Review of The Searchers (1956) by Anders H — 27 Sep 2010

The impression that really remains in your mind when you watch The Searchers is the searing landscape. The deep, fiery orange-red of the landscape, the haunting, desolate and intimidating landscape of Monument Valley that John Ford returns to again and again for such films like Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, Cheyenne Autumn, Fort Apache, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon and Sergeant Rutledge. The landscape is so desolate and enchanting that John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter can't seem to escape it. The lifeless and soulless landscape that consumes them. This movie that I have seen countless, and it gets better every time I see it, is one of my favourite films of all time and I feel right to write a review about it. I hope that whoever will read this review will take an interest and give this film a watch. This isn't just the greatest western of all time but one of the greatest films of all time and I would go as far as calling it John Ford's masterpiece.

The movie starts with the title Texas 1868 and then opens with a woman opening standing in a doorway with the Monument Valley in front of her. She walks out and sees a rider in the distant riding towards the ranch. She watches him and she is accompanied by her husband who says to her 'Ethan?'. It is his brother Ethan Edwards played by John Wayne. Ethan shakes his brothers hand but doesn't give him any kind of love that a brother would do. He goes up to Martha, the woman, and kisses her on the forehead. You get the feeling that there is something going on between them. He is greeted by the whole family which consists of son Ben and two daughters Lucy and Debbie. They have another son who is a half breed called Martin Paulie played superbly by Jeffrey Hunter. Martin was saved by Ethan as a child. The film sets in with this family setting with the main character Ethan Edwards hard to crack. Where has he been? Why does he still dress like a confederate soldier? What has he done since the south surrendered in 1865? Has he committed a crime? The family setting that John Ford sets up is immediately changed and the film ventures into a more darker realm. Uncanny of a John Ford film to do so. Captain Clayton played magnificently by John Ford favourite Ward Bond arrives with his Texas Rangers to investigate missing cattle stolen by Indians. Ethan and Martin go along and leave the family unguarded. They go off into Monument Valley and find the cattle slaughtered and realised that they have been drawn out into the wilderness so the Indians can attack a homestead without protection. John Wayne returns to his Brother's ranch with Hank Worden's character Mose and finds the ranch in flames. He rides down and amidst the burning ranch he shouts out 'Martha, Martha!'. He comes across her dress and looks into a room and sees her body. The audience does not see her body but we know what has happened to her. Ethan's attention is drawn away from her death as a barking dog alerts him to the fact Debbie and Lucy have been taken by the Indians. What soon happens is that Ethan and Martin go deep into the harsh landscape to look for her, a search that takes five years and they learn that one of the girls has now learnt the ways of the indian and in Ethan's mind 'Living with Comanches ain't being alive'.

This is the basic plot of the movie and it is John Ford's amazing direction that keeps the story moving. The characters are very interesting and are some of the best characters in any John Ford film. John Wayne's character Ethan Edward's is one of his best roles he ever played along with his performances in Red River, True Grit and Sands of Iwo Jima. John Wayne is not playing the heroic character that people loved him for. He is an anti-hero. Ethan Edwards is a racist and the only way he can save those girls from the comanches is by killing them in order to save them from the lifestyle they have come to live by. He hates Indians and he knows a lot about them. At the beginning of the film we understand that he is having an affair with his brother's wife. This isn't hinted in dialogue but by visual elements, which is played out beautifully. His brother probably knows but doesn't seem to do anything about it. There is a scene where Ward Bond is having his coffee and sees Martha with Ethan's coat and also them together but he looks on and pretends not to notice. Ethan Edward's is an outcast of society who wanders around not belonging anywhere. Much like Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. He is one who will wander the earth much like the dead indian who's eyes he shot at to prevent him from joining the spirit land. The Indian's spirit will be left to wander the earth, much like him. At the end of the movie, everyone goes inside a ranch that belongs to the Jorgensen's. The camera is placed in the same sort of manner that the beginning was placed in. Ethan stands outside while everyone goes in. He stands smiling holding his arm in a sort of a Harry Carey Snr kind of way. He then turns and walks away and the door closes on him. He is not part of this lifestyle and he knows it. He walks away to wander the earth like the blind indian spirit.

