STACK #166 Aug 2018

EXTRAS

FEATURE

The Searchers cast and crew, including John Wayne and John Ford (front wearing eye patch) on location in Monument Valley

girls but early in the search he discovers Lucy, violated and slain. This is undoubtedly John Ford’s most brutal western but the violence he skillfully leaves to the audience’s imagination, as very little of it is depicted onscreen. The rest of the movie details Ethan and Martin’s long five-year search for the surviving daughter, Debbie, amongst the Comanche. Ethan’s hatred of the Comanche and his consuming sense of revenge for the loss of the woman he loved drives him to the brink of madness, as he and Martin crisscross the territory in their pursuit of Scar. Gradually, Martin Top: Martha (Dorothy Jordan) and little Debbie (Lana Wood) watch Ethan leave with the posse Above: Chief Scar (Henry Brandon)

and brutality, but by a legitimate grievance against the white men who have murdered his two sons. Consequently, Ford delineates Ethan and Scar as not just enemies but also as mirror images of each other. As the film proceeds to its dramatic conclusion, the audience are left wondering whether Ethan will carry out his threat and kill his niece, or will Martin save her and kill Ethan? The Searchers is a compelling story full of memorable characters, presented in VistaVision and suffused with Winton C. Hoch’s resplendent Technicolor cinematography – it still looks stunning when viewed today. Released in May 1956, it easily made its money back at the box office, taking $5.9 million worldwide. However, despite receiving a number of rave reviews, it failed to get any Academy Award nominations or any other honours. A mystified John Wayne said, “You know, I just don’t

“They ain’t white – not anymore. They’re Comanch.”

from being brutalised by the Comanche. Ford concludes the scene with a magnificent close-up of Ethan’s face, graphically clear that he is on the verge of madness caused by his obsessive hatred. He sneers, “They ain’t white – not anymore. They’re Comanch (sic)”.

realises that Ethan intends to kill, not rescue, Debbie. Ethan believes she is tarnished by blood pollution due to her now being old enough to be some Comanche buck’s squaw. In the 1950s, miscegenation was still illegal in the US and Ethan’s attitude probably resounded with US Caucasian audiences at that time. Ford actually highlights the exact moment Ethan decides he must destroy his niece, in the film's most disturbing scene.

understand why that film wasn’t better received. I think it’s Ford’s greatest western”. After being forgotten for two decades, during the 1970s there was a sudden explosion of The Searchers' influence on leading young American film directors. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Milius, Martin Scorsese and many others began to imitate numerous scenes from Ford’s

Ford’s treatment of the racial prejudice of the settlers and the genocide of Native Americans in the film was not only innovative but startling in its harshness

Ford’s treatment of the racial prejudice of the settlers and the genocide of Native Americans in the film was not only innovative but startling in its harshness. We learn that Scar’s actions are not motivated by sheer senseless cruelty

film in their own productions. Without doubt, The Searchers has influenced more filmmakers than almost any other motion picture, with the possible exception of Citizen Kane . Finally in 2008, the American Film Institute deservedly named it the greatest American western. Today it is in seventh place on the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound list of the 50 greatest films of all time. Both Ford and Wayne would have been justly proud of that.

Two young white female captives have been rescued by the US Army and Martin attempts to question them as to the whereabouts of Debbie. But both are traumatised and incapable of understanding him, seemingly driven mad

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