Back in 1946, John Wayne shot the first of a number of Westerns with director Howard Hawks. The Red River was a fictionalized account of the first cattle trek from Texas to Kansas. The story followed a growing feud between Duke Farms in Texas Thomas and his adopted adult son Matt, played by Montgomery Clift in his first film. It turns out that in real life the two Hollywood stars didn’t get any.
Burt Lancaster was originally considered for the role of Matt in Red River, which will air on ITV4 this weekend. However, Clift ended up being offered $60,000 for the film, but it had to be talked about because he was worried about a climax battle between the older and taller Wayne.
There was also concern that the two stars might quarrel over their place because they were both politically outspoken from opposite viewpoints. It is rumored that they agreed not to talk about such matters until filming went smoothly.
Regardless, Duke and co-star Walter Brennan didn’t deal with Clift’s “arrogant little rascal” and so they walked away when not filming together. The young actor later turned down the role of Dean Martin in Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo after more than a decade to avoid the cast.
He also didn’t really deal with the director, who remembers playing poker nights with Wayne.
The 26-year-old later said of political conservatives, “They laughed and drank and made dirty jokes and slapped each other in the back. They tried to lure me into their circle but I couldn’t keep up. The manly thing shocked me because it seemed so coercive and unnecessary.”
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In fact, Clift ended up impressing Wayne who, although he didn’t personally like his co-star, thought he was very effective at Red River in the end. However, actor Matt was disappointed with the end result when he saw a rough rendering of the picture prior to its late release in 1948.
The rising star thought the ending was ridiculous “because Joan Drew irons it out and makes the confrontation between me and John Wayne a farce”.
Despite finding his own performance in the medium, he later said, “I saw myself in Red River and knew I was going to be famous, so I decided to drink anonymously one last time.”
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