Despite the reputation of one of the biggest westerns in John Wayne’s entire filmography, it is in fact not his performance that is the best Red river. Of all the legions of the films that John Wayne has played over the years, more than one handful are counted among the best westerns, of which Diligence,, Researchers,, She wore a yellow ribbonAnd of course, Red River.
Released in 1948, Red river was one of the six films that John Wayne made with Howard Hawks, one of the most famous directors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was a Westerner, like so many others that the star had appeared until John Wayne’s career, but he was considered a particularly special film for him.
After all, Red river reached levels of critical acclamation that none of the westerns of John Wayne had been able to reach (and was no longer twinned until 1952, the date on which he made Researchers). This notion makes it more surprising than as well as Wayne is in the film, it was an even more significant release for his co-star.
The real main character of Red River is Matt, played by Montgomery Clift
As the biggest star of the Western genre, John Wayne naturally has the best invoicing Red river And was the most visible actor in terms of marketing, but looking at him, he becomes clear that the real main character in history is not him, but his adopted son, Matt Garth, played by Montgomery Clift.
It is the character of Clift – and not that of Wayne – that the public is clearly supposed to loom, because he is the one who is represented as being right from a moral point of view. The story is clearly built around his character bow, Matt being the one with the love interest in Tess Millay de Joanne Dru, and Thomas Dunson de Wayne serving as an obstacle to their romance.
Thomas Dunson is not a villain, but he is an antagonistic figure and an obstacle to Matt while he fights to win a livelihood, respect for his paternal figure and a place appropriate to the ranch.
The performance of Montgomery Clift in Red River is better than John Wayne
Because Red river It was more on Matt than Thomas Dunson, the number of development of Howard Hawks film deposited in Matt Garth awarded to Montgomery Clift an excellent opportunity to present his actor talents. Here, during his first time by making a film, the stage actor delivered a really large performance, with his darker and quieter nature offering a perfect contrast to Wayne “cook“Persona.
Playing a main character in a film with a larger star than life like John Wayne in the distribution cannot be easy, but Montgomery Clift withdrew him, actually describing Matt as the most friendly character between the two, and does it by infusing enough emotion in the role so that the public really cares about his fate in Red river.
