308 - Red River, United States, 1948. Dir. Howard Hawks.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

308 - Red River, United States, 1948.  Dir. Howard Hawks.

You love him, don't you?  He must love you.  That wouldn't be hard.

Tess Millay is speaking to Tom Dunson about Matt Garth.  She met Matt eight days ago as he was driving 10,000 cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, across a brand new path called the Chisolm Trail.

The cattle belong to Dunson.  He branded them Red River D.  Not M.  He is the owner.  The boss.  And the adoptive father of Matt Garth.

And he is on his way to kill Matt.

Why?

This is a story about the love of an older man for a younger man.  Father and son.  Mentor and apprentice.  Master and protege.

It is the story of the older man Nadine Groot, played by Walter Brennan, and the younger man Thomas Dunson, played by John Wayne.

It is the story of the older man Thomas Dunson and the younger man Matt Garth, played beautifully by Montgomery Clift.

There are brothers--or brother types--with Matt and Cherry Valance, played by John Ireland, and there are other older men, such as Harry Carey's Mr. Melville, who steps in as a father figure and helps Matt negotiate with Melville for the sale of the cattle.

Then there are the real father and son playing on the film--Harry Carey Sr. as Mr. Melville and Harry Carey Jr. as Dan Latimer.

Noah Beery Jr.'s father Noah Beery, however, does not appear, nor does his uncle Wallace Beery nor his father-in-law Buck Jones nor his son Buck Beery.

It is significant that Harry Carey's character is named Mr. Melville, as John Wayne's character shares strong similarities with Captain Ahab the whaler.  He is after something.  Obsessed with it.  Willing to stake his life for it.  Beginning to go mad with his obsession.

And the men are ready to mutiny.

Tom Dunson began on a wagon train fourteen years ago.  And he decided to go out on his own.  South.  To Texas.  Old Man Groot went with him.  And they picked up the boy Matt Garth along the way.  Matt was a kid.  He escaped the attack by the Indians.  The attack that Tom's girl Fen did not escape.  He brought a cow with him.  And added it to the three cows Dunson had.

They made their way to Texas.  Crossed the Red River.

And made a life for themselves in the vast open land on which Dunson staked his claim.  The Man.  The Old Man.  The Boy.  With four cows.  On thousands of acres of land.  All alone.  Together.  Making their way.

Fourteen years later they have 10,000 cows.

They breed most of them.  Appropriate some of them.  Just as they did the land.  Now they have their dream.  Dunson's dream.  The great cattle ranch with the Red River D.

But the Civil War and the corrupt Carpetbaggers from the North have taken away the cattle market in Texas, so they must head north to Missouri.  A thousand miles.  At ten miles a day.  They will travel about a hundred days.

The hands sign up for hardship.  Lean rations.  Long days.  Scarce clean water.  Wind.  Rain.  Heat.  Dust.  Hostile Indians.  Border gangs.

And Tom's cold, hard driving.

The one thing he demands is that you do not quit.  If you try, he will go after you.  Whip you with a lariat.  Shoot you.  Hang you.  Whatever it takes to finish the job.

Tom hates quitters.

But he has pushed the men to the very edge.

And his father figure Groot and his son figure Garth must do something about it.

Fathers and Sons.

Turgenev, 1862.

Hemingway, 1933.

Does the father kill the son?

Abraham and Isaac.  God and Jesus.

Does the son kill the father figure?

Oedipus and Laius.  Hamlet and Claudius.

Does the father lose the son?

Jacob and Joseph.  David and Absalom.  Daedalus and Icarus.

Does the son lose the father?

Bambi.  The Lion King.

Do they reunite?

The Prodigal Son.

How does the love of a woman intervene?

The man wants to build something with his own two hands.  Then he wants a son to give it to, because he will not live forever.  He wants to pass on his work.  Leave a legacy.

Howard Hawks has made one of the most exciting films we have seen this year.

With 1,500 real cattle.  Real horses.  Real wagons.  Real rivers.  And real men really crossing them.

Vital.  Significant.  Alive.

It is Mr. Melville himself who says, "There's three times in a man's life when he has a right to yell at the moon: when he marries, when his children come, and when he finishes a job he had to be crazy to start."

Howard Hawks is all about that idea.

And we understand it.


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Howard Hawks is one of the great directors.  Telling vital stories in all the different genres.  Working with great star actors.  And great character actors.  The list of his films is breathtaking.  Here are just the more famous ones.

The Dawn Patrol (1930).  Scarface (1932).  Twentieth Century (1934).   Barbary Coast (1935).  Bringing Up Baby (1938).  Only Angels Have Wings (1939).  His Girl Friday (1940).  Sergeant York (1941).  To Have and Have Not (1944).  The Big Sleep (1946).  Red River (1948).  A Song is Born (1948).  I Was a Male War Bride (1949).  The Thing from Another World (1949).  Monkey Business (1952).  Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).  Rio Bravo (1959).  Hatari! (1962).  El Dorado (1967).  Rio Lobo (1970).