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Red River



One of Hollywood’s most iconic westerns, Howard Hawks’s Red River launches cinema’s grandest cattle drive, and one of the screen’s most powerful father-son dramas. One of John Wayne’s most intense roles inspired one of his finest performances, and in his debut leading role, Montgomery Clift instantly leapt to the forefront of Hollywood’s young actors.

After the Civil War, ranch owner Thomas Dunson (Wayne) leads a drive of ten thousand cattle out of an impoverished Texas to the richer markets of Missouri, alongside his adopted son Matthew Garth (Clift) and a team of ranch hands. As the conditions worsen, and Dunson’s control over his cattlemen gets ever more merciless, a rebellion begins to grow within the travelling party.

Filmed among glorious expanses with no expense spared, and a roster of brilliant turns from greats including Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, Harry Carey, John Ireland, and Hank Worden, Red River is an all-American epic, a grand adventure yarn, and a profound psychological journey. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present its first UK release on Blu-ray.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY ONLY EDITION

• New high-definition 1080p presentation of the "Book Version" of the film
• Exclusive lengthy video conversation about Red River and Howard Hawks by filmmaker and critic Dan Sallitt, conducted by Jaime Christley, and shot by Dustin Guy Defa and James P. Gannon
• Lux Radio Theater adaptation of Red River featuring John Wayne, Walter Brennan, and Joanne Dru reprising their roles from the film
• Optional music-and-effects audio track
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• 56-PAGE BOOKLET containing a lengthy dossier of excerpts from vintage writing about Hawks and the film, including an interview with Hawks, a note on the "two versions' of the film, and rare archival imagery

Can't be the only one who's glad that they don't have to splurge on the Wild Side BD because they're getting fed up with Criterion taking ages to release this. Hawks is a terrific addition to the MoC "canon" and I was thinking maybe they can get Scarface from Universal. In any case, Red River is a day one purchase and I'll even go for the steelbook.

Special features:

• New high-definition 1080p presentation
• Original theatrical trailer
• Exclusive lengthy video conversation about Red River and Howard Hawks by filmmaker and critic Dan Sallitt, conducted by Jaime Christley, and shot by Dustin Guy Defa and James P. Gannon
• A booklet featuring the words of Howard Hawks, rare imagery, and more!

So no word yet about if there will be the 2 cuts as on the French BD release ?

I hope more classical auteurs get their MoC Blu-ray debut in the coming months (and pardon me for hoping that Walsh's Me and My Gal, now relegated to MOD Hell in the states, is among them). The supplements here sound like they might actually be better than whatever Criterion digs up, in the end, but I'm still going to wait before making a purchase, even though my mouth does water.

Finch wrote:Can't be the only one who's glad that they don't have to splurge on the Wild Side BD because they're getting fed up with Criterion taking ages to release this. Hawks is a terrific addition to the MoC "canon" and I was thinking maybe they can get Scarface from Universal. In any case, Red River is a day one purchase and I'll even go for the steelbook.

There's good scope for more Hawks, particularly if they're still dealing with Universal (Bringing Up Baby, The Thing, The Big Sky, and the masterpiece Ball of Fire). Of course, with the exception of Citizen Kane, Universal doesn't seem to care much about the RKO catalogue so I have no idea if they would be able to supply good materials. And as much as I've loved all of MoC's classic Hollywood releases, they don't seem too keen about committing to particular auteurs - Sirk is the best represented at three titles but I still don't identify him with the label to the same extent I do Murnau, Lang, or Imamura - so this release sadly says little about the possibility of even more Hawks down the line.

But this is certainly a day one purchase for me too. I love the cover.

HJackson wrote:Of course, with the exception of Citizen Kane, Universal doesn't seem to care much about the RKO catalogue so I have no idea if they would be able to supply good materials.

Don't give them too much credit. I hear the UK BD of Citizen Kane is from a completely different source than the U.S. Warner disc, and looks comparatively awful.

The video conversation sounds good, but I think I'll probably need more extras before I would be enticed to buy it. Red River is a problematic film for me, the first half being brilliantly constructed whereas the last half and climax all disappoint every time I see it. For a Hawks film, it is certainly the one I revisit least and expected the most from. Maybe watching it on glorious Blu-ray will help allay my criticism, but I'm not particularly optimistic.

