selznick’s “Duel in the Sun” (1946) and followed by King’s “The Gunfighter” (1950), etc., “Red River” maintains interest after half a century due to the distinctive tensions amid it is characters, and the supreme skill with which those characters are played. Set versus the backdrop of the original cattle drive along the Chisum Trail, the story basically boils down to an epic conflict among two men of dissimilar generations. John Wayne is the older sharp-shooter who builds up an empire through remorseless wiles and steely determination; Montgomery Clift, who is evenly proficient with a gun, is the young surrogate son who have a tendancy to manage through intellect and reason rather than violence. These two opposing personalities and styles in the end erupt into a mortal combat under the strain of driving over 9,000 head of cattle throughout the hostile terrain of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
As the volatile Dunson, John Wayne gives one of his most finely nuanced performances. Living by a personal code of ethics which doesn’t always translate into lawful or even rational behavior, Wayne is neither sympathetic nor deplorable; he’s merely human. His performance is bolstered by the contrast provided by the quietly charasmatic Montgomery Clift, whose unspoken love and respect for Wayne’s father figure shine through the fear and intimidation he expresses. (Remarkably, this was Clift’s basi performance in front of the movie cameras; the stage-trained actor seems to have adapted instinctively to the more subtle technique required of film work.) Various other characters come among these two to create a great deal of unforgettable triangles allround the film. Three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennan is terrifi as Wayne’s longtime sidekick whose allegiance ultimately shifts over to Clift; Paul Fix likewise does a fine occupation in a minor role as the reputation whose fate jumpstarts the conflict amid the two leading men. Most arousing and attention holding among the supporting cast is John Ireland who plays the curiously-named Cherry; the Freudian scene in which he and Clift admire each other’s pistols, and then get started to shoot them off together is plainly astonishing. It’s worth noting that Cherry is the initial one to try and intervene for the duration of the climactic showdown among Wayne and the “son” he contemptuously characterizes as “soft”; evenly substantial is the fact that the reputation who at long last brings solution into the movie is a “strong” woman (played by Joanne Dru).
The MGM DVD release of this classic United Artists film is, in my modest opinion, abominable. The source print is visually a disaster, chock full of lines, jumps, flutters, speckles, and other visual noise. The grays are grainy and at one point, the picture even is briefly – and distractingly – out of focus. The sound isn’t much better: it crackles and pops and the volume is inconsistent. Adding insult to injury, there are no extras at all, not even cast biographies or production notes, much less a theatrical trailer. This is one classic film that demands – and richly deserves – to be restored, remastered and repackaged.
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
 Red River is an Epic of Western Filmmaking!
By James Koenig
Let it be known to one and all: “Red River” is one of the best Western movies of all time! It is a supperlative western film, telling the story of the original cattle drive from Texas to Abeline, Kansas, which would later be known as the Chisholm Trail.
The American West is known for it’s rugged individualism, and starring in this epic film is Hollywood’s #1 rugged individual, John Wayne. Wayne plays Tom Dunson, who on a wagon trail of settlers going west, decides to strike out on his own for Texas country and establish his own cattle ranch. In leaving the wagon train behind, Dunson likewise leaves behind the love of his young life, saying he will send for her when he finds his homestead. But that same day, the wagon train is attacked by Indians, and his love is viciously killed. The only survivor of the massacre is a spirited young boy, who is found wandering in a daze with his cow. The boy, Matthew Garth, is adopted by Dunson. The stage is then set for the remainder of the story, the struggle to establish the biggest cattle ranch in Texas, and the massive cattle drive to get the cattle to market.
Howard Hawks directs this masterwork of filmmaking, and takes Borden Chase’s (Saturday Evening Post) serialized storyline, and spins a visual saga of obsession and rivalry among Dunson and and his adoptive son Matthew Garth. The film co-stars Montgomery Clift as Matthew Garth. The cast is very favorably rounded out with the addition of Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, and John Ireland. The film’s musical score by Dimitri Tiomkin is as utterly composed for the old west as the black and white rendering of the western barren landscape in the film.
It is Dunson’s dictatorship resolve to get the cattle to market that at last leads to the supreme conflict in the film, the battle of wills amongst father and son. Matthew Garth is forced by dire circumstances to lead a mutiny versus the tyrannical Dunson, and take the herd to Kansas, leaving Dunson alone in the wilderness. Dunson, stung by the sensed betrayal of his adopted son, promises to catch up with Garth, and kill him. The film’s climax is the showdown among Dunson and Garth, on the streets of Abeline.
This is a film that you will get enjoyment from watching for the initial time, and for some times afterward. It is one of Wayne’s best films, and the film that traditionalisti him as a Hollywood western film icon. John Ford, a close friend of Waynes, and a premier conductor of his time, commented upon seeing Wayne dominate the film: “That son of a bitch may in truth act!”; perhaps the most eminent form of praise Ford ever gave.
If I had to commend one western film, this is the one I’d choose.
31 of 36 humans found the following review helpful.
AN AMERICAN MASTERPIECE
By MOVIE MAVEN
Although there are unquestionably weaknesses in the screenplay and score for RED RIVER, there is also no question that this film is an American masterpiece.
Howard Hawks who directed one of the best comedies Hollywood ever produced, BRINGING UP BABY, took on an closely totally unlikely task: making an adult Western, fundamentally a cattle drive- inspired remake of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, with over 9,000 head of cattle and the men who, for respective reasons, go on the drive from Texas to Kansas. John Wayne is the boss, Dunson the cattle baron, who becomes obsessed with his mission–getting his cattle sold and onto the railroad. If there is a “villain” in the movie, Dunson is it and Wayne plays him wonderfully. The drive, itself, takes over three months and it is grueling: psychological, as well as physical, troubles beset the men. Wayne’s “adopted” son, Matthew, is second in command and it is the kinship among these two men that makes up the heart of the movie and makes the movie as deep and moving as it is.
Director Hawks had seen a young actor in a Broadway play and brought him to Hollywood to make his screen debut as “Matthew.” In this crutial role, Hawks had encountered one of the most under-rated, talented, complicated, handsome actors Hollywood ever saw: Montgomery Clift. If Clift had done no film work besides Fred Zinneman’s FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and Hawks’ RED RIVER, he’d is worthy of a place in cinema history.
Quibbles? The score by Dmitri Tiomkin could surely stand to be a bit more subtle; both the creation by the writers and the playing by Joanne Dru of the major female role is completely one dimensional; the last few moments of the movie are as absurd as the rest of the two hours+ are fascinating. So, an exclusively thrilling movie, even with a few faults.
If for no other reason, all true movie lovers ought to see the way the stampede is filmed. The D.V.D. version has no “extras” to speak of, but the print looks beautiful. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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