Red River

The last time I saw the original 1948 "Red River" with John Wayne was when I was about ten years old. I don't remember a whole lot of it other than it was a rich, enthralling Western like "The Searchers" (1956) and in no need for a remake. But, four decades after its release, it was remade…and rather poorly, which is very disappointing since its two leads were very well-cast.

Wayne's friend James Arness takes his role in the remake and Montgomery Clift's role is redone by Bruce Boxleitner. These two would later work well again in one of the "Gunsmoke" movies. And even with this mincemeat teleplay, they manage to communicate much of the spirit that the original actors did in the original film.

However, that does not make the remake of "Red River" a good movie. Rather, it's a flat and mediocre adaptation of a beloved classic. There is some nice scenery, good performances, and swell intentions, but the problem is that the screenwriters wrote this with such low enthusiasm and maybe a little too much respect for the original, as if they realized in the process of writing that they couldn't even come close to the source and didn't bother to put much effort into it. It seems like they expected all viewers to already know the original "Red River" by heart and therefore be able to close up all the holes and gaps that were being formed here. The point of a remake is to at least illuminate the original, update it, and maybe strength a few weak spots, not open new ones. There is very little character strength, no real sense of connection, gaps of logic, a completely unnecessary addition of a love triangle, and an ending that is even more rushed than the surprisingly sudden ending of the original. In short, the remake of "Red River" can be described in two simple words: boring and unnecessary.

Watch the original and don't waste you time on this flick. Wayne and Clift are perfectly cast, and while I always enjoyed James Arness as Marshall Dillon...he is not right for this movie. This movie re-make should have never been made. On a lighter note, I remember actor Victor Mature was offered the role played by John Wayne in the original film by actor Sylvester Stallone who was intending to play the Montgomery Clift role in the film. Mature's response was "I'll play his (Stallone's) mother for the right money!" Fortunately, somebody got this one right...and didn't to it. Truth is some classics are best served by just leaving them alone.

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?

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.

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.