Review of The Searchers (1956) by Guy G — 26 Jul 2011

This is not only one of the most gorgeously filmed westerns of all time, but also one of the best-looking films in general as well. John Ford is the undisputed king of the western and you could make a valid case for many of his films to be "the greatest.

" "The Searchers" is definitely one of those flicks and features a deliberate and frighteningly fascinating performance by John Wayne. Wayne usually unfairly gets pegged by today's society as one-dimensional in many of his performances.

If you want to see evidence to the contrary, just feast your eyes on this film and witness Wayne portray a hurricane of a man with revenge on his mind. The racism in the film is palpable and only serves to further the notion that tension between white Americans, Native Americans and Mexicans in the west at that time were tragically unavoidable.

Regardless of the color of your skin, however, "The Searchers" is a very effective meditation on revenge, obsession and the debunking of the myth of the glory of the Wild West.