Red River (1988)

James Arness is Thomas Dunston; Bruce Boxleitner plays Matthew Garth in this remake of the 1948 John Ford / John Wayne classic.

Garth is taken in by Dunston as a young boy after the rest of his family is killed in the same Indian raid that claimed the life of Dunston’s lady love.

Years pass, and Garth returns from the Civil War to find Dunston with a large herd of cattle, but no market, except for a railhead 1,000 miles away in Missouri.

Dunston’s determined to make that drive and begins assembling a crew of cowboys, including fast gun Cherry Valance (Gregory Harrison) and expert horseman Sims (L.Q. Jones), who happens to be black.

But this is a tough trail and a tough journey plagued by bad weather, stampedes and a shortage of supplies. Dunston’s demanding demeanor only makes the trip tougher.

With the men near mutiny, Dunston threatens to hang a couple of cowboys who snuck off in the middle of the night.

It’s at that point that Garth decides to take the herd to a rumored, much closer railhead in Kansas, leaving Dunston behind.

Dunston isn’t a man to be treated like that. He sets out on Garth’s trail, determined to kill the man he’s considered a son should he catch up.

James Arness as Thomas Dunston, determined to recover his herd and settle a score in Red River (1988)

Bruce Boxleitner as Matthew Garth, taking a chance on Kansas in Red River (1988)

Review:

Director Richard Michaels, Arness and Boxleitner bite off a big challenge trying to remake the 1948 classic.

You know what? They don’t do too badly.

Oh, budget constrictions downsize the scale of some of the bigger scenes in the John Ford version. And the climatic showdown is something of a letdown.

But James Arness in particular does a nice job with a role that’s less sympathetic than he was used to playing, especially in the five Gunsmoke films that followed the conclusion of that TV series.

Laura Johnson plays the wagon train passenger who turns the head of Garth and Valance, setting them against one another.

The only real deviation from this film and the original was the inclusion of Stan Shaw as the black cowboy, allowing producers to inject a lesson in racism into the plot.

You’ll notice the cast includes former Western stars Ty Hardin and Guy Madison. Both are one scene cameo roles.

Gregory Harrison as Cherry Valance, the fast gun who hires on with Dunston in Red River (1988)

Laura Johnson as Kate, the settler who turns the head of Matthew Garth and Cherry Valance in Red River (1988)

Directed by:
Richard Michaels

Cast:
James Arness … Thomas Dunston
Bruce Boxleitner … Matthew Garth
Gregory Harrison … Cherry Valance
Stan Shaw … Jack Bryd
Laura Johnson … Kate
Ray Walston … Groot
Ty Hardin … Cotton Grogan
Robert Horton … Mr. Melville
Guy Madison … Bill Meeker
L.Q. Jones … Sims
Zachary Ansley … Cal
Jerry Potter … Teeler
Burton Gilliam … Buster

Runtime: 96 min.

Ray Walston as Groot, cook for the Dunston outfit in Red River (1988)

Stan Shaw as Jack Bryd, the black cowboy hired on by Thomas Dunston in Red River (1988)

Memorable lines:

Cook: “Well just don’t stand there after four years, Dunston. Say something.”
Dunston: “Why? You used up all the words.”

Cherry Valance: “Nothing more beautiful than a good gun. Except a Swiss watch. And a woman from anywhere.”

Cherry Valance, of Dunston: “I suppose if I was to tangle with him, I’d have to take you on too?”
Matthew Garth: “You’d find him enough himself.”

Dunston cowboy: “We’re to get to hell sooner than Missoura.”

Matthew Garth, to two quarreling hands: “You think this is a game like when you’re little. Slap leather and go ‘bang.’ Get up and fall down again. Well, it ain’t the way in real like. It’s kill or be killed. And you’re a damn long time dead.”

Matthew Garth to Dunston: “I’ll do your work. I’ll take your orders. Don’t tell me how to feel.”

Matthew Garth to Kate: “I don’t know what you did to Cherry to make him crazy. But no woman is worth dying for.”
Whereupon they grab one another and start kissing.

Kate: “He hated what he did to you. But he did it out of love.”
Dunston: “Like hell he did. I raised him as my own son in all but name. Everything was going to be his — land, cattle, all of it. And he spit on it. And he spit on me. Now, a man does that to me, I’m gonna kill him. It’s just that simple.”

Guy Madison as Bill Meeker, a fellow Texas rancher in Red River (1988)

Ty Hardin as Cotton Grogan, who tried to get a herd to Missouri and failed in Red River (1988)