Review of The Searchers (1956) by Ya Wen H — 17 Jul 2010

You can see that a man is riding a horse alone in a treeless wilderness. He wears a hat, a brown vest and blue jeans. He is handsome and gorgers but seems to be a little bit lonelyâ?¦.He is Ethan Edwards.

Ethan is the main character in â??The Searchersâ?? and is starred by the famous actor, John Wayne. He is a veteran who played a part in Civil War. After the war is ended, he comes back to his brotherâ??s family at Western. He has a great time with his brotherâ??s family and gets along well with everybody except his brotherâ??s adopted son, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter). Martin is a half Indian and because Ethan has the unexplainable hatred of the Indians, he does not like Martin at all initially. One day the cavalry and Ethan are informed that the Jorgensenâ??sâ?? cows are killed. Therefore, they go to see what happened; however, they find it is just a trap that the Indians want to induce them out to kill Ethanâ??s family. When they come back home, just as expected, Ethanâ??s family all got killed. Thereâ??s only Ethanâ??s nieces are existed but abducted by the Indians. As a result, Ethan starts a long trip to find them, the only blood kin of him, with Martin.

The story begins with the return of Ethan and quickly introduces the background, then, brings everybody to go into the event. For me, an English student, the plot is not so difficult to understand but it still takes some time to figure out the details of the plot. On the other hand, I think the story is quite believable through the actorsâ?? excellent performance. John Wayne explained Ethanâ??s wisdom of fighting with the Indians and brave very well. He made this character lively and believable. Besides, Jeffrey Hunter also did a great job. He didnâ??t upstage but was attractive. Martin is a little bit careless but he has a great passion. These features make him loved. Thereâ??s another reason makes the movie more believable. The movie contains some meaningful issues and just lets people to think more, for instance, the family, the difference between races, and the heroism. In my opinion, â??familyâ?? plays an important role in the movie. You can find that the director conveys an image of the ideal family: the roof, the heater and the rocking chair. It is interesting to find these images and carefully to think about them.

For me, itâ??s a great movie and I would like to see it again. Therefore, I give it a high score and just recommend to you.