Red River (1948)

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  • Hi

    With Dunson returning to Texas hell bent on getting enough men together to get his revenge on Matt. The herd moved on.

    Soon they discovered a wagon train under attack by Indians and going to the rescue Matt meets Tess Millay (Joanne Dru) in quite dramatic fashion as watched by Cherry Valance (John Ireland) he remove an arrow from her shoulder.


    Regards

    Arthur

  • Hi

    Now deeply in love with Tess before resuming his journey with the herd to Abilene Matt gives Tess the bracelet that years before Dunson had given to Fen and had later recovered off of a dead indian.

    Days later Dunson catches up with the wagon train and finds out that Matt isn't far in front. Talking to Tess Dunson offers to marry her if she will give him a son. He then notices that she is wearing the bracelett that he gave to Matt.

    Regards

    Arthur

  • Hi

    As the herd moves on day after day the drovers begin to think that Abilene is a myth, when suddenly they hear a train whistle and then discover railroad tracks. Matt asks the driver the way to Abilene and is told to just follow the tracks.

    Finally the herd reach the outskirts of the town where they are met by Melville (Harry Carey sr) the representative of an Illinois Cattle Company, who tells matt to drive the herd straight through the town to the cattle pens.

    Regards


    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

  • Hi

    As Dunson approach Matt he dares him to draw and when Matt refuses he starts to hit him, At first Matt refuses to retaliate but finally responds and the two men engage in a fist fight. Tess finally realising that the two men are to fond of each other to kill either one, grabs Simms Reeves (Hank Worden) gun and stops the fight.

    Regards

    Arthur

  • Note the one B&W pic above of Matt & Tess from the message 4/6/07, where she is wearing her undergarments & he has the bullet scar across face; does that mean that scenes shot after the fight?


  • Hi Arthur


    In relation to that famous speech by Dunson the actual dialogue is as follows:


    'Cherry was right your soft. You should have let em kill me because I'm goen kill you, every time you turn around expect to see me, because one time you'll turn around and I'll be there, I'm goen to kill ya Matt.


    :agent:

    Regards
    Robbie

  • Thanks for the clip, gt. What are the maximum minutes of movie you can post on Youtube? I'm thinking some of our members with rare JW movies could upload them on Youtube, then they could be posted under the respective title in the Movies forum. It would be better to have the whole movie there, if possible.



    Chester :newyear:

  • Is it me or does this ending seem to betray the entire movie?

    I'd love to hear your opinions, thanks

  • Hi Parish,


    Thanks for your post,
    for the benefit of continuity,
    I have merged your post,
    into the dedicated 'Red River' thread.
    Feel free, to browse through the thread,
    where I believe your point has been discussed.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • Thanks and I do see that this is ground already covered here.

    The ending, for me kinda diluts the whole movie. John Wayne's brilliant portrayal of a man descending into madness from greed and betrayal is completely diffused by the "awwshucks, love ya man" closer. I thought it would have been better if his obsessions ultimately killed his character.

  • Hello Parish,

    In the book by Alan Le May, that is exactly how it ended. He died in the charge on the village trying to kill who he thought was little Debbie. You're right, that is the way the story should end, but I guess they wanted to end the movie on a higher note. I recommend the book, it is a great read.

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Thanks for that suggestion, I will look it up at the library :thumbs_up: . The movie's sudden turn around felt very forced to me. Like they were running out of film and they wanted to wrap it up on a nice note. Why must almost every movie HAVE to have a happy ending? I mean even Disney killed off alot of parents in the beginning of some of their classics so why not try this formula in a mean western! :wink_smile:

  • Hello Parish,

    In the book by Alan Le May, that is exactly how it ended. He died in the charge on the village trying to kill who he thought was little Debbie. You're right, that is the way the story should end, but I guess they wanted to end the movie on a higher note. I recommend the book, it is a great read.

    Mark



    This is The Searchers you are referring to.:wink_smile:

    I think Hawks original idea was for John Wayne's character to die in Red River but either he or more likely studio changed the ending.

    It is a bit of a cop out but really would you have wanted to leave the cinema with poor John Wayne dead:cry2:

    It is amazing that his best roles apart from playing with octopuses he always ended up dead. The Shootist, The Cowboys, Sands of Iwo Jima and if original stories had been followed he would have died in The Searchers and Red River:ohmy:

    Thank the Lord he lived in True Grit although the way the book is written Mattie Ross
    is "not long for this world"


    Mike