Review of The Searchers (1956) by Dave H — 06 May 2015

Rich, resonant, mature Western film. Definitely earns a place within my top ten favourite Western films and my top ten favourite '50s films. And it's undoubtedly my favourite film as far as making use of my favourite natural film location EVER goes. Monument Valley is the inarguable star of the this beautiful, wonderfully lensed film. From a narrative point of view, I'm not sure why there are farms in that red desert, but that logic aside - exterior location filming never looked so good - then or since. Red rock desert, startling blue sky. Many, many single shots in this film you could hang on your wall as a print. Not just Monument Valley though. I adore the wintery shots of the buffalo herd, or Ethan and Martin's horses ploughing through the deepest snow, or the Calvary changing through the icy river. Visually this film is a masterclass that has been homage so many times since (notably within my favourite film franchise).

But the film is so much more than visual splendour. It sits right on the cusp of the traditional "cowboys and Indians"/good vs evil golden era westerns and the revisionist, multi-layered westerns that took over from the 60s onwards. A casual viewer might view Ethan as a typical white-hatted hero, and the Indians as pure savages...yet if you pay more attention to this...Ethan is definitely a conflicted anti-hero, torn up inside by the loss of his family and the need to vilify the native American population that his predecessors have "conquered". He's not just a good guy or a bad guy. He's a CHARACTER. He's racist as hell, but I don't think the film is excusing that. He's true the country and era of the time. He doesn't really believe in his "country" after the war. He loves his family, and is obsessed with wreaking vengeance on the people who took most of them (perhaps all of them) away from him in an incredibly brutal and savage fashion. Martin is a simpler, purer character (he not an eye-for-an-eye type, he just wants his step-sister back), but serves as a counterpoint to Ethan in much the same way Montgomery Cliff was a counterpoint to John Wayne is Red River - the young one represents more idealistic, progressive attitudes, the older one hangs onto a harsher, more traditional, more survivalist ideology. But BOTH characters in The Searchers make sense to me - they seem real.

In many ways the film is confusing. Are Ethan and Martin really saving Debbie? By the time they find her she doesn't appear to be mistreated, and they might be "rescuing" her from the only life she knows. There is little examination of what she has gone through - although some terrible things are inferred - and obviously there is lots of sickening brutality inflicted by the Comanche on the Edwards family and others. But this film isn't an PC examination of the complex racial issues that occurred with the "settling" of the West, the devastating near genocide of the Native Americans and ways they pushed back. It's not that. It's just a personal story about a few people. And what a story it is.

The narrative isn't always perfect - but damn that first half hour is. Beautifully sets the scene, the main characters, and then climaxes with a suspenseful attack on the Edwards homestead. We don't see the attack itself, but the build up to it is chilling, and the aftermath (one shot famously homage in my favourite movie) is heart-rending. After this first half hour, the pace of The Searchers might be too slow and repetitive for many ADHD millennials. But that's kinda the point - the "search" crosses several years, and the breadth of a continent. The ideological conflict between Ethan and Martin - especially in regards to Debbie's fate - drives the main narrative, but there is plenty of filler that works well too - the actions bits (especially the river conflict) are brilliant, and ANY scene than Ward Bond's Reverend appears in is worthwhile - he hams it up a lot, yes - but his natural chemistry and hard-edged banter with Wayne are gold. Less successful are the "romance" scenes with Laurie and the Jorgensen family stuff - I appreciate that they lighten the dramatic tone of the main narrative - and they serve that purpose well - but they are played a little too broadly IMHO (Charlie McCorry is basically retarded and yet he was designed for 1950s-style laughs?) A softer tone here that established a warmer, quieter family environment would have made Debbie's return more resonant. But it's ok. Mose Harper and his rock solid abs and old man senility get a bit wearying towards the end, but overall I liked him and his desire for a rocking chair by the fire.

I liked ALL of the filler stuff, but I LOVED the main narrative, the drama, the action, the performances and the lensing. John Wayne's best performance, I reckon. John Ford's undoubted masterpiece. And yes...one of the most classic American films of all time.