Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) is a stubborn man who wants nothing more than to start up a successful cattle ranch in Texas. Shortly after he begins his journey to Texas with his trail hand Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), Dunson learns that his love interest Fen (Coleen Gray), whom he had told to stay behind with the California-bound wagon train with the understanding that he would send for her later, was killed in an Indian attack.
Despite this tragedy, Dunson and Groot press on. That night, Dunson and Groot fend off an attack by Indians, and on the wrist of one, Dunson finds a bracelet he had been left by his late mother, which he had given to Fen as she left. The next day, an orphaned boy named Matthew Garth (played as a boy by Mickey Kuhn and as an adult by Montgomery Clift) wanders into Dunson and Groot's camp, traumatized and babbling incoherently. He is the sole survivor of the wagon train. Dunson adopts him and ties the boy's cow to his wagon, alongside his own bull.
With only the bull and the cow, Dunson, Groot, and Matt enter Texas by crossing the Red River. They finally settle in deep South Texas near the Rio Grande. After Dunson proudly proclaims all the land about them as his own, two Mexican men appear on horseback and inform Dunson that the land already belongs to their boss, a Spanish grandee whose family held the land by patent from the King of Spain. Dunson dismisses this and, thanks to a quicker draw in a showdown, kills one of the men and tells the other to inform the Spanish don that Dunson now owns the land. Dunson names his new spread the Red River D, after his chosen cattle brand for his herd. Fatefully, he promises to add M (for Matt) to the brand, once Matt has earned it.

Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru

Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) is a stubborn man who wants nothing more than to start up a successful cattle ranch in Texas. Shortly after he begins his journey to Texas with his trail hand Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), Dunson learns that his love interest Fen (Coleen Gray), whom he had told to stay behind with the California-bound wagon train with the understanding that he would send for her later, was killed in an Indian attack.
Despite this tragedy, Dunson and Groot press on. That night, Dunson and Groot fend off an attack by Indians, and on the wrist of one, Dunson finds a bracelet he had been left by his late mother, which he had given to Fen as she left. The next day, an orphaned boy named Matthew Garth (played as a boy by Mickey Kuhn and as an adult by Montgomery Clift) wanders into Dunson and Groot's camp, traumatized and babbling incoherently. He is the sole survivor of the wagon train. Dunson adopts him and ties the boy's cow to his wagon, alongside his own bull.
With only the bull and the cow, Dunson, Groot, and Matt enter Texas by crossing the Red River. They finally settle in deep South Texas near the Rio Grande. After Dunson proudly proclaims all the land about them as his own, two Mexican men appear on horseback and inform Dunson that the land already belongs to their boss, a Spanish grandee whose family held the land by patent from the King of Spain. Dunson dismisses this and, thanks to a quicker draw in a showdown, kills one of the men and tells the other to inform the Spanish don that Dunson now owns the land. Dunson names his new spread the Red River D, after his chosen cattle brand for his herd. Fatefully, he promises to add M (for Matt) to the brand, once Matt has earned it.

Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru