"I was going to make Hatari! with another star [opposite Wayne], and the studio couldn’t afford it. So we had to hire—I hired a German boy and a French boy to play the parts, and Wayne just went [makes a quick shrugging gesture] and they were gone. I had to change the story. But when I put him with Bob Mitchum and Dean Martin and Montgomery Clift, we got a story."
The best argument refuting the old "John Wayne couldn't act" trope is in that testimony of Howard Hawks (who directed him in five pictures). If you put up any old actor in the same shot with him, he'd blow them off the screen. Call it "screen presence" if you like. But, Wayne had to have a strong supporting cast, at least as versatile or magnetic (or as wily) as he was, or they'd shrink in significance on the screen... So, you'd have to have someone challenging—like the ones Hawks mentioned—or Maureen O'Hara or Kirk Douglas or Bruce Dern or Richard Boone or James Stewart or Lee Marvin or....somebody who would fill his sails and give the man something to work against.
Like Montgomery Clift in Red River.
This was Clift's first film role. Hawks spent a couple years editing Red River, and in the interim, the first released Clift performance was The Search. Clift was an "East Coast" actor, trained at The Actor's Studio, quite leftist politically, and, at least, bi-sexual. Wayne and co-star Walter Brennan had doubts that he could stand up to the bigger, stronger Wayne. But, Hawks had seen him on-stage and was already convinced that Clift could hold his own against the older actor (if Hawks had any doubts it was if Wayne could play "older" than his age of 39 at the time of filming). Hawks worked with Clift—he already knew how to ride and was comfortable on a horse—but, taught him how to shoot and how to fight. 
After their first scene together, Wayne was impressed. So impressed that he "upped" his game a little, using a couple tricks he had up his sleeve from starring in so many B-movie Westerns, as well as the classic Stagecoach (directed by John Ford) and the The Big Trail (directed by Raoul Walsh). Things they don't teach at the Actors Studio.
Like using the camera.
During their confrontation scene—depicted here—when it came time to film Wayne's side of the conversation, Wayne stared straight ahead, like his character was watching his life's work being taken away, and only occasionally glanced at Clift...but he made sure that he was looking away from the actor when he delivers the "hammer-blow" line "I'm gonna kill ya, Matt."
This put Clift into a high dudgeon. "How am I going to play against that?" he was heard to be yelling at Hawks. Good question. The dismissal that Wayne puts into the line—the matter-of-factness, the coldness—makes it deadly and certain. It elevates Wayne's character from bad boss to villain and makes one dread the final confrontation between them. It was a brilliant choice. Simple and elegant.
After the release of Red River, fellow director John Ford marveled to Hawks "I didn't know the big son-of-a-bitch could act!" and began giving Wayne more complex roles in his own movies.
The Set-up: After 14 years of building up a herd of 10,000 cattle, Thomas Dunson (John Wayne), with his adopted son, Matthew Garth (Montgomery Clift) and their cook, Groot Nadine (Walter Brennan) have started a cattle run intending to take the massive herd to Missouri. But, along the way, complications like cattle and men and weather are wont to deliver have taken a toll. Dunson has started drinking and become a tyrant, administering harsh punishments for anything that goes wrong. Finally, three of the hands quit in the middle of the night, and Dunson has sent his fastest draw after them.
Action.
EXT. DAYTIME - DUNSON CAMP
COWHERD 1: It's Cherry!
TEELER: But we didn't..
DUNSON (interrupting): You stole beans, flour and cartridges.
LAREDO: The law might see it different.
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TEELER: You're crazy.
TEELER: No.
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He stalks Teeler, ready to fire.
MATT: I am.
TEELER: That's good enough for me.
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COWHERD 2: I'm with you, Matt.
He rides off to help round up the herd.
MATT: All right, Groot. Get going.
Words by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee (and Howard Hawks)
Red River is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from M-G-M Home Entertainment and the Criterion Collection.
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