FILM SUMMARY

Red River is the story of Tom Dunson (John Wayne), who breaks away from a wagon train heading west in 1851 to start a ranch with the help of his crusty old sidekick Groot (Walter Brennan). Shortly after they depart, the wagon train they have left is attacked by Indians, who kill Dunson's girl, Fen (Colleen Gray), whom he had left behind with promises to send for her. A young boy named Matthew Garth (played as a youth by Mickey Kuhn) survives the attack and joins Dunson and Groot, who stake a claim in south Texas, wresting it forcibly from the land baron Don Diego. Fourteen years later, Dunson has the biggest ranch in Texas, but no one in the war-impoverished south can buy his cattle and he's broke. He decides to take 10,000 head of cattle north to Missouri, where people are buying. Matt (now played by Montgomery Clift) helps lead his team, along with a young sharpshooter named Cherry Valance (John Ireland), who leaves the employ of a neighboring cattleman to join the expedition. Groot joins them as cook. The trip is difficult and dangerous, and Dunson is a demanding and obstinate leader. After hearing rumors that the railroad has reached Abilene, Kansas, the men want to change routes to sell the cattle there, since the going would be far safer, but Dunson refuses. One night, Bunk, a cowhand with a sweet tooth, rattles pans while trying to steal some sugar; the noise spooks the cattle, provoking a stampede that kills one man and a number of cattle and destroys a grub wagon. Dunson wants to whip the offender; when the man protests, Matt is compelled to step in to prevent Dunson from killing him. Tensions grow as the men are put on half-rations due to the loss of the grub wagon. Some want to turn back, but Dunson holds them to their contract on threat of death.