MovieChat Forums > Red River (1948) Discussion > Wayne's Best Performance

Wayne's Best Performance

posted 18 years ago by SeanJoyce
10 replies | jump to latest

Having seen this a while ago, I've rolled it around in my head a bit, and I've finally come to to the decision that, despite not seeing all of the man's work, this right here was his best performance.

Yes, yes, The Searchers is a magnificent film achievement, and Wayne works wonders as the dark and complex Ethan Edwards. But, in my opinion, I don't feel that he disappeared into the character like he did here. Longer hair, gloomy, and tyrannical, this is Wayne at his best. It's no surprise that John Ford, upon seeing Red River, commented "I didn't know the son of a bitch could act!", which enriched their legendary partnership.

Thoughts?

"It's covered ya two-bit redneck peckerwood."~Strother Martin, The Wild Bunch

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] louis-king 18 years ago

It was certainly his best performance up to 1946, which is when the movie was supposed to have been made. I don't know where he pulled out such a great performance, since nothing he'd done up to that point even hinted at a dark side in his screen personna.

Two other movies mined his dark side; "Wake of the Red Witch" and "The Searchers".

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] matt_garth 18 years ago

ah, so lefty now says Wayne was good in RIVER. You have emerged from the darkness, lefty. And you say it helps to be a villain to play a villain? Interesting. Wonder what Anthony Hopkins had for dinner last night.

"Take 'em to Missouri"

[–] Death_to_Pan_and_Scan 17 years ago

The Searchers was also a good part for him, but personally I prefer his role in The Shootist.

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If you're watching 'Fullscreen' DVDs, you aren't getting the whole picture.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] misspaddylee 17 years ago

Recently I've been impressed by Wayne's work in "Island in the Sky". Well worth checking out or revisiting.

"It's as red as The Daily Worker and just as sore."

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] joekiddlouischama 11 years ago

Wayne plays autocratic tyranny rather effortlessly in Red River and bigotry very convincingly in The Searchers, thus rendering those performances almost scary and certainly memorable. But perhaps his most underrated performance comes in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, where Wayne combines archetypal strength with vulnerability, loss, laconic melancholy, and depressive darkness. His characterization there is subtle, intricate, realistic, and all the more moving for those reasons.

[–] Disardor 10 years ago

Yes, it's a great performance. Red River is required reading for any serious fan of classic film anyway, but it should also be required reading for anyone who honestly thinks Wayne couldn't act. He's also quite good in The Searchers, which others have mentioned, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, where he plays an older man at the end of his career in the Cavalry. For those who haven't seen it there is a scene in that film where he tells his men that he's not going to be coming with them into battle and it's incredibly powerful.

I think a lot of times people confuse big displays of emotion with acting ability. Wayne does a lot with subtle adjustments to his facial expressions, eyes, eyebrows and so forth.