Red River- HMB

In Red River there are two main characters, Thomas Dunson, played by John Wayne, and Matthew Garth, played by Montgomery Clift. Throughout the movie each character takes a turn in the alpha male cowboy role. Matheson describes the alpha male cowboy as one who is "the fittest and the strongest" as well as an "anti-social loner" (Matheson 891). Tompkins in West of Everything outlines the cowboy as someone who is required "to be hard, to be tough, to be unforgivin" just like the land he rides on (Tompkins 73). The Western also "stems from an acceptance of death" something that an alpha male cowboy must show.

Dunson appears as the alpha male cowboy in the beginning of the film. He breaks away from the caravan and leaves his girl behind, fitting the need for the cowboy to be a loner. When the cattle drive first starts he is the one everyone looks to for the hard hand of reason when things get tough or messy which illustrates his ability to be the strongest. Yet near the end of the cattle drive Dunson shows more characteristics of the villian than the hero. The villian is described as "manipulative, callous, [and] remorseless" (Matheson 892). Dunson begins pushing his men harder and enforcing stricter consequences that seem to be outside the lines of even an alpha male cowboys inner moral compass.

It is at this moment that Garth picks up the slack and steps into the shoes of the alpha male cowboy. He forcefully takes the lead of the cattle herd and changes the destination of the whole trip. Garth does this because it is what is best for the men. He also expresses himself as the best gun man but only uses his skills when absolutely necessary. For instance when he shot Dunson's hand to keep him from killing yet another man. At the end of the film though Garth gets the girl which goes agaist the idea that the alpha male cowboy is someone isolated from others. Both men show an understanding that people die in their profession and accept it as a fate a man cannot excape. Throughout the film it is apparent that the alpha male role switches back and forth between the characters of Dunson and Garth.