Red River (1948)
Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 7,966
My Rating
Movie Info
John Wayne -- showing off a darker side to his screen persona than we'd previously seen -- portrays Thomas Dunson, a frontiersman who, with his longtime partner Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), abandons a westbound wagon train in 1851 to make his future as a rancher in Texas. Doing so forces him to abandon Fen (Colleen Gray), his fiancee -- and when she is killed in an Indian raid a short time later, it taints any good that Dunson might find in the future he carves out for himself, destroying any
May 15, 2001
MGM Home Entertainment
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Cast
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John Wayne
Tom Dunson -
Montgomery Clift
Matthew Garth -
Joanne Dru
Tess Millay -
Walter Brennan
Nadine Groot -
Coleen Gray
Fen -
John Ireland
Cherry Valance -
Noah Beery Jr.
Buster McGee -
Harry Carey
Mr. Millville -
Harry Carey Jr.
Dan Latimer -
Paul Fix
Teeler Yacey -
Mickey Kuhn
Matthew as a Boy -
Chief Yowlachie
Quo -
Ivan Parry
Bunk Kenneally -
Ray Hyke
Walt Jergens -
Hank Worden
Sims Reeves -
Dan White
Laredo -
Bill Self
Wounded Wrangler -
Hal Taliaferro
Old Leather -
Lane Chandler
Colonel -
Paul Fierro
Fernandez -
George Lloyd
Gambler -
Lee Phelps
Gambler -
Glenn Strange
Naylor -
Tom Tyler
Quitter -
Wally Wales
Old Leather -
Shelley Winters
Dance Hall Girl
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All Critics (20) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (0) | DVD (5)
The staging of physical conflict is deadly, equalling anything yet seen on the screen.
Top CriticImmaculately shot by Russell Harlan, perfectly performed by a host of Hawks regulars, and shot through with dark comedy, it's probably the finest Western of the '40s.
Even despite a big let-down, which fortunately comes near the end, it stands sixteen hands above the level of routine horse opera these days. So strap on your trusty six-shooters and race to the wind-swept Capitol, you lovers of good old Western fiction.
It's a sign of the movie's complexity that John Wayne, often typecast, is given a tortured, conflicted character to play.
[VIDEO ESSAY] The homosexual subtext in Howard Hawkes's 1948 western is a widely overlooked, yet unmistakable element, to one of the most popular examples of the genre.
Howard Hawks stages the definitive cow opera with beautiful, lyrical, exciting sequences of stampeding, rough weather, cowboying and Indian skirmishes.
Of the may big names involved in the making of Red River, few made greater films.
A grand, sprawling tale of the civilizing of the west.
This brilliant Hawks Western, one of the decade's best, has been interpreted in different ways, but at its core is the contrast between John Wayne's and Montgomery Clift's leadership style and perception of manhood.
Hawks never did anything self-consciously. You always realize how great his films are after you're through enjoying yourself.
It's the best western of the 1940s.
Filled with beautiful black and white photography, especially for its era, Red River is an atmospheric ride a la Unforgiven.
There have been many classic westerns but this Hawks masterpiece certainly ranks among the best of the genre.
Red River (1948) is a classic western (considered by many critics to be one of the ten best westerns ever made), a sweeping, epic story about a cattle drive
Audience Reviews for Red River
Super Reviewer
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- Tom Dunson: I never liked strangers, maybe it is because no stranger ever good newsed me.
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- Cherry Valance: There are only two things more beautiful than a good gun -- a Swiss watch and a woman from anywhere.
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Foreign Titles
- Río rojo (ES)


John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. That's a whole lotta beef, partner!