dallasryan
I love this film. It's not necessarily my favorite John Wayne character, but it is my favorite John Wayne movie and also my favorite John Ford film. When first watching The Searchers, it feels like it's going to be a normal John Wayne film which is normally a good to very good film where you love John Wayne (you love him in anything he's in), but usually it's not a great film with the exception of some of the greats that he has done. But as you keep watching The Searchers, you realize this isn't the norm, their is substance and greatness here. The Searchers is an epic film exploring greatness on all levels with one of the most powerful endings in movie history which is the incarnate of what John Wayne symbolizes. The Searchers is first rate supreme, a magnificent film displaying John Wayne's best qualities as an actor as well as John Ford's superb direction. A must see for any movie buff!!
Leofwine_draca
John Ford's well-regarded western is a classic for a reason: it's very well made indeed. Finely shot, finely acted, and with a plot that keeps on giving, THE SEARCHERS is perhaps the pinnacle of the director's career and certainly one of John Wayne's best films as well as acting performances. Here, he tones down the swagger a little, delivering a finely-turned turn as the former Confederate soldier who gets embroiled in a hunt for a missing girl.THE SEARCHERS is difficult to fault as a film. The running time is lengthy but you end up savouring every moment. The bright photography brings Monument Valley to life in a special way. The supporting cast is exemplary, from old-timers like Ward Bond to newcomers like Natalie Wood. There isn't a great deal of stock action here, but nonetheless the film has a sense of drive and urgency to it, a momentum that keeps it carrying on and on. I dare anyone to find fault with it.
jacobs-greenwood
Despite being perhaps director John Ford's best Western, this film did not receive any Oscar nominations; it features a compelling story (Frank Nugent's screenplay from Alan Le May's novel) and beautiful Technicolor vistas of Monument Valley.John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a man who returns to the unsettled territory west of Texas two years after fighting for the south during the Civil War. His former Captain Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) is in charge of the Rangers, the law in this part of the country, where Edwards' family is trying to scratch out an existence among hostile Indians. Ethan doesn't try to hide his racism for his brother Aaron's adoptive son Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), who's one- eighth Cherokee, even though Ethan had saved the boy's life in the distant past. The Edwards and Jorgensens are about the only two families left who haven't given up trying to settle in the valley given its challenging conditions.When Lars Jorgensen (John Qualen) needs help retrieving some cattle after a Comanche Indian raid, Clayton and men from both families head out to find them. After a forty mile horseback ride from home, they discover that the raid was a ruse to separate the men from their homes and women. Because the Jorgensen ranch is closer, Clayton and most of the men head there while, to Martin's frustration, Ethan and Mose Harper bed down to rest their horses for the trip back to the Edwards' place.Later, Ethan and Mose catch up with Martin, who'd killed his horse by trying to ride back without resting it, just before discovering the worst: the Edwards' homestead is burning, its occupants killed, horrifying evidence that Aaron's wife Martha was raped before death, and the Edwards' daughters Lucy and Debbie missing, presumably taken by the Comanche.Clayton and the men search unsuccessfully for the girls, then hold off a Comanche onslaught – led by Chief Cicatriz aka Scar (Henry Brandon) – meant to eliminate them, but Ethan's surly nature and a subsequent disagreement cause most of the party to return home. Ethan, Martin, and Lars's son Brad (Harry Carey Jr.) soldier on. After coming upon the Indian's camp one night, and learning that Ethan had discovered that Lucy – Brad's fiancée – had met with a similar fate as her mother, Brad makes a suicidal raid of his own.Ethan and Martin continue on for almost a year without success before returning to the Jorgensen ranch. Mrs. Jorgensen greets Ethan, while her daughter Laurie (Vera Miles) rushes Martin. Though Martin is clueless and curiously uninterested in Laurie, she informs him they've been going steady since they were 3 years old! But just as he's come around to that fact, and his feelings for her, Ethan says that he's off to find Debbie again. Martin insists he has to go too since he believes Ethan's bigotry is his driving force, which will lead Ethan to kill Debbie when he finds her.The search takes several more years, some of which is related in a letter that Martin writes to Laurie, which she reluctantly reads aloud to her family and letter carrier Charlie (Ken Curtis), who's her unwanted suitor that later becomes her fiancé. Meanwhile Martin, while