Red River

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mrsl
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Re: Red River

Post by mrsl »

.
In response to the question of whether the remake of Red River is any good - Yes, I think it is GOOD. I mean Good as opposed to the classic original. As much as I've come to like and admire JIm Arness thanks to having access to Gunsmoke and Marshall Dillon which I never had as a kid, he's no Duke, but; here comes trouble - - I preferred Bruce Boxleitner to Clift, but that's probably because I'm a fan of Bruce, and not much of a fan of Clift. As someone else said, the remake is a total remake including the dialog, there is no difference. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether Dunston leaves his girl in the beginning because I tuned in about 15 minutes into the movie, where he had just discovered the property he felt was perfect for his ranch. They all have different acting styles from the originals, but that's not to say they're bad, and of course Ray Walston could never be as good as Walter Brennan, but still if you never saw the original, as with many remakes, this would most likely be considered a very good western. As I said before, that's why I have such a hard time accepting remakes, I'm always comparing them to the originals and the remakes always fall short, except in the case of Sabrina, but that's another story and topic.

One last thing, I wasn't sure if the ending was the same, but it definitely is the exact repeat, only the lady is different.
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Anne


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tinker
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Re: Red River

Post by tinker »

CineMaven wrote:Can someone speak to Stanwyck & Taylor? They had a ranch and owned horses as well.
I hope its okay for me to keep answering things about horses especially in this thread.

Barbara Stanwyck was pretty good and she did alot of her own riding on screen. Robert Taylor was also very good, at least good enough to get on some very strong minded Lipizzan stallions in Miracle of the White Stallions and sit on them while they did some Grand Prix movements which is no mean feat. He played Alois Podhajsky who was the Director of the Spanish Riding School and I think the greatest rider EVER anywhere. Podhajasky doubled Taylor who played him, which is a twist and he said in one of his books that Taylor could not ride his own horse but used one of the older "school" stallions. However anyone who could sit on a lipazzanner stallion doing passage and piaffe ( slow motion trot or trotting on the spot) even if it wasn't the top horse gets a vote as being a pretty good rider. Think of a truck in top revs in first gear.

To give some idea in another story Podhajsky allowed Queen Elizabeth to ride a school stallion and she did fine but when Prince Phillip who was a good polo rider got on, Podhajsky became very concerned that the stallion was going to dance Phillip straight onto his royal behind and was relieved Phillip got off before a disaster happened.

dee


dee
[b]But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams[/b]. (William Butler Yeats )
[b]How did I get to Hollywood? By train.[/b] (John Ford)
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Red River

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Thanks for that Dee. Hopefully much diplomacy was used and Phillip wasn't aware of the fact the Queen was the better rider, at least of Lippzanner horses. You can talk horses and riding all you like here, I'm interested.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
RedRiver
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Re: Red River

Post by RedRiver »

A member of a royal court was ridiculed for falling off his horse. Will Rogers responded to this with something like, "I've been riding as long as I've been walking. When your horse falls, you have a tendency to go down with it!"
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Red River

Post by Rita Hayworth »

So true, and happen to me once ... got a couple of bruises and a broken finger too.
stuart.uk
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Re: Red River

Post by stuart.uk »

Alison

I was interested to hear Hawk's say Clift fought like a girl, when he played army boxer's in From Here To Eternity and The Young Lions.

Red River is IMO along with The Searchers the two best westerns ever made with a memorable sountrack complimenting the film. It might have been becasue Hawks shortened John Ireland's role, but it was really nice to see Noah Beery jnr have such a sizeable part in an epic film.
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JackFavell
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Re: Red River

Post by JackFavell »

I think I'm with you on your estimation of Red River and The Searchers, though Shane comes in pretty high on my list as well, and I'm sure I'm forgetting other memorable westerns. My favorites tend to run toward Ford and Walsh generally.

I just watched Noah Beery in a very good role in Glenn Ford's film, Jubal. I really adored him there. He's got such a quiet gentle way about him.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Red River

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I think Red River is a masterpiece, The Searchers doesn't grasp me at all, apart from the cinematography. I like The Ox Bow Incident and My Darling Clementine, up there too is Fort Apache and Rio Grande but The Searchers just doesn't float my boat.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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JackFavell
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Re: Red River

Post by JackFavell »

That's OK, everyone has their favorites, and then the ones that they find great. My Darling Clementine and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance were my picks for greatest westerns for a very very long time, and I'll admit that The Searchers didn't do a thing for me the first time I watched it, or even the second time, when I came back to it to discover why everyone was so crazy about it. It's deceptively simple at first glance, but as you watch it more times through, something happens. You find things in it that you never realized were even there. It's a slow cooker of a movie.

Ox Bow is easily in the great category, and Fort Apache is just incredible to me, the more I see it the more I realize how amazing it was for the time in which it was made and the story turning everything we thought we knew about the western heroes on it's ear. But I've always liked it best of the trilogy.
RedRiver
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Re: Red River

Post by RedRiver »

Red River is IMO along with The Searchers the two best westerns ever made

I'm inclined to agree.

Shane comes in pretty high on my list as well

I'm further inclined to agree!
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Red River

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I liked Shane too and The Angel and The Badman.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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JackFavell
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Re: Red River

Post by JackFavell »

I love Angel and the Badman! It's swoon inducing... Wayne had such great chemistry with all his costars, but I think maybe best with lovely delicate Gail.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Red River

Post by Rita Hayworth »

You can count me in as a fan of Angel and the Badman too.
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movieman1957
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Re: Red River

Post by movieman1957 »

Isn't "Angel" where Harry Carey, Jr (?) says "Hell ain't cussing it's geography"? One of my favorite lines wherever it's used.
Chris

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tinker
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Re: Red River

Post by tinker »

I was thinking when I saw this list I wonder if anyone else loves Angel and the Badman as much as me. One of my favourite films, let alone western

Harry Carey Senior as the marshall is one of the best characters ever. The curly haired wolf. All his gestures, scratching his chin, the blowing of smoke off the rifle and the relationship between him and Quirt.

It is also one of John Wayne's few truly romantic films. Although I would argue that the film was even more about family than romance. All the characters were "real" three dimensional even the bad guys. Gail Russell was beautiful. John Wayne with the very cute baby.

I have only ever seen a lousy print of it but even that cannot ruin it.

I was wondering if anyone else thought that Quirt's background story, adopted as a child by a tough and not exactly honest old time rancher was really Mat's story from Red River


dee
[b]But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams[/b]. (William Butler Yeats )
[b]How did I get to Hollywood? By train.[/b] (John Ford)
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