‘Red River’: The John Wayne classic Howard Hughes tried to shelve
John Wayne was a part of some of the most monumental movies of all times. A generation of moviegoers know him as the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, the role that landed him a Best Actor Oscar, but older fans remembered him for his performances in Rio Grande, Fort Apache, and Stagecoach. There’s also the small matter of Red River.
Directed by frequent Wayne collaborator Howard Hawks, 1948’s Red River casts ‘The Duke’ as a stern cattle driver charged with transporting his cargo from Texas to Kansas. He is joined on his journey by his adopted son, played by Montgomery Clift, and tensions flare when the pair clash over their conflicting ideals. Not only was it extremely popular, but it has achieved mythical status in the years since it came out. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Westerns ever made, it was selected for preservation by the US National Film Registry in 1990. However, it almost never saw the light of day.
The film ends with a climactic confrontation between Thomas Dunston (Wayne) and Matt Garth (Clift). The older man savagely beats his son, but Matt refuses to fight back, resulting in Dunston eventually backing off and acknowledging him as an honourable man. It’s a fantastic ending, but it caught the eye of eccentric businessman and film producer Howard Hughes, and not in a good way.
Hughes and Hawks had previously worked together on a movie called The Outlaw. Hawks originally worked as the project’s director until Hughes fired him and took over the position. He felt like the ending to Red River was too similar to that of his movie and, since Hawks had been on the production process of The Outlaw, he felt that there were grounds to sue the legendary director over alleged plagiarism. This spelt potential disaster for Wayne’s big moment.
Instead of arranging expensive reshoots, Hawks turned to his editor, Christian Nyby. Also known as the director of The Thing from Another World, Nyby was tasked with preserving the original cut of the film, which he managed to do via a few alterations. Whilst the theatrical release of Red River was a shorter one overseen by Hughes, Nyby’s version was used for future television broadcasts and home video releases. Without Nyby’s work, the original cut of this historic film might have been ruined forever.
Red River eventually got the green light to go out into the world, and it made a huge splash. It was nominated for two Oscars at the 1948 ceremony, including Best Writing, Motion Picture Story (which became Best Adapted Screenplay) and Best Editing for Nyby. The film was the first time Wayne got to flex his muscles as a villain, a complex one at that, and it opened many people’s eyes to the prospect of the leading man as a serious actor.
It’s unclear whether or not Hughes genuinely thought that Hawks had copied him or if he was just harbouring a grudge from their previous encounter. Hughes was an extremely unstable individual known for his prickly personality, so there’s every chance that Hawks was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the end, Red River was released, and cinema was all the better for it, but it’s scary to think that we all were nearly robbed of this fantastic film.
