06.01.26, 20:30, Red River (1948)

We kick off our theme month with a cinephile stampede of epic proportions. Red River is one of Old Hollywood auteur Howard Hawks' undisputed masterpieces. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift shine here as a father-son duo of cattle ranchers trying to drive their herd from Texas to Missouri. Travelling through desolate fields and strangely shaped mountain ranges, the men are dependent on each other. Danger lurks at every turn, while the wounds of the American Civil War are visible in the landscape. Hawks based the story on the true expeditions of the Chisholm Trail, but historical specificity takes a back seat here in exchange for a complex character study that dissects the male mythos behind the “Wild West”.

Although Hawks grazed on different genres and registers throughout his rich career, his work is defined by thematic consistency. Here, too, value systems about professionalism and (gender) identity clash in devilishly fast dialogues. The growing alienation between the two men is further underlined by the film's mise-en-scène, which brings hundreds of animals onto the scene in spectacular cow choreographies. The ballet of the beasts in the vast nothingness of the Great American Plains renders our heroes insignificant despite their grand ambitions. Like ants on the face of history.

This screening will be introduced by KASKcinema programmer Lennart Soberon.