The 1948 Western directed by Howard Hawks that stars John Wayne as cattleman Thomas Dunson is Red River.
Wayne’s Dunson establishes a Texas ranch and launches a massive cattle drive toward Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. Montgomery Clift plays Matt Garth, the adopted son who gradually challenges Dunson’s increasingly authoritarian command, turning the cattle drive into a powerful father-and-son conflict.
Red River was based on Borden Chase’s story “Blazing Guns on the Chisholm Trail.” Although it was filmed in 1946, the completed movie was released in 1948. Hawks directed and produced it, and the film became a major turning point for Clift while strengthening Wayne’s reputation as a serious dramatic actor.
The film is often confused with Rio Bravo, another Wayne-Hawks Western, but Rio Bravo was released in 1959 and features Wayne as Sheriff John T. Chance. Red River was shot in black and white and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1990.