Rating: 
Summary: One of the Truly Great Westerns
Review: This a film that should have been shot by John Ford, the father of the Western. The great interaction between Clift and Wayne is absolutely superb. This is as good as Wayne gets, as good as his performance in The Searchers. The DVD is so-so, with no extras. It deserves much better, as does The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. (And why isn't Fort Apache on DVD???) By the way, for the reviewer who complained this was not in widescreen, it was not filmed that way. Outside of the The Big Trail, almost no film was widescreen until 1953.
Rating:
Summary: Best Western of ALL-TIME
Review: This is by far the greatest western of all-time.Action, Drama, Romance,Comedy,Adventure, Outstanding Acting, and an unbelievable director were 7 key elements that make this film a must see.The movie contained one flaw.Howard Hawks forwarded the story by writing that was very hard to make out.FINAL WORD:STUPENDOUS!
Rating:
Summary: My favorite John Wayne film
Review: This is my all-time favorite John Wayne film -- and one of the best westerns and films of all time. It's a simple tale of a cattle drive, a cruel, driven man (John Wayne), and his sensitive adopted son (Montgomery Clift). Clift is maybe the only actor I've seen -- except for James Stewart -- who can command by his performance equality in a scene with Wayne. I thought he was superb. The supporting cast is similarly good: Walter Brennan as comic relief and moral arbiter sets the standard for the type. The ending, however, would have been better had a female character, Joanne Dru, never have been introduced. This is a story about men; let them work out their problems in their own way.
Wayne, in a reversal of usual Hollywood practice, plays a man older than himself in this movie. He was about 40 when "Red River" was released, but his character in the movie is probably closer to fifty. This is probably the first time he played a tough old man, but he went on to play about the same role dozens of times.
The virtues of the movie, in addition to the cast of Wayne/Clift/Brennan, is the black and white photography. A scene which terrified me when I saw this movie as a small child is when Wayne takes on the Comanches at night in the river near the beginning of the movie; Then, there is the justly-famous scene when Wayne strides angrily toward a showdown with Clift and the cattle herd parts for him like the Red Sea did for Moses. And the "hee-haw" scene....and...and.... This is a memorable film.
Smallchief
Rating: 
Summary: Red River
Review: This is one of the better westerns from this time period. It has all the ingredients. Cattle drive, indian fighting, fast draw and fist fights. It was also a good start for Montgomery Clift. At over 2hrs in length it was one of the longer movies of this time period which allowed for good development of the players. The DVD itself was of high quality and a very enjoyable watch.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: This is one of the greatest Westerns ever. This says alot,
considering Westerns are the greatest genre in film.
Rating:
Summary: The Duke in his first grey hair role
Review: This is one of those odd, great films about a love affair. In this case it is a love affair between John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Joanne Dru even mentions it when the two men are fighting presumably to the death. "Can't you see you love each other?" The film used a special filter that made the clouds look incedibly...cloudy.This was the first of the John Wayne films where John Wayne becomes recognizable as the bigger than life guy the impressionists still imitate. There is one scene that I can't figure out. Watch as Joanne Dru gets hit in the shoulder with an arrow. How'd they do that? Very good film. Tom Willett
Rating:
Summary: Rollicking Action Western that Made Wayne a Huge Star
Review: This is the break out Howard Hawks movie for John Wayne that made him a huge star. Wayne's film character is established forever in this movie about a man who travels with a lone companion Walter Brennan to Texas to establish a huge cattle ranch along with an infant claimed from a wagon train massacare. Moving 20 years forward, Wayne is the leader of a cattle drive to move the herd across Indian country in a desperate post war effort to get the first ever drive to Abiline. Wayne takes all the responsibility,part of his character that stays with him thoughout future films, that wears him down into a virtual tyrant that is exiled from his own herd. Wounded by his own fast shooting adopted son played wonderfully by the diminative Montgomery Cliff, Wayne vows to return and kill him. As the herd moves forward into the hostile territory, they all know that Wayne is coming up from behind and he is seeking vengence. The final scene is full of tension as Howard Hawks makes the scene more even between the small Cliff and the 6' 4" Wayne by having Wayne shot with a significant wound to give the story more of an even fight appeal. This allows Wayne, with significant blood loss, to be able to fight the modest built Cliff to an even fight. The sound track is rollicking and perfect for a cattle drive and who better for a chuck wagon cook than the imortal Walter Brennan. Look for both famous character actors Harry Carey and Harry Carey. Jr. This is the granddaddy of all cattle drive movies or TV series.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, gritty, touching...
