Broad Appeal

Guns, Boys, and Beef. We had to cover a Western in our Male Gayz series... and that Western had to be RED RIVER (1948). John Wayne is the ultimate American capitalist hero/villain, building his commercial empire through the theft of indigenous lands and the exploitation of low-wage laborers. Monty Clift is his adopted son, transitioning from homosocial gunplay with his fellow cowpokes into full-fledged Oedipal revolt. Howard Hawks's multilayered masterpiece will convince even the most Western-phobic viewer to embrace the genre (as well as to give Monty a much needed cuddle). Straddling the transition from frontier to civilisation, as well as Classical Hollywood acting to the Method, the film has enough generational conflict to fill out an entire lifetime of Freudian analysis. Plus you get to hear Seán and Brian's patented John Wayne/Walter Brennan double act. Saddle up, pardners, and let's hit the trail. All clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by Cybe