Steelbook canceled

HJackson wrote:There's good scope for more Hawks, particularly if they're still dealing with Universal (Bringing Up Baby, The Thing, The Big Sky, and the masterpiece Ball of Fire). Of course, with the exception of Citizen Kane, Universal doesn't seem to care much about the RKO catalogue so I have no idea if they would be able to supply good materials. And as much as I've loved all of MoC's classic Hollywood releases, they don't seem too keen about committing to particular auteurs - Sirk is the best represented at three titles but I still don't identify him with the label to the same extent I do Murnau, Lang, or Imamura - so this release sadly says little about the possibility of even more Hawks down the line.

But this is certainly a day one purchase for me too. I love the cover.

Too bad "Air Force" is locked up at Warner Brothers. That's the Hawks I most want to see on Blu-ray. James Wong Howe's cinematography in that picture is alarmingly gorgeous.

Thanks for the warning Eddie, I'll be sure to avoid it.

feihong wrote:Too bad "Air Force" is locked up at Warner Brothers. That's the Hawks I most want to see on Blu-ray. James Wong Howe's cinematography in that picture is alarmingly gorgeous.

Absolutely. It deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the established major Hawks films like Red River and Only Angels Have Wings and I don't know why it seems to be so undervalued among his oeuvre. Especially given how fully it expresses one of his most easily identifiable concerns as an artist - it is to the Hawksian group what Ball of Fire is to the primacy of practical over technical knowledge.

Of course, the other Universal-held title MoC could license is Man's Favorite Sport?, but I don't think very many people share my enthusiasm for it.

David Thomson shares your enjoyment of Man's Favourite Sport HJackson, and I would second Air Force entering Masters of Cinema, even if that seems unlikely at the moment. If any wartime propaganda films need to be in (and that's not necessarily a criticism), I'd rather have Air Force than the startingly inhumane Lifeboat...

Contents of the booklet:

My first big project, as it turned out, happened to be a favorite: Howard Hawks's Red River. It's an excellent transfer of this amazing film, and the booklet I edited includes essays by Andrew Sarris and Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues, plus interviews with editor (and The Thing credited director) Christian Nyby and writer Borden Chase. The Blu-Ray also features a video conversation with two of my favorite cinephiles: Dan Sallitt and Jaime Christley. Finally, I have a small essay in the booklet as well, talking about the differences between the now canonical Book Version and the rarer, hard to find Voice Version.

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So, still no info about whether the 2 versions of the movie will be included, as Wild Side did ?

tenia wrote:So, still no info about whether the 2 versions of the movie will be included, as Wild Side did ?

There's just one version on the checkdisc, running 2:12:42.

Thanks for the info Michael. Shame that MoC hasn't been able to go the extra mile and replicate what WS has done.

Its also going to have the Lux Radio Theater adaption.

I'm a little confused by a comment in the booklet comparing the two different versions of this film. It's first established that the Book Version of the film runs longer, and that Dan Sallitt calls the ending of the Voice Version "a little choppy and overedited." But then Gerald Mast says that the Book Version has the weaker ending because "the shorter duel eliminates essential narrative details." Should this last sentence be referring to the Voice Version? Or is the climax of the Voice Version somehow longer despite being "choppy and overedited"?

"...the now canonical Book Version and the rarer, hard to find Voice Version."

When and why did the Book Version become the "canonical" one, and the Voice Version "rarer" and "hard to find"? When I first saw "Red River", back in the early '80s, it was the Voice Version, and for years after that was the only one I knew. I don't believe I was exposed to the Book Version until I bought the MGM DVD when it came out.

The MoC booklet makes it sound like the Book Version tends to get preference now because it's in the best shape.

Has anyone actually watched the conversation between Dan Sallitt and Jaime Christley? Wow it's bad...the whole thing is shot using a single static camera set-up while they ramble awkwardly for 45 minutes from opposite sides of a coffee table. Christley looks downright miserable throughout. Sallitt cannot seem to discuss Red River on any other terms besides as a Hawks film--barely mentions Wayne, Clift, the Western genre, gender, or any of the other things that actually make it interesting--and uses the word "Hawksian" ad nauseum. Who are these people, anyway, and what qualifies them to speak about this film? As someone who has only recently started venturing into the realm of region-free I was excited to sample some MoC discs because I assumed they'd be good, and the transfer and packaging are solid, but are their supplements always this unwatchable?

So is this OOP?