Howard Hawks · 1948 · overland

Howard Hawks's 1948 Western, a fictional telling of the first drive up the Chisholm Trail. Cattleman Thomas Dunson and his adopted son Matt Garth push ten thousand head north from their south Texas ranch, across the Red River and through Indian Territory toward the Kansas railhead, as Dunson's tyranny on the trail turns the drive into a mutiny and a final reckoning between father and son.

1. 1
   The Red River D ranch

   Fourteen years building the Red River D into a cattle empire leave Thomas Dunson land-rich and cash-poor; with Texas ruined after the war, he bets everything on driving the herd north to a railhead.

2. 2
   The Red River

   The herd swims the Red River out of Texas, the point of no return; beyond lies Indian Territory, and Dunson drives the men ever harder as the trail's hardships mount.

3. 3
   Indian Territory

   Through Indian Territory the drive nearly breaks - stampede, desertions, Dunson's bullwhip justice - until Matt seizes command and turns the herd for the nearer railhead at Abilene.

4. 4
   Abilene

   Matt brings the herd down Abilene's main street to a town hungry for beef, completing the first Chisholm Trail drive, as Dunson rides in behind them for the long-promised showdown.