Red River

NOT RATED

BEAU'S NOTES: Three great examples of John Wayne playing different shades of an Anti Hero. In The Searchers he plays a homicidal racist (this while Clint Eastwood was still in short pants), in Red River he's the heavy, and in Liberty Valence he plays a second or third tier role just to support Jimmy Stewart ... Wayne had MUCH more courage in his choice of roles and pushed the boundaries of his art much farther than he is ever given credit for.

Red River is essential for anyone who loves Westerns. Tom Dunson (Wayne) builds a cattle empire with his adopted son Matthew Garth (Clift). Together they begin a massive cattle drive north from Texas to the Missouri railhead. But on the way, new information and Dunson's tyrannical ways cause Matthew to take the herd away from Dunson and head to a new railhead in Kansas. Dunson, swearing vengeance, pursues.

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.

STARRING: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, John Ireland, Noah Beery Jr., Harry Carey, Harry Carey Jr., Paul Fix, Mickey Kuhn, Chief Yowlachie

DIRECTED BY: Howard Hawks

Approxomate Running Time: 133 Minutes

DVD Release Date: November 18, 1997

U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries.