“Cherry was right. You’re soft, you should have let ’em kill me, ’cause I’m gonna kill you. I’ll catch up with ya. I don’t know when, but I’ll catch up. Every time you turn around, expect to see me, ’cause one time you’ll turn around and I’ll be there. I’m gonna kill ya, Matt. “

‘Red River’, directed by Howard Hawks in 1948, is an American western movie starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Wayne plays Thomas Dunson, a single minded cowboy who wishes to set up his own ranch. He travels with a wagontrain to Texas, but decides to go his won way to find pasture suitable for cattle. On the way he finds and adopts an orphan called Matthew. Fifteen years later, Dunson has a large herd of cattle and his adopted son, now played by Clift, is his second in command. They plan to drive the cattle across America to Missouri, but on the way his crew mutiny, frustated by his intransigence. This leads to a game of cat-and-mouse as Dunson pursues his son and team bent on revenge. It’s a surprisingly tense movie. Despite the exterior settings there is something confining and focused about this film, each stop the cattle drive makes turns into a claustrophobic and instense psychodrama. The performances are great, especially Wayne as the mildly psychotic and stubborn Dunson, but the bit parts, the eccentric cast of cowboys, makes this film distinctive.

Would I recommned it? I’m still not a fan of westerns, but this one has a scale and pace that is pleasing, and somehow manages to retain a tight, tense atmosphere. Watch in a double bill with ‘The Iron Horse‘.