Red River paired a western star with a newcomer who had never made a film.
John Wayne played rancher Thomas Dunson. Montgomery Clift played Matt Garth, the young man he raised.
All 33 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, giving the film a perfect 100%. Its Popcornmeter trails at 87%, from more than 5,000 audience ratings.
In June 2008, the American Film Institute ranked it No. 5 among the greatest Westerns ever made. Only The Searchers, High Noon, Shane and Unforgiven rank higher.
James Agee covered Red River for Time:
“It is a rattling good outdoor adventure movie,” he wrote.
Bob Thomas filed his verdict for the Associated Press:
“Red River contains everything a western should have and throws in a few things more.”
The tension between the two leads strengthened their scenes together, but Wayne and Clift had their differences off camera.
Why John Wayne and Montgomery Clift Didn’t Get Along Off Camera
Wayne departed from Hawks’ direction in one key scene, per TCM. Hawks wanted him to cringe; instead, Wayne turned his back and quietly vowed to kill Matt.
It caught Clift off guard, but Hawks liked it enough to keep it.
At 6-foot-5, Wayne had seven inches on Clift. Hawks steadied the newcomer with a David-versus-Goliath framing and told him to underplay.
Wayne wasn’t sold on Clift as a cowhand at first. Their first face-off on camera convinced him otherwise, he told Hawks.
That approval had limits. Wayne called Clift arrogant, with an expletive attached, per Life, via TCM.
Clift joined some of Wayne and Hawks’ nightly poker games but stayed outside their circle. He explained why:
“They tried to draw me into their circle, but I couldn’t go along with them,” Clift said. “The machismo thing repelled me because it seemed so forced and unnecessary.”
Still, the film earned Oscar nominations for Motion Picture Story and Film Editing. The AFI Catalog cites a budget that swelled from $1.8 million to $4.1 million. In December 1948, Daily Variety pegged its domestic gross at $4 million to $5.5 million.
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