When John Wayne broke via to bona-fide film stardom in John Ford’s 1939 basic “Stagecoach,” he rapidly established himself as probably the most bankable actor within the movie trade. Not each Wayne image was a smash hit, however they nearly at all times turned a tidy revenue. Provided that he was remarkably prolific all through the prime of his profession, making a number of motion pictures per 12 months, this meant his followers got here to count on a sure stage of high quality from the star — in any other case, they’d’ve stopped exhibiting up at a sure level.
For those who’re new to the flicks of John Wayne, and also you’re on the lookout for a great place to begin, you are able to do no higher than the aforementioned Western, which established his swaggeringly laconic persona. However when you get that one out of the way in which, there are a lot of completely different paths you possibly can take. You would attempt certainly one of his struggle movies or watch The Duke get completely steamrolled by Barbara Stanwyck within the pre-Code basic “Child Face.”
If, nevertheless, you need to see the cocksure Wayne get challenged for actual in a correct Western, there are a lot of terrific choices. “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “The Searchers” are full-on Ford-directed classics, whereas Mark Rydell’s “The Cowboys” (and its sensational John Williams rating) may shock you. However if you wish to see somebody not solely stand as much as Wayne, however sometimes blow him off the display, the film you are on the lookout for is Howard Hawks’ “Crimson River,” and it is streaming without spending a dime for the time being!
Crimson River pits old-school Wayne versus new-school Montgomery Clift
Wayne performed a number of outright bastards all through his profession, however, with the attainable exception of Ethan Edwards in “The Searchers,” I am unsure he is ever been greater than as rancher Thomas Dunson in “Crimson River.” Decided to drive his 10,000 cattle to Missouri whatever the appreciable threat. Driving with him is his adopted son Matt, a younger man with rising confidence and a higher sense of decency performed by 28-year-old Montgomery Clift in certainly one of his first big-screen roles.
The story itself shouldn’t be riddled with surprises. It is mainly “Mutiny on the Bounty” with Wayne because the captain and Clift because the cost who usurps his command. We sympathize with Matt, however Hawks and his screenwriters (Borden Chase and Charles Schnee) painting Dunson as a tough man preventing like hell to make sure the survival of his livelihood. The ranch is his life, and Dunson has killed to guard it. The movie finds Dunson at a precarious second; he is being challenged by his son, who would not need to go in for the form of bloodshed that is marked his father’s life, and when he cannot persuade the previous man to reasonable his viciousness he throws him over.
Dunson’s not one to lose a struggle, so we all know there can be a reckoning between father and son. It is a spectacular battle, one which’s doubly charged when you think about Hawks has pitted unfussy movie actor Wayne versus method-trained Clift. Are there higher Westerns? No, probably not (Metacritic says it is Wayne’s greatest). Simply Westerns which might be good in numerous methods.
“Crimson River” is at present streaming without spending a dime (with adverts) on The Roku Channel, Pluto TV and Freevee. It is also free sans adverts on Hoopla.