trading with a friendlier tribe of Indians, inadvertently became betrothed to a squaw. But, he writes, she was later killed, perhaps by the same Comanches that may still have Debbie.Eventually, through a prominent Mexican named Emilio, Ethan and Martin find – and have a peaceful if contentious meeting with – Scar, who speaks the English language fairly well and recognizes Ethan, who he's dubbed "Big Shoulders". They discover that Debbie (Natalie Wood), now 15 years old, is alive and is one of Scar's squaws. After the meeting, Emilio returns Ethan's money (paid to set up the meeting) and departs quickly, sensing bad blood.While Ethan and Martin set up camp down the river from the Comanche and discuss their pending fate, Debbie runs to warn them to leave as soon as possible. After hearing Debbie refuse Martin's plea that she escape with them, Ethan tells Martin to step aside as he draws his sidearm. Martin protects Debbie as an arrow from afar strikes Ethan in the shoulder. The two men scramble to escape a Comanche raid. After successfully defending their position, Martin helps Ethan to mend. But the two return 'home' at odds after Martin refuses to accept Ethan's last will and testament, which would have left the remaining Edwards' assets to him; unlike Ethan, Martin doesn't consider Debbie to be dead.At the Jorgensens', the men discover they've arrived just in time to interrupt Laurie's betrothal to Charlie. In a relatively civilized manner, Martin and Charlie fight it out, much to Laurie's and her mother's delight. Though neither man wins or loses the fight, Charlie realizes that he'd never had Laurie's heart, so he calls off the wedding and leaves. Martin and Laurie reconcile. Just then, a Union Cavalry Lieutenant (Wayne's son Patrick) arrives to announce to the Reverend – former Confederate Captain Clayton – that Scar and his Comanche are camped nearby. Clayton states that he and his rangers can handle the situation, but he allows the lieutenant to tag along. Martin sneaks into the camp to rescue Debbie, and ends up killing Scar, before Clayton, Ethan, and the rangers charge in cavalry-style, and finish things off. After visiting the Chief's tent to remove Scar's scalp, Ethan chases after and catches Debbie, successfully eluding Martin. He lifts her into the air and, instead of killing her, cradles her to his chest saying "let's go home Debbie".The iconic last scene of the film features Ethan returning home on horseback, dismounting and carrying Debbie to the porch where she is greeted and embraced by Mr. & Mrs. Jorgensen. Everyone else enters the homestead, leaving Ethan standing alone. He turns, takes the step down and walks away as the door closes.
Matthew Luke Brady
Wow.The Searchers is a timeless western classic that completely hooked me from the minute it starts. John Ford shows us how Western is done by it's breathtaking landscapes, haunting scenes and the best ending to a film I've ever seen.John Wayne gives the performance of his career as Ethan and I don't think his other performances can top that, but then again, my mind might change. John Wayne is the soul of Western and I don't care what anyone says to change that. He's so iconic that even people who haven't seen his movies still know the famous cow boy image of John Wayne.But I've heard a lot of issues from people with the character of Ethan. People thought the character was racist, unlikable or just a prick. Well his mother was killed by comanches, he lost the woman he loved to his brother, he fought in a war where he would have seen many people, including his friends killed, and then he returns home to his family who are massacred, including the woman he loves who was also raped. He also finds his niece's raped corpse that he buries.I don't think Ethan was suppose to win your heart. He's a deeply troubled and sometimes bordering on psychotic, person. He's an anti- hero that I couldn't bring myself to hate but root for. He's a racist and I'm okay with that, because it gives the character Ethan an interesting conflict with Martin (played by Jeffrey Hunter), for being quarter Cherokee which Ethan hates. It's never clear if Ethan views change at the end, but it sure makes one hell of a partnership between the two.This movie dose not mess around when it comes to it's violence. And no, I don't mean it's gory or bloody, but the movie gets quite dark at times. I only say "at times" because there is a fair share of humor in this that I did laugh at, as it fitted perfectly with the story and wasn't force. That's what I love about this movie. It manages to balance humor and dark scenes so brilliantly that's it's really difficult to pull off in movies. For a Western that's aged approved, it sure has some balls of what it presents you.I gotta be honest here. This is the first John Wayne movie I've ever watched and I can't believe it took me this long to get around to this one. First it was Marilyn, then Dean and now Wayne. Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa movies I still need to see.Don't worry Letterboxd people,"That'll be the day".
