Aside from the leads, the acting is quite good. John Ireland (who in real life later married and divorced Dru) shines as Cherry Valance, a hot shot with the gun, and there is a humorous side story between Groot and an Indian named Quo, who wins his dentures in a poker game. The film score, by Dimitri Tiomkin, is not a good one. It is especially irritating when silly whoopee-ki-yi-yay type songs play over the cattle drive.

The cinematography by Russell Harlan is very good, and often shot low off the ground during vista shots, to give a sense of the hugeness of sky and place. This is reminiscent of the famed tatami mat shots of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, save that Hawks has Harlan often moving the camera, not staying static. The low placement of the camera also gives the film an epic feel, even if it is shot in a non-widescreen 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The best single shot in the film comes when Dunson’s men are burying a married hand who was killed during the stampede. As Dunson reads from the Bible an ominous cloud rolls down over the hill in the background. Hawks has said this was just fortuity, but it also works perfectly as a metaphor for what lies ahead in the film. The only downside is the use of some obvious background screens with rear projections.

The DVD, put out by MGM, has no special features, not even a theatrical trailer — only a four-page insert. This film really cries out for a commentary and making of documentary. On the plus side, the film transfer is solid — not great, but a bit higher than VHS tapes — even if it is a bit speckled here and there, and the film is the 133 minute version preferred by Hawks, rather than a 125 minute bowdlerized studio version that features a voiceover narration by Brennan’s Groot character. It is also shown in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

The film reaches out and scrapes greatness in the scenes between Wayne and Clift, as Dunson and Matt. Rarely have two macho male roles been so convincingly written, and considering this was the 1940s, it makes that fact all the more special. Wayne actually emotes a bit above his usual monosyllabics, and Clift acts and reacts to Wayne better than any co-star I’ve seen. One really gets the sense of their having known each other for years. Two other relationships that work are the ones between Groot and Dunson, especially when Groot finally stands up to Dunson, after years of cowering, and the one between Matt and Cherry, as young gunslingers whose guns stand in for penises in one well written and acted scene that prefigures, albeit far more realistically, some of the homoeroticism that would end up in the laughable vomitus of Brokeback Mountain.