Review: This review has spoilers, for those that may not want to read them.If I could I'd give this four and a half stars, because there are a few flaws. The biggest flaw, I'd say, is the romance. I am a woman and I like to look at good-lookin' ultra manly men (like John Wayne), but I don't need a tacked-on romance to appreciate a good movie. I realize they think they needed the Tess character in order to bring about the reconciliation between Tom & Matt, but it really doesn't work - partly because Joanne Dru just isn't convincing in the role. She's got some good moments (mostly when she's alone with Wayne), but her ineptitude is painfully obvious at the end, at the pivotal moment when she breaks up the much-anticipated fight between Tom & Matt. So, having gotten that aside, I will say what works. John Wayne. Awesome. A wonderfully rich and nuanced performance. This is one of the films you want to show someone who (maybe because of his politics?) still wants to believe that Wayne was a bad actor. As Tom Dunson's paranoia and his tendency toward cruelty grows, you want to detest him but you can't quite do it - I guess because you know that he can be tender and good (his sweetness with the girl he leaves behind, the fact that he plans to buy red shoes for the wife of the cattlehand that is killed in the stampede, etc.), and because JW makes him so real & vulnerable. Montgomery Clift. His performance is nearly as compelling as John Wayne's, but since the role is not quite as complex (i.e., not on that dangerous edge between good and evil), I guess he has less of an opportunity to show what he's capable of. You're not allowed to take sides between he and Dunson, because you understand where both of them are coming from. If you look closely, you can see tears in his eyes at the film's climax - when he is smiling at Dunson even as Dunson is coming at him with a loaded weapon. It's extremely touching in an extremely unsappy way. Walter Brennan turns in a nuanced performance, too. He is the comic relief, certainly, but that doesn't preclude him from being an interesting character. The scenes when he is torn between his undying friendship for Dunson and hatred for what Dunson has become are particularly rich. Cherry Valance is an interesting character and the actor who plays him (John Ireland?) is very good. I feel like more could have been done to bring this out, but for whatever reason he doesn't have much to do in the film. All the other minor characters are on par here - everyone is top-notch. I don't mind this film's ending nor do I find it a bowing to Hollywood convention - convention that normally does dictate a happy ending. These are two men who love each other like father and son. The son will not draw, and the father will not take his son's life. We know this and we know that this is the one time Tom Dunson will change his mind. It is the only ending this film *could* have. I do, however, think it could have been handled differently... they should not have gone quite as abruptly from anger and violence to grinning schoolboys as they did. And as I said before, a stronger performance from Dru would have made a big difference. There are so many moments and images that just stay with you - for example, the anticipation that builds as we see Dunson arriving in Abilene with his band of mercenaries. We are only allowed to view him from a distance. Then he gets off his horse and our view of him is partially obscured as he makes his way toward Matt through a sea of cattle - a sea that parts and makes way for this huge, swaggering, angry figure. It's just plain cool-looking; I can't put it in different terms than that. Then as Matt refuses to draw his weapon, we see him come closer and closer to the camera, to the point where he fills the entire screen and his image is blurred. I am tempted to posit here that the camera has never before or since loved anyone like it loved Duke. His presence and charisma are astounding. This gets my vote for one of the best westerns ever made, and while I've certainly not seen all of John Wayne's 100+ films, this has got to be right up there with the best he's ever been.
Rating:
Summary: A Just Miss
Review: When this movie focuses on the cattle drive and the drunken insanity of John Wayne, it is a masterpiece. The scenes with the two women, however, are painful to watch and seem almost to belong to another movie. Just for that reason, the ending is disappointing. Montgomery Clift is wonderful as always; John Wayne was quite a surprise.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly epic Western, One Of The Best of All Time!
Review: Without a doubt one of the best westerns ever made. The film has everything; a truly epic scope, Montgomery Clift, Howard Hawks and of course John Wayne. Easily the best film about cattle driving. A western of epic proportions with awe-inspiring cinematography by Russell Harlen that perfectly captures the beauty of the open trail. This film is also blessed with one of Dimitri Tiomkin's best scores, Tiomkin also scored 'High Noon'. Montgomery Clift is excellent in his film debut as Matt, a brooding performance that showcased his talents that would later flourish in movies like 'From Here To Eternity' and 'A Place In The Sun'. But John Wayne surprised everyone from John Ford to himself creating an extremely complex multi-layered character; Thomas Dunson, that remains one of his best performances, second only to Ethan Edwards in Ford's 'The Searchers'. And what would a great Howard Hawks western be without Walter Brennan? An ambitious western that covers a lot of ground and is filled with classic Hawksian touches especially during the campfire scenes. The scenes right before the stampede where there is complete silence (only a coyote is heard from a distance) and any sound could stir up hell-storm of crazy running cows is pure Howard Hawks. And then one of the most exciting sequences in western history ensues, easily the best stampede ever filmed. As for the story, it is basically 'Mutiny On The Bounty' for the open trail. Dunson is being forced to round up his cattle (and some of his neighbors) and take them up the Chisholm Trail. An epic and extremely difficult cattle-drive becomes possible because of Dunson's determination. But when another easier trail is made clear but Dunson decides to do it his was, the hard way. This makes the men uneasy and Dunson becomes a tyrant and slowly goes mad. This is one of the best psychological transformations of any character in film history. This causes a mutiny that is lead by Matt (Clift), his own step-son, that makes for one of the most compelling conflicts in film history. But, as memorable as this western is, it still has one or two 'bad scenes'. Basically almost all the scenes with Joanne Dru are badly made, save the scene when Dunson asks her to bear his son. The scene when Clift first meats her during the Indian attack is especially bad. And the silly ending is a huge letdown. These two driving forces clash in a much-anticipated showdown and shouldn't be stopped by a woman. The intensity near the end, I think, was so unbearable and Hawks had too many emotions exploding in those few moments that maybe he didn't know how to handle them. But still this remains a memorable western and one of the best. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 10!
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