Red River
Red RiverThe movie I decided to watch was Red River, produced and directed in 1948 by Howard Hawks. It starts out with John Wayne who stars as Tom Dunson, and Montgomery Clift as Matt, his discovered and kind of adopted son. The old west at this point is depicted as every man is responsible for his own destiny and that hard work and honesty will eventually bring success. The main character Dunson is a perfect role model for self-sufficiency and someone who focuses on building something from nothing.
Dunson and his sidekick Rupp, played by Walter Brennan, decide to leave a wagon train that is headed for California and head out to Texas on their own. This scene establishes how women are viewed by the main character in a touching bit of dialogue where Dunson tells the eager and motivated girl that where they are going is too tough for women and that he will "send for her later." She is ironically killed by Indians some 5 hours later.
The two of them made it as far as the Red River, which is the beginning of Texas. During the night Dunson and Rupp are attacked by Indians. As it turned out these were the same Indians, who ambushed the wagon train, they had left earlier in the day. Dunson and Rupp had seen the smoke from the attack that killed the girl as they were riding away. It seems to me that Indians in this film are portrayed as dangerous enemies who are very sneaky. Also in this part of the movie Dunson and Rupp somehow knew how to answer Indian calls, even though they were two white guys from Missouri. It also intrigued me that the two of them shot every Indian that came out of the bushes the very first time. Good shootn'!
The day after the Indian attack they crossed the Red River and headed south. This is where they ran into a young teenage boy (Matt), who was the only survivor of the wagon train that was headed for California. Matt naturally joins up with Dunson and Rupp and quickly comes out of his trauma-induced stupor to banter intelligently with Dunson about never trusting someone you don't know. They move further south (all the way to the Rio Grande) and take over some land. Title to the land was settled by Dunson's quick draw, the first demonstration of settling disputes with gunplay. Matt contributes his cow to the herd, which consists of one bull. The civil war has come and gone and we are told that at some point Matt goes off to fight like all men should.
It is now14 years later, Matt is back from fighting in the Civil War and returns to the ranch where Dunson and Rupp have built a huge homestead. They now own several thousand head of cattle. After...
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