I understand the reason why a lot of people are disappointed over the ending of Red River. The movie, up until the ending, does a wonderful job of drawing us in to the story of the hard-nosed tyrannical cattle owner Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) and his adopted son Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift). Dunson and Garth along with Dunson's lifetime side kick and cook, Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan) have set out along with many other hired men, to relocate as much of Dunson's cattle as they can. Against terrible odds of survival the hired men set out with dreams of making $100 a person for their efforts. Along the way many of the men talk of an easier and quicker passage for relocation through Abilene, but Dunson will not hear of it unless he has absolute proof that a railroad runs through this spot. This becomes the seedling of mutiny. After many days of adversity the hired men become more restless. We slowly see that his men are giving up on Dunson's methods of leadership by intimidation and have become increasingly tired of Dunson and his stubborn plight of relocating his cattle across the states while battling through hostile territories. We also see that Dunson is starting to break under the strain of herding two drives, one of his cattle and the other of his cattle herders. Dunson resorts to shooting and killing some of the men that tried to quit the drive. Dunson is not only becoming ornery with his hired help, but with Garth and Root as well. Dunson snaps at Groot and doesn't listen to Garth's thoughts of a different passage. Dunson won't sleep at night for fear of other men quitting on the job. The hired men begin to think that they can either do battle against the ever waiting Indians or other cowboys trying to steal Dunson's cattle, or they can run away from Dunson. One-night three hired men take a chance and try for their escape once Dunson finally collapses into sleep from exhaustion. These escapees figure they don't want to end up like the others who wanted to quit and were killed, buried and read their last rites by Dunson. In this way Dunson is a precursor to Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction. Except when Dunson is sermonizing, he's already killed you.
Once the surviving escapees are caught and brought back to Dunson, Dunson only needs a second to figure on how he will kill them. When he mentions that he intends to hang the deserters, the rest of the men, including Garth rebel against Dunson. The quick draw of his son helps to spare the life of the deserters, but also severs the father and son relationship to the point that a broken down and dejected Dunson tells Garth, "I'm going to find you Matt, I'm going to find you and then I'm going to kill ya". This moment was very powerful. And it is perhaps the best moment in the film. This event refocuses Dunson and it makes him blind to anything else in the world. The rest of the movie starts back up with a new dynamic. I started to care more about what would happen to Garth and Dunson than I did at all about the destination of the cattle drive. You know the ending is going to be severe and that someone is going to have to die. Well, you would think so.
And this is where the debate starts up. Some people really like the feel good ending. For me, the ending comes across as what I would expect a movie made in 1998 to end like, not 1948. That damn speech by that woman (I won't mention her name), who came into the story more than two thirds the way through, that just tidies everything up, I just can't see it. All in all, I can't hold that against the movie. It was so excellent up to that point. I can accept the ending; I just don't like it. And furthermore, Howard Hawks didn't like the ending either.
What I did like was: The scene of the cattle before the drive, the one that does a 360-degree pan. For its time it was very impressive. Walter Brennan. Then again, I like almost anything with Walter Brennan in it. The on going joke about losing his teeth in a poker game is fantastic. However, I didn't get to see the version that Brennan narrates; I saw the one that plays out through a diary. Apparently the Brennan narrative is the better version. Or so Howard Hawks seemed to think.
Montgomery Clift was a revelation. It's too bad he died so early in his life.
Despite the happy ending, it still ranks 10/10.
Clark Richards
Once the surviving escapees are caught and brought back to Dunson, Dunson only needs a second to figure on how he will kill them. When he mentions that he intends to hang the deserters, the rest of the men, including Garth rebel against Dunson. The quick draw of his son helps to spare the life of the deserters, but also severs the father and son relationship to the point that a broken down and dejected Dunson tells Garth, "I'm going to find you Matt, I'm going to find you and then I'm going to kill ya". This moment was very powerful. And it is perhaps the best moment in the film. This event refocuses Dunson and it makes him blind to anything else in the world. The rest of the movie starts back up with a new dynamic. I started to care more about what would happen to Garth and Dunson than I did at all about the destination of the cattle drive. You know the ending is going to be severe and that someone is going to have to die. Well, you would think so.
And this is where the debate starts up. Some people really like the feel good ending. For me, the ending comes across as what I would expect a movie made in 1998 to end like, not 1948. That damn speech by that woman (I won't mention her name), who came into the story more than two thirds the way through, that just tidies everything up, I just can't see it. All in all, I can't hold that against the movie. It was so excellent up to that point. I can accept the ending; I just don't like it. And furthermore, Howard Hawks didn't like the ending either.
What I did like was: The scene of the cattle before the drive, the one that does a 360-degree pan. For its time it was very impressive. Walter Brennan. Then again, I like almost anything with Walter Brennan in it. The on going joke about losing his teeth in a poker game is fantastic. However, I didn't get to see the version that Brennan narrates; I saw the one that plays out through a diary. Apparently the Brennan narrative is the better version. Or so Howard Hawks seemed to think.
Montgomery Clift was a revelation. It's too bad he died so early in his life.
Despite the happy ending, it still ranks 10/10.
Clark Richards