Red River

Red River (1988)

** (out of 4)

Watered-down remake of Howard Hawks' 1948 classic has James Arness stepping in for John Wayne and Bruce Boxleitner doing the Montgomery Clift part. Once again we see tyrant Arness taking a cattle drive 1,000 miles and battling a wide range of things. I always found it interesting when these made-for-TV flicks would come along and remake classics from the past. I think sometimes they worked to minor entertainment (STAGECOACH) but at other times you really have to wonder what the entire point was. This remake runs nearly thirty-minutes shorter and everything missing is pretty much the heart and soul to the original movie. It really does seem like the filmmakers and cast simply sat down, watched the original and then just done a cheap copy of it without trying to improve anything. Some people might give this film credit for being smart enough to not trying anything different but in the end we're left with a rather bland film without any excitement and little entertainment. I think the biggest problem is the actual screenplay, which adds very little to the original movie and what it does add doesn't get the job done. On the cattle drive there's a kid involved but this goes no where. We also have a former slave along for the ride who gets racist cowboys after him but again, this adds nothing. The entire relationship between Arness and Boxleitner has no emotion behind it and everything that worked in the original is missing here. You don't care about either men, their cattle, their journey or anything else. The entire film is just a reenactment of the original and it just isn't entertaining. Both Arness and Boxleitner sleepwalk through their roles as does Gregory Harrison as Cherry Valance. Ray Walston takes over the role that Walter Brennan originally played and he's the best thing here. RED RIVER has very little going for it and if you think it's unfair to compare the film to the remake then I'd agree. The only problem is that the film doesn't work on its own either.

I like James Arness. I grew up with Gunsmoke. Unfortunately, he doesn't dominate a scene like John Wayne, nor does he have the acting range of Wayne. Bruce Boxleitner's Garth was not as good as Montgomery Clift's, nor was Gregory Harrison's Cherry up to the standards of John Ireland's. However, these are not fatal to the movie. Dunson is the heart of the movie. If you're going to remake Red River, you'd better have a good Dunson.

Maybe it has to do with learning the right cadence of delivering your lines so that they take on real meaning, maybe it's reacting to the other actors so that it seems like you're actually listening to them.

I'm a little surprised, since Arness was a friend of John Wayne's and acted in several of his movies. You'd think Arness would have learned something. Just compare the bar scene where Dunson lays out the plan and the rules for the upcoming cattle drive.

Too bad. This movie has a great cast, with old names from the past (like Ty Hardin, John Lupton, LQ Jones, etc.), but every single member of the cast has done far better work in other movies or other TV shows.

It also hurts that the original was directed by Howard Hawks and had that wonderful Dimitri Tiomkin score.

Though James Arness and Bruce Boxleitner are a good fit for the roles originated by John Wayne and Montgomery Clift and Ray Walston stands in very well as the old-timer sidekick to both instead of Walter Brennan, the television remake of Red River sinks right to the bottom.

The thing that I missed most from the original film was Dimitri Tiomkin's music, one of the finest film scores ever done. It really set the tone for the film, actually helped give you that sense of movement of the cattle, helped you empathize with the size and scope of the herd and the task that John Wayne undertook in the original.

If the producers had done nothing else, they should have paid whatever price was necessary to get that music.

Whole chunks of dialog from the original is taken. There is a new plot component in this film that of black cowboy Stan Shaw who Boxleitner and Arness take on despite racial objections from some of the ex-Confederate soldiers would have made. Shaw does a fine job and his inclusion is the only improvement on the original because in real life Wayne and Clift would no doubt have had black cowboys on their drive.

Laura Johnson as a Civil War widow is an extreme let down from Joanne Dru's slinky Tess Millay from the original. It wasn't Johnson's fault, just not a good idea to change her type. But that was necessary to set up the confrontation between Bruce Boxleitner and Gregory Harrison who has John Ireland's part which is also a big plot change from the original.

I think those who remember fondly the John Wayne classic will be much let down with this one.

Everybody knows that John Wayne was the King of the westerns, but dumping on this TV movie remake is really unfair. Compared to all the reality and talent shows, this was a nice change of pace. Lots of us wish more westerns were made but it is a genre that is sadly overlooked with all the spy, war, kung fu and bizarre sex shows being produced nowadays. The story line for this remake was an improvement over the original. Bruce Boxleitner is still a hunk. James Arness played against type which had to be a real challenge. I believed he was an embittered old man who was used to his word being law. I always thought Clift was a little over-the-top and tried too hard as opposed to Boxleitner who showed the change that comes over a man who sees too much of the horrors of war. Gregory Harrison tried a little too hard as well, but the young cowboy and the black horse-breaker as well as Ray Walston more than made up for what Harrison lacked. If you judge the movie on its own merit and without comparing it to its predecessor, I think a good western story still beats out most of the trash passing for entertainment on TV. So give these guys a break, why don't you?

A nice story, but pales compared to the John Wayne, Monte Cliff original of 1948. Too many subplots, confusing characterizations and a wandering theme of a troubled trail drive and its boss driver...Arness is one-dimensional, lacks the charisma of a John Wayne (don't they all)...Bruce Boxlietner is a good looking stud, but could never give the penetrating characterization portrayed by Monte Cliff, a truly remarkable performance. The original offered a clean plot and built to a great conflict between a father and son...this made for TV version is action packed, but is totally unremarkable. See the 1948 Red River for a genuine treat of the classic western and Hollywood at its finest.