This great film is literally about COWBOYS. It is also historic in it's content. This was the beginning of the "Chisholm Trail" route used by the Texas cattle ranches to get to the railroads in Kansas. It is also about American "winner take all" business, only here on horseback. Terrific atmosphere by Hawks, a top notch cast and Wayne's best performance.
shareGood movie, but not nearly Dukes best. The Searchers and True Grit were both better movies. It was good, and the only major flaw was the overacting done by the two females. Joanne Dru was absolutely terrible in this one. Very beautiful, but a terrible script. The Duke was excellent however.
shareArguing whether Red River, The Searchers or True Grit were Wayne's best movie is futile at best. Wayne was great in all of them. Different characters, script, directors, supporting actors, etc. It's just personal opinion about your favorite film.
And I'd say Dru wasn't over-acting. That's they way her character was written....a strong, opinionated woman. An affable female couldn't keep up with either Wayne's or Clift's characters and wouldn't have created the necessary friction to move the story along.
Agreed with regards to Dru. She was not very good at all and her character was simply annoying.
shareAs far as my favorite westerns go, I would rank ' The Ox-Bow Incident ' as number one, with Red River and Shane tied for second place.
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