Montgomery Clift- Rick Nelson
Montgomery Clift resembles a young Rick Nelson in this movie. Reminds me of Rio Bravo
shareClift was considered for the role of Colorado that Nelson got in Rio Bravo, but was too old by then.
The theme music from Red River was reworked as the song "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" sung by Rick and Dean Martin in RB. One of several connections between the two films.
I didn't know Clift was considered for Rio Bravo or any John Wayne film after Red River. Monty was certainly too old and worn to give that film any appeal for girls or younger fans like Ricky Nelson could. Monty was in his slightly dazed and blinking himself awake stage. Ricky did fairly well but just didn't belong on screen while Wayne was still doing top work. While Dean Martin did fit in.
I always expected to find perhaps snide remarks from John Wayne about the casting of Nelson, but it seems he knew it helped at the box office and accepted it. I don't know if it started with Red River, but there was often a younger actor with girl appeal co-starring in John Wayne's movies and their acting talent could range from great, like Clift, to much weaker. It was part of the formula his movies often used in the '50s and '60s and they had success with it.
Pretty certain that Clift was considered for Dean Martin's role of Dude, and not Colorado. That would have made much more sense, with the character's alcoholism mirroring Clift's heavy predilection for substance abuse at that point.
Still, as much as I love Clift, the casting of Rio Bravo is just perfect to me. When asked what are the "coolest" movies ever made, Rio Bravo is often one of the first to jump to mind. Seeing Martin and Nelson up there with Wayne and Brennan is a major reason for that.
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Yes, I believe Clift was considered for Dean Martin's role, not Nelson's.
But it's interesting that OP feels that Clift in Red River in some way resembles Nelson in Rio Bravo. When Peter Bogdanovich interviewed Hawks, they mentioned how Hawks gave Nelson Clift's mannerism from Red River:
PB: You gave him Clift's old mannerism from Red River of rubbing the nose with his index finger.
HH: We did anything we could to help him. For two or three days I even shot scenes I didn't need.
PB: Just to relax him?
HH: Yes. And after a few days I thought he did quite well. I imagine it added about a million and a half to the picture's gross. Over in Japan, Ricky Nelson's picture in the ads was in the middle--Wayne and Martin were smaller on the side. We happened to catch him just at the height of his popularity. When we went to a bullfight in Tucson during the shooting, they paid very little attention to Wayne--they just watched Rick Nelson. I think he's OK.
PB: Not exactly Montgomery Clift, but...
HH: Oh, my God, no, but you can't find those around every corner.
On a side note, although he allegedly spent three days just to teach Clift how to fight, it seems that Hawks always considered Clift a very talented actor. share
SeanJoyce, you're absolutely right, my mistake, I had misremembered. Clift was indeed considered for the role of Dude, not Colorado. Don't know how I could have had such a memory lapse! Just thinking too much about the thread topic, I guess.
Even so, given his physical and mental deterioration since Red River over a decade before, I think Clift would have been all wrong for the part. Oddly, even though he was over three years younger than Dean Martin he seemed older. There was no vigor left in him, no confidence, nothing if you will left to salvage in a Dude played by him, vs. Martin's obvious inner strength which is finally awakened in his portrayal of Dude. Kind of sad, really.
Others who according to Wayne's biography were mooted for the role of Colorado included Frank Gifford, Michael Landon, Earl Holliman, Richard Jaeckel, Rod Taylor, Murry Hamilton and Stuart Whitman. Of those I think only Taylor and Whitman would have worked out decently, as they did in later Wayne films.
The roster of those proposed for the role of Dude reads like an A-list of Hollywood stars - most of whom would have been completely unsuited to the part for various reasons, though two or three might have worked. Besides Clift and Martin, these included Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, William Holden, Henry Fonda, Van Johnson, and Richard Widmark...and a few absolutely unfathomable choices such as Spencer Tracy, James Cagney and Cary Grant! Tracy and Cagney would have been better suited to the Brennan or Bond parts.
Of course, we're getting away from Red River here.