Shooting begins on Red River

Theatrical Release Poster

On this day in classic movie history …

Shooting for Red River, one of the classic westerns from the 1940s, began on September 5, 1946.

The film centers on the clash of wills between Tom Dunson (John Wayne) and Matthew Garth (Montgomery Clift, in his first movie role), whom Dunson had found orphaned and raised as if his own son. In a trail-blazing cattle drive from Texas to Missouri, Dunson’s cruelty drives Garth to mutiny. Garth completes the cattle drive without his foster father, who leaves vowing vengeance. If you haven’t seen this film, I won’t reveal Red River’s climactic confrontation between Dunson and Garth. It’s a “wow,” and worth the wait.

Though shooting began in 1946, legal problems delayed the film’s premiere until 1948.  It was a stunning debut for Clift (though another Clift film, The Search, actually opened before Red River). And the film is generally considered one of the best westerns ever made (#5 on the American Film Institute’s 2008 list of Top 10 westerns).

Did you know … that Red River was the last film appearance for veteran character actor Harry Carey? It was also the only film in which both Carey and his son, Harry Carey Jr., both appeared.