Red River- KPower

The presence of an alpha male cowboy is necessary in every western film, Red River being no exception. However, in the film, the possibility of two alpha males being present is obvious and central to the movie’s story.

In the beginning of the film, it is obvious that the alpha male is Tom Dunson (John Wayne). He is a strong man who decides to leave the wagon train that he is riding with because he believes that there is good land for raising a herd. Before riding off into Indian Territory, Dunson says farewell to his lady, Fen, despite her pleas to bring her along, thus fulfilling Tompkins requirement that a hero “have few or no social ties” (Tompkins 73). Dunson and his friend Nadine set out to find the perfect land, and when they do, Dunson quickly claims it as his own. Dunson kills one of the messengers of the man who claims to own the land, and as is later discovered, seven other men who try to take the land from him. This proves him to be the “callous [and] remorseless” (Matheson 896) alpha male that the Western land creates. Throughout the movie Dunson proves to have “his own moral center” and “exhibit a highly antisocial and disordered personality” (Matheson 897). He kills men who quit the job early, threatens to whip the man that starts the stampede and had every intention of hanging two men who stole from him, all without second thought or remorse.

Matt Garth is generally seen as Dunson’s adopted son. He arrives in the film as a young boy who witnessed the burning of the wagon train that Dunson and Nadine had left. At first, he appears to have lost it, but when Dunson slaps him across the face, he quickly responds by pulling out his gun. Dunson then decides that coupled with his cow, Matt will join the group and start their own herd. It is implied, and later stated, that Dunson makes Matt his protégé and teaches him how to shoot. Matt has many of the characteristics required to be an alpha male cowboy, such as when he asserts his dominance over Dunson by preventing him from hanging the thieves and by taking the herd, however he ends up being too “soft” to become the true alpha male by not being able to fight Dunson until Tom takes his gun away. Even then, it is apparent that the fight between the two men will not lead to the death of Matt, as Dunson promised to do when Matt took the herd. Dunson still views Matt as a son, and Matt still has great respect for Dunson.

At the end of the movie, Matt made a valiant effort to become the alpha male, but his inability to become hardboiled, coupled with his romance with Tess prevents him from taking the role. Dunson, while initially the clear alpha male, loses his dominance in the middle of the film, but manages to regain it when he instructs Matt to marry Tess.