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Red River (1948)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
6/22
6/22: Red River was going well until Joanne Dru showed up, and then everything changed for the worse.
Howard Hawks should've gone back to the editing room one more time and made the necessary changes which includes cutting out
Joanne Dru completely. I thought about giving the film a '9'; when she went away, things were better, and I was hoping not to see her
again. Yet the final fifteen minutes was enough to convince me that my time had been ultimately wasted. What a terrible
ending with Joanne Dru having her way. So is the editing that rushed through almost all of the intertitles.
Why? Why? Why Joanne Dru? She single-handedly ruins the movie. Red River should be about men...no women allowed. For a
bit while, I was confused whether or not Coleen Gray and Joanne Dru were playing the same character, but whatever.
Interestingly, John Ireland (Cherry Valance) ended up marrying Joanne Dru; I didn't know this until afterwards. In the meantime,
I don't understand why Thomas Dunson didn't take his love interest with him at the beginning. What a joke he is, honor bullshit
and all.
Meanwhile, Red River is Montgomery Clift's first movie, but it was theatrically released after
The Search which got shelved for two years due to a combination of editing and legal issues.
He's better this time around but is strangely one-note. On the other hand, John Wayne was delivering a masterful performance until
Joanne Dru showed up; afterwards, he stopped being effective on top of his absence for twenty long minutes! The same can be said
for Walter Brennan who was on a serious roll.
On the positive side, the cinematography is outstanding despite the terrible traveling matte here and there. The setting may be
Texas, but it was actually shot on location in Arizona. There are many beautiful scenes in regard to the cattle drive. Then again,
I'm reminded of a superior film called The Culpepper Cattle Co. which isn't a remake,
but there are plenty of similarities. Personally, I prefer it over Red River for showcasing a high level of realism.
All in all, by getting rid of the women, Red River would've been on its way to being labelled a Western masterpiece.