I've always been a little strange because I relish good artists, even if I do not care for their politics or if they cheat on their wives. I usually separate the art from the person. Great things do not need to be done by saints, and often, are done by major sinners. It is the art that survives.

John Wayne's politics and mine are probably far apart but I do not care. He made some very fine movies that are amazing to watch. Besides The Searchers, which I discussed a few days ago, another great one was Red River.

With a great cast and a wonderful director (Howard Hawks), this is a movie to make you love Westerns, particularly as the prototypical American story. For it is by the stories we tell and hear that society teaches us how to become human.

I had seen this movie several times on TV when I was young. But the first time I really SAW it was when I was an undergrad at CalTech. We had to take a humanities every quarter. I made some good choices and they helped me raise my GPA. One of these was a film course on great directors. We would watch a chosen movie twice in one evening. Once to get an idea of the movie and the second to understand how the director created it. Red River was one of these.

It could have just been about the creation of a cattle empire from nothing. It wasn't. It could have just been about a great cattle drive against impossible odds. It wasn't. It is, in some ways, an American version of King Lear or perhaps Mutiny on the Bounty. How to deal with madness when it prevents a worthwhile end from being reached?

Wayne's character, Dunson, starts with just a few head of cattle, one belonging to his adopted son, Matt, played by Montgomery Clift. It rapidly (at least in movie time) becomes one of the largest herds in Texas. But they need to move this herd to Missouri to make any money.

On the drive, Dunson becomes more and more obsessed with the drive, becoming so tyrannical that at one point his conscience, Walter Brennan, upbraids Dunson . Matt co-opts Dunson's leadership, takes the cattle away from Dunson and leaves him behind. His madness causes him vow to kill his own adopted son, leading up to the climactic battle scene, where Dunson strides through what appears to be a million cattle to whip his son good.

Much like The Searchers, the character in Red River begins the mission with good intentions. The ends are important, worthwhile and uniquely challenging, something that speaks very deeply to most Americans.

But in both, the main character loses himself in the quest. Somewhere along the way, the ends now justify the means, any means, as long as the end is reached successfully. In The Searchers, Ethan's quest to find his niece and return her to the group morphs into a relentless journey to kill her. In Red River, it is to get the cattle to Missouri no matter what, removing anyone who stands in the way.

In both movies, Wayne's character is saved by the humanity of a companion. In The Searchers, he finally realizes his obsession almost made him kill his own niece, something the Indians had failed to do but something he was quite ready to perform. In Red River, he realizes that the quest is to sell the cattle for a good price, which has been done, not to kill his son. In both movies Wayne is wrong, terribly wrong. He choses a path that, if not corrected, will lead him straight to hell. He is saved in both because someone else is strong enough to stand up to him and tell him he was wrong.

Red River, while one of my favorites, does not have the quite the power or melancholy that The Searchers does. It has a more typical Hollywood ending. In both, Wayne is an outsider. In neither does he really have a normal family or typical connections to a strong community. By the end of Red River, Dunson and Matt reconcile, after a very nice fight. Dunson has the beginnings of social connections through the love his adopted son has for a girl.

But in The Searchers, while Ethan realizes his error and does the right thing, bringing his niece back to the fold, he is not fully redeemed. He is not permitted to become part of the group. His madness still scars him and he is left alone at the end, holding himself, then turning away from the camera and us, as the door closes, leaving him outside and us all inside.

Red River is a great American film. The Searchers is a great American tragedy. They both present important lessons, especially to Americans, because they present stories that we as a society use to teach ourselves. For an important mission, we are relentless and will never stop. The ends do not justify the means. Being adaptable is critical for success. Connection with a group or family is important. Being strong means listening to the advice of others. All things that Wayne's characters learn by the end of the movie.

But Ethan is still outside, alone, holding himself, turning away as the door closes,
and I still cry for him.

God, Wayne was a great actor.  11:29:50 PM