Friday | February 14, 2014 7:00 pm

Red River

Screening on Film

Directed by Howard Hawks.
With John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru.
US, 1948, 35mm, black & white, 126 min.

Red River plots bifurcating lines, splittings and divisions among cowhand that only a strong female can bring together. Dark and unforgiving hero, Tom Dunson (John Wayne), who would be father, lover and companion of Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) carries the trappings of a Melvillian character in the great space of a cattle drive that viewers of the landscapes will note goes practically nowhere. An epic equal to The Searchers, Hawks’ film binds the brief history of the cattle drive and the “cowboy” to a searing treatment of human force and fragility.