Red River- Chris Jones

In Red River we are presented with a question, can their be two Alpha Male Cowboys in a film? In short yes there can be, however there are certain things that must be present within the film for it to happen. Matheson stresses to us that in the West, "Might is Right" meaning that whoever is the strongest is right. With these three short words we can see an outline of the Alpha Male Cowboy already. He is the strongest person in the film, and therefore he is right. However an Alpha Male Cowboy does not just become that strong, he learns it, be it on his own or from the help of others such as a mentor. In Red River we our two main male characters the first of which is Dunson, who is an aging cattle herder and Matt the adopted son of Dunson who is quickly becoming his equal. In the actual events of the movie we see Matt challenge Dunson's ideas and also that he has become a better shot than Dunson. Immediately these facts might say to us that Matt has already become an Alpha Male Cowboy but in truth Matt still defers to Dunson because it is Dunson who holds the official power because his name is on the brand for the cattle drive. It is not until the end of the movie that Dunson acknowledges Matt as his equal by putting both of their names on the brand. Generally this would be seen as Dunson handing the Alpha Male Cowboy status over to Matt and therefor at any time in the movie there is only one Alpha Male Cowboy, but due to the close mentor relationship between Dunson and Matt it can be argued that during the course of the movie Matt is a sort of Alpha Male Cowboy in training. If you follow this logic there are two Alpha Male Cowboys in the film, Dunson as the aging Alpha Male on his way out and Matt as the up and coming man with something to prove.