Red River (1948)

John Wayne gives "one of the best performances of his career" (CineBooks') as Tom Dunson, a cattle baron who built his ranch with hard work and a determination to kill any man who would dare try to take his land. But when plummeting livestock values endanger his beloved ranch, Tom and his adopted son (Montgomery Clift in his screen debut) set out to get a fair price for their cattle by driving them through the treachorous Chisolm Trail from Texas to Kansas. Battling Indians, stampedes and dissenation among the ranch hands, Tom proves that he'll stop at nothing to reach his destination. He'll risk danger, hardship, betrayal... and perhaps even his own sanity.
 


Editor's Note

RED RIVER, Howard Hawks's masterpiece, is one of the greatest Westerns ever filmed, a saga of obsession and rivalry between a man and his adoptive son amid an epic struggle for survival in the Old West. Tom Dunson (John Wayne) journeys west to Texas to build a cattle empire and adopts Matthew Garth, a young boy orphaned by an Indian raid. Years later, Matthew (Montgomery Clift) returns from the Civil War and joins Dunson on a massive cattle drive north undertaken to avoid financial ruin. Stampedes and Indian attacks build tension, but it is Dunson's ironfisted leadership that causes the most problems, finally bringing the action to a boiling point that pits father against son. This bold canvas of the American frontier features stirring performances, including Clift in his first film and Wayne in one of his finest and most complex roles, stunning photography shot on location in Arizona, and a perfect balance of action, drama, romance, and comedy from one of Hollywood's greatest directors.


Plot Summary

The ambitious dreams of a self-made but cruel cattle baron are threatened when his rebellious adopted son returns home from the Civil War and proves himself a more natural leader.