Doman Ruggles: Analysis of Red River

"Red River" (1948), directed by Howard Hawks: I love John Wayne, a true icon of Americana, and the unfamiliarity of this film made me momentarily doubt my credibility as a fan. I was glad to finally have an opportunity to view something of his that I could not recite dialog from. I wasn't sure what to expect from such an early work, and as we had discussed in forum before viewing, it was his first film as the antagonist. Looking back, even through his real life personal vices, I think he did a great job at being bad for the first time. I had a problem with the idea of scenes being labeled "homoerotic", especially when old west machismo was the norm symbology of the American hero during this period. We label male bonding moments of mutual admiration as some version of pass the carrot, in a time that the quiet, hard, and distant male was being enlightened to the values of vulnerability and emotional communication. Imposing our current perverse interpretation of masculinity and sexuality, debases the fundamentals of heroic male iconatry necessary in our diluted and disturbing age of Aquarius. I digress. The character development was thorough, with enough background information to fulfill the plot functions as they progressed. I admire the straight-forwardness and simplicity of old westerns, because they had strength without CGI, fireballs, and nudity; and humor was pure but still funny, without the need for nasty. The shot I call the "finality of an embrace", in the beginning when Wayne leaves his woman with the wagon train; I knew that something was going to happen to her by how intense their goodbye was. Especially when they wide angled her solo against the ridgeline, with a fadeout. I also liked the rebuilding propaganda inferences meant for the postwar Americans; the "we can make something of ourselves if we work hard and stay the course" concept. The post civil war reference to rebuilding, plays well with the reconstruction of post WW2 in 1948. They all endure hardships, but stay the course, and finish out all the better in the end. Was almost a Hughes' film 80's ending. I was surprised to see the shift in morality, when Wayne offered half of his assets to a taken women so he could get an heir. It resembled the moral conundrum posed by Robert Redford in "Indecent Proposal" (1993), but I would imagine the idea was much more risqué 45 years ago. The passage of time was handled well, with the increased number of graves on Wayne's ranch; bodies of those he had to kill to defend his budding ranch over the years. Was very subtle, and kept obscured in the background behind the actors. I liked how Wayne made sure that even his enemies had a Christian burial, and that something was said over them. There were several instances presented, of a morality I believe we have generally lost as a culture; Holding to one's word meant much more than it does today. You have to give a DNA sample and a first born to get anyone to believe you living in the current realm of internet cons, mail fraud, and "players". Loyalty without personal gain, integrity, thought of others over self, principles, scruples, and finally duty. Those in some form of service usually have a better grasp of what these things mean than the average shmoe, so identifying with them is much easier. It was refreshing to see these simple things portrayed so well. A few things that I found lacking; the instances of dialog inferring that the two boys were going to eventually fight, but it never manifested or resolved the conflict, but one ended up taking a bullet for the other while attempting to protect him from Wayne; the fight between Wayne and Mathew was anticlimactic, with all the build up of impending death and doom, only to have a spastic Tess disperse it so easily, made for a very weak and disappointing finale. Overall though, another good film from Wayne that I had the pleasure of watching with others of like minds. The great expanse of an untamed environment, was forever captured in black and white. It was amazing to have all of those cattle actually there, vs. CGI reproductions. How much more interesting the set was back then, and how more real our heroes were to us and the original ideals of the founding fathers.