Review: The Searchers (1956)

Directed by: John Ford
Written by: Frank S. Nugent
Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond and Natalie Wood

When John Ford came to Hollywood I don't think anybody could have predicted that he'd one day be considered one of the most significant figures in Western storytelling. When I first saw The Searchers years ago it didn't grab me for whatever reason, but I've seen it a few times since and progressively I've embraced it as much as any film critic. It's a true genre film to its very core. It sets a standard for Western movies that any writer or director looking to make one should aspire to. This is because of numerous factors, but if I had to rule it down to one I'd say that it's because it embodies the clash between civilization and the frontier wilderness like few others do, all the while pulling us in with the stories of main characters. Is it the greatest western ever made? In my opinion no, but it's a real contender for such a title.

Beginning in 1868 Texas, a veteran of the Confederate army, Ethan Edwards returns to his family's ranch home after many years of absence. Although it seems to be the place for new beginnings in his life an attack by a Comanche tribe leads to his family being murdered and his young niece abducted. Over the course of the next several years Ethan, accompanied by his adopted nephew Martin Pawley, ventures across America to find her while clinging to the hope that she's even alive.

What becomes immediately evident is the film's aesthetic beauty. Right away we're given a wonderful opening shot that would hold great symbolic power later on and an insight into the world of the Old West. It's crisp, sparse and seemingly endless. This only improves as it progresses and Ford experiments with the wonders of Technicolor and a variety of different locations. It really does enhance the story's scope, the extended sense of time and puts us into this America of the past. Even the interior sets have a certain vibrancy that's hard to describe. I consider it one of the most visually-stunning movies ever made.

All these aesthetics considered, what really makes it is its characters. Although characters like Martin and Laurie have their own compelling stories to tell, and Debbie serves as the dramatic question, Ethan's place in the film is by far the most fascinating. This is because there's a lack of certainty about his motivation. His search becomes increasingly obsessive, and we're speculating whether he's more driven by his love for family or his hatred of the Indians. John Wayne is known for his playing hard-as-nails characters that reveal their humanity with a degree of apprehension, and he blurs the lines of Uncle Ethan like few actors could. The film's final image of Ethan standing outside the door suggests his being confined to the outside world, but growing as a man as a result of it. It's a sweet finale to a flawed character. Thematically, Ethan embodies the bitterness of the South's failed rebellion, but also the contemporary view of the Indians holding back the expansion seen as crucial to the country's future. This does lead it to putting the Indians into a straight-up villainous position, and Ethan's consistent racism stands out, but I do feel it's still something we're left to form our own opinions about. For me, it all just comes back to character and his divisive nature's way of compelling us.

The Searchers influence can be seen all across the cinema made since, particularly in the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, but more importantly it's an adventure that gives you something to think about. When I think of the best western of all time I think The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, but if you were looking for a template to base any great western on The Searchers is the answer.

My Rating: 9/10