Review of The Searchers (1956) by Jack W — 20 Jan 2010

An absolutely incredible film. the transition Hollywood was undergoing in the fifties is totally apparent here. the framing of shots, wide open expansive use of location, the over saturation of colors all were techniques used to draw audiences back to film.

to me though it is content and character which strikes this film apart from earlier work especially the Wayne/Ford westerns. Wayne plays an anti-hero in the film, repeatedly doing and saying things so against his type.

His Ethan Edwards is a pre-cursor to many characters yet to come to the screen in Hollywood like Butch and Sundance or Clyde Barrow. Ford switches gears with his raising of racial issues such as genocide and miscegenation within the themes of the film.

That Wayne chases his niece for years speaks to the ongoing flight of Native Americans at this time and his vehement hatred towards her over her living with "a buck Indian" speaks to white male fears of miscegenation.

I love the opening and closing shots to the film, both framed as pictures within pictures with the opening shot having the camera push out into the frontier and the closing shot depicting Wayne walking away, out into the west and the door slamming on him.

Ford is saying that the frontier is closed, and men such as Wayne are dead or dying. great film.