Great but Flawed

I agree with you adamcar. It seems like they injected the women into the film. I thought the film was great, and would still have been great without them. The two female characters weren't developed storywise, so they seemed very one dimensional -- we never really knew anything about them, and didn't really care about them as characters. But in an effort to sell more tickets, I guess the producers decided to add some romance. It worked anyway. Good film -- cheesy ending, but good film.

"Thank you for the coffee...and the SEVENTEEN floor climb!"

i do see your point,,,but but dont forget this guy (matt) was his adoupted son???and as corney as it may sound he loved him

The gal scenes are weak and kind of conventional, but they're so short that I'd call them trivial compared to the overall greatness of the film. How to end the film is problematic, and Hawks uses Dru to resolve it. The plotline is carrying us to a tragic outcome, where someone is going to get killed. But who? The problem is that neither of the leads is an expendable villain. Maybe Dunson would qualify in a book but not in a movie. And certainly not Garth. The story is too monumentally affirmative to end tragically. Everyone is complaining about how Dunson has too much anger and hatred welled up in him to be disarmed by a glib dressing down by a skirt. Before dismissing this device consider that Hawks undoubtedly pondered over how to resolve the ending and that, given the story, this is the best solution *dramatically* that he could have come up with. If you can think of a better solution, then I'd like to hear it.

What bothers me more than the gals is the way Cherry and Garth's relationship is left unresolved. Despite the ominous comments by Groot about how the two are bound to go at each other in a bad way, Hawks has them hitting it off alomst immediately. Cherry has a strong role, and the interplay between him and Garth is fascinating. It's too bad Hawks disposes of this character with a (literally) cheap shot. In fact, I bet there could have been a great sequel built around these two.

Hawks western stuff is about male bonding, and you can see lots of parallels between this one and The Big Sky. Both have problems, lapses if you will, that remind me that Howard Hawks was a rather loose director, whose way of making films is much like the way a jazz pianist "wrong fingers" the keyboard. And that's part of what makes him great.

A bigger flaw isn't neccesarily the fact Wayne's character lets bygones be bygones but the fact that all his crimes are so easily forgiven and in the end everything is fine and even comedic while Dunson was nothing more than a insane cold hearted killer who should have been hung himself.

This movie was good, but missed on a few points. While it is almost a 10, I ended up having to rate it an 8. One of the glaring mistakes was the woman. The lady at the beginning is fine, as it only takes a few moments and sets up feelings throughout the movie. The introduction of Tess is basically a distraction which was handled badly. Obviously inserted to be used as a tool for the ending. Hawkes feels it necessary to remind us all of his personal views on strong women more than allowing the movie to play out correctly. She should have been deleted completely, as nothing about her character was believable. All of her talking could have been done better and fit the story line appropriately by Groot. He knew both of the main players for many years, so him standing up and finding a middle ground would have played perfectly. Groot should have gone out of town, brought Dunson in by himself in the morning to the bar, Matt presents the check as proof of good intentions and results, but Dunson storms across the room, throwing tables and chairs out of the way, with Groot yelling at them to stop, attacks Matt ferociously, but when he doesn't defend himself Dunson stops short of strangling him and reflects on his love for his son. The tension is held to the last moment and although not all is forgotten in odd laughter, like Hawkes chose to show, forgiveness is accepted for the adopted families and male bonding without cheesy speeches.

Of all the movies I have ever seen-this definitely holds the distinction of "Best movie with worst ending". Gilda with Rita Hayworth comes in a close second.
Now "Worst movie with the best ending"--sixth sense.
Thank you

Spot on adamcar. I feel exactly the same way. Red River is a great movie until the moment Joanne Dru appears with that arrow in her shoulder. Isn't she in any pain. Whap! Arrow in the shoulder, and she acts as if her hair is a little messy. A couple posters found this moment erotic?!! Maybe if she moaned and sweated a little ,like she would have if she were hit with a real arrow. Further scenes with her and Wayne and Clift bring the movie to a standstill. I guess the filmmakers felt the movie needed some romance. What a mistake. Maybe with a stronger actress, Liz Taylor would've been perfect, the romantic angle might have worked but then again maybe not because her dialogue is plum awful as well. Too bad , it almost ruins what is otherwise a classic and maybe the first great western. Clift and Wayne never better.

Yep. Awful ending ruins really good film.
(see also: Hitchcock's "Suspicion")

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