MovieChat Forums > Red River (1948) Discussion > It nicked the fat (Spoilers)

It nicked the fat (Spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by TheLongHair
2 replies | jump to latest

Now I've never been a fan of John Wayne, mostly because he rarely acted beyond being the "John Wayne character", the "right-wing, manly-man" character. He stuck to that character quite rigidly and so could not develop into the specific character for each role. That being said, I still decided to check out "Red River" (hey, it's got Montgomery Cliff!) and I got to say John Wayne actually impressed me. The dark brooding atmosphere, the homo erotic gun banter, the talented cast, and the fact that John Wayne was for the most part playing against type. Even John Ford was surprised by John Wayne in this film. I become engrossed in this dark tale of determination/obsession. Then Joanne Dru comes along and annoys the living hell out of me. I can hear the studio heads going "We need a love interest for Montgomery Cliff, one that's not John Ireland, so shove one on screen." The notion that Monty (or anyone else) could stand her let alone fall in love with her in course of eight hours nearly wrecks the whole tone of impending tragic doom.
Then the final showdown comes, the culmination of the stubborn quest for revenge and pride is at last and unavoidably at hand. The three best shots in the West (Montgomery Cliff, John Wayne, and John Ireland) square off. John Wayne approaches Montgomery Cliff with murder in he's eye and John Ireland leaps into action, shooting John Wayne who fires back. Both men are hit and felled, John Wayne staggered up and goes on towards Montgomery Cliff and then... and then...
They made up! What?! They admit they love each other and to top it all off John Wayne says that the gunshot wound he received from sharpshooter John Ireland isn't fatal, it isn't even bad at all, "It just nicked the fat". No! You just got shot! You just spent the entire movie in an unyielding quest for murder! And now you're all one big happy family with a new daughter-in-law, and minus John Ireland who is never seen or mentioned again and presumingly is dead. No! I literally got out of my seat the shouted at the TV "No! You gotta to be *beep* kidding me!" The film cops out on the sad ending it deserves and needs choosing instead to pull a complete and fraudulent 180 from dark and epic to 'ah shucks wasn't that an adventure.'

[–] joeparkson 16 years ago

You're right, the ending is a cop-out. I'm sure John Ford would have done it differently. In a Ford ending, even if both Dunson and Garth lived, they would have parted in bitterness.

I respect John Wayne for being willing to show the dark ugly side of the "John Wayne character".

He displays many unnattractive qualities in "The Searchers" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

[–] dark_frances 16 years ago

Hm. Yes indeed the buddy-buddy thing in the end was slightly silly - but this movie never really aimed to be a tragedy. It got gritty at times, but overall it had a rather lighthearted tone, especially since Dunson exited the scenery; a dramatic ending would have been unsuitable in this case. I mean they were all afraid of Dunson alright, but the tension was much higher while he was still with them; after he was left behind, he somehow became rather a boogieman, something to be scared of around a camp fire, and much less a serious dramatic threat. That's how I saw it at least.
However I was still hoping for a brief gunfight, with Monty severely wounding the Duke - but not mortally, or rather vice versa (since, considering Matt's character, shooting Dunson would have been quite incoherent with everything). Or indeed, with Dunson shooting Matt, and Matt shooting Cherry to protect Dunson. But again, this would have befitted a dramatic western like The Searchers, or even the playfully serious The Westerner, not this little enthusiastic and warm-hearted flick. And besides, it was obvious ever since Dunson's conversation with the girl, and from the moment he decided to take her with him, that the boys will end up kissing and making up. Yeah the confrontation could have been more tense, or Dunson could have been presented in a less overtly revengeful light, but it was a rather fitting ending.

...And still one more thing: Dunson was never really an absurd character. He was excessive at times, and went totally nuts when he wanted to hang the three men, but that was after a long time of bearing a huge responsibility on his shoulders, and to a large degree due to lack of sleep. Otherwise, he was never completely a one-way minded tyrant - else Groot would never have become such good friends with him, and he would never have managed to gather so many faithful men for the ride. Matt had indeed done the right thing through and through, and he was obviously repentant for that, since he didn't want to draw upon Dunson. Even if Dunson had truly kept that grudge intact all those weeks (which I doubt - again, see his first scene with Matt's girl), he ought to have been completely wacko not to see that he was wrong, in the end. And in his normal state (which excludes his self after those sleepless nights), he was never that much of a wacko...

Words, Mr. Sullivan, are precious things. And they are not to be tempered with!