He might have won the Oskar for “Red River” except that it came out in 1946 which was the same year as ‘The Best Years of Our Lifes” about returning G.I.’s.
“Red River”
I always felt Red River was more Montgomery Clift’s movie more than Wayne’s. Wayne established the character of the tough rancher and fatherly trail boss and Clift’s character was featured more after the point in the cattle drive where he sent Wayne’s character packing. After that, and until the final scenes of the movie, Clift was carrying the lead and it was long enough I think to be his feature because of the closing of the film with him being the hero after all. Wayne’s character in the cowboys was the same way. He was there, then he disappeared and either one or a few of the ensemble was featured filling the gap he left as the story line developed unlike another two westerns like Rio Bravo or El Dorado where he remained featured on camera all the time. Red River was an excellent movie however.
Far superior to the remake using James Arness who worked with Wayne a few times and had a close working relationship with Wayne until Arness snubbed him by not showing up for an interview for the small part in the Alamo after he had worked with Wayne in a number of movies to include the lead in the BATJAC produced Gun the Man Down in the late 1950’s. It was Wayne that recommended Arness for the “Gunsmoke” part.
wy69