All the actors in this film are on form. Jeffrey Hunter plays Martin brilliantly and the scenes where him and Ethan confront each other are very well done. Vera Miles plays Laurie, the Jorgensen's daughter. Like all of John Ford's female characters they are tough and Laurie is the toughest of the bunch. She is in love with Martin and she is tired of being on a ranch and wants to leave with him. Ward Bond plays Captain Clayton brilliantly and is one of the best characters that Ward Bond has played in a John Ford film. He provides some comic relief in my opinion. Henry Brandon plays Scar, the indian war chief who kidnaps the girls and he is very frightening in the way that he looks and in his actions. The scene where him and Ethan Edwards is very good. It has two people who hate each other for who they are and the hate that is in their eyes when they first see each other says it all. Hank Worden plays Mose the old fool who loves his rocking chair and is the main comic relief in the film. He is crazy but we love him. All the supporting roles are brilliant and they hold together nicely with John Wayne's leading role.

The violence in this film is very interesting when studying this film. The interesting thing that I find is that most of the horrible violence happens off screen and leaves up to the viewers imagination. Unlike Anthony Mann another famous Western director who lived in the darkness of his westerns, John Ford went in out of it. When Ethan finds Martha's body and looks in and we don't see what he sees. But his face says it all. Martha has probably been raped and scalped like all the other people that were massacred at the ranch. Another scene which is really well done is the scene where Harry Carey Jr is told the truth about his kidnapped love. He comes back after scoping out some Indians and says he saw his girlfriend there with them. Ethan then tells him that its not her but an Indian wearing her dress. In an earlier scene they split up in the canyon and Ethan returned upset and angry. They comment on the fact that he hasn't got his jacket. Ethan has to tell Harry Carey Jr's character Brad that his girlfriend is dead and that he wrapped her up in his jacket and buried her. Brad then goes onto ask 'Was she..?'. Ethan then looses it and shouts 'What do you want me to do? Draw you a picture? Spell it out?' We as the audience know what Lucy went through. These sort of things make this movie very dark but it is what drives Ethan's hate of Indians and drives his aim to find the women. Brad completely filled with sadness and anger rides on his horse towards the Indians and all we see are Martin and Ethan trying to bring him back. But all we hear are gun shots.

John Ford was a great director and one of the best that has influenced so many directors such as Steven Spielberg, Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Orson Welles, Frank Capra and Howard Hawks to name a few. He is the only film director to have won 6 oscars. 4 of which were for directing. The four were for the films he did were The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green was My Valley and The Quiet Man with John Wayne. He was nominated for another one of his great westerns 'Stagecoach' but Gone with the Wind won it that year. Gone with the wind isn't really a western and probably didn't deserve it. John Ford did many other films that weren't westerns but he never won an oscar for a western. To me he should have got it for this. This film should have got some oscars. If I was alive in 1956 and I was in charge of the Oscars I would have given the searchers the awards it deserved. The awards should have been. Best Picture, Best Director for Ford, Best Actor in a Leading role for John Wayne, Best Supporting actor for Ward Bond, Best supporting actress for Vera Miles and best cinematography. This film will go down as one of John Ford's best westerns along with Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Man who shot liberty valance and be along side other great westerns like Red River, Winchester 73, The Wild Bunch, The Magnificent Seven, Rio Bravo, High Noon and 3:10 to Yuma (I'm talking about the old 3:10 to Yuma not the fucking terrible Christian Bale one. The old one is so much better). I hope I have told you enough about this film for you to buy and see it. If you have seen it then watch it again because you notice something new every time. This will be my first western review and I hope to do another one soon. Thank You and he or she who ever reads this review should know I have a varied taste in films. Bye.