The Searchers



The Searchers is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, set during the Texas–Indian wars, and starring John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece, accompanied by his adoptive nephew.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Alan Le May's novel of an Indian raid led by Scar, the kidnapping of a girl, a foster brother (Martin Pauley) orphaned in a previous raid who joins the girl's uncle (Amos Edwards) on a five-year quest to find her which took them to the snow-covered north, to the Comancheros in New Mexico, served as a perfect vehicle for John Ford to explore the physical and social expanses of the West, and to examine themes basic to all his films: What is family? How does one belong to society? What distinguishes the committed from the obsessive? What is justice?
 * 2) In adapting the novel, the screenwriter softened the hard and bare-boned content in some areas. Martin Pawley is a subsidiary character in the film (whereas in the novel, he was the POV character), and Amos Edwards --renamed Ethan Edwards-- had his role expanded and sanitized for John Wayne who was at the height of his career. Although Edwards was made into a tamer version of his novel character, Wayne's portrayal of Edwards is easily one of the most complex performances ever shown in a Western, despite the massive playing against type.
 * 3) *Although Jeffrey Hunter lacked the depth or the technique to play the part how Le May wanted, he still manages to pull off a convincing enough performance to make it worth it.
 * 4) Unlike Ford's previous two westerns, Stagecoach and My Darling Clementine, this film has an expansive feel, Ford gives the characters time to breathe and goof off in certain scenes. There's also stunning backdrops and technicolor cinematography in just about every scene that's featured. The film's so visually clear and precise it often doesn't require dialogue thanks to the masterful usage of simple devices; such as the opening and closing door shots that conveyed a range of emotions and narrative ambiguity without saying a word. There may be great set pieces in the book the didn't make the film, but the content that did make the cut makes it all worth it.
 * 5) The film features some complex themes (such as racism, individuality, and opposition between civilization) and complex characters (like Ethan Edwards) that would dominate films of the 1970s and onwards. Ethan Edwards is far cry from the usual noble western heroes with clear-cut American values, as he's ruthless, bigoted and crazy, and would rather kill his niece than see her grow up an Indian.
 * 6) Great and interesting side characters such as Debbie, Martin, Laurie, Clayton and Chief Scar.
 * 7) There have been several comparisons between the anti-heroic Ethan Edwards and his enemy Chief Scar. The two of them aren't that different from each other considering they both had loving families that were attacked by other races, vowed revenge by targeting said race, spoke each other's languages pretty well, fought for America, and in general have caring sides deep down despite their surface nature.
 * 8) Powerful and strong soundtrack by Max Steiner as usual.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) During the film's initial release, the film attracted a lot of haters due to its complex themes, although modern viewers appreciate it more now.

Trivia

 * 1) The film didn't receive a single Academy Awards nomination during the film's awards year.
 * 2) One of the film's quotes "That'll be the day" actually inspired the Rock 'n' Roll band The Crickets to make a song based on the quote alone of the same name in 1957, with the song being written by none other than Buddy Holly, who is well known as one of the forefathers of Rock 'n' Roll and the father of Rock music, who actually came with the band members to watch the film, and after they watched the film, they decided that they wanna make a new song at the time, so the song was made and topped the Billboard Hot 100 at the #1 spot on the chart at the time.