The Searchers (1956)

Directed By: John Ford | Written By: Frank Nugent

Players: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood

Setup: The year is 1886, three years after the formal end to the Civil War. The setting is the stark frontier western Texas where only the heartiest of homesteaders persevere over forces of nature, the threats of cattle rustlers and a looming threat of raiding parties of tribes of Comanche among others. A lone horseman, Ethan Edwards (played to full swagger by John Wayne) approaches the home of his brother's family. In between moments of happiness and relief in the reunion glimpses of a hardened and disillusioned cynic and possibly bigoted man who's postwar experiences are of a dubious, if not unlawful nature.

Along with his family by blood there is a young man named Martin Pawley (an impetuous Jeffrey Hunter) of mixed white and indian descent, found as an abandoned babe by Ethan and raised by his family, but it is made abundantly clear to him on multiple occasions by Ethan that there is no love or bonds of kinship between them. While the two of these men are away from the homestead investigating the disappearance of a neighbor's cattle herd their homestead and family is attacked and brutally slain by a Comanche raiding party. Evidence left at the scene leads Ethan to believe his youngest niece (eventually played by Natalie Wood) is still alive and is now a captive, so the two men saddle up and begin what becomes years of following clues, trailing rumors and searching for the little girl they both loved before it's too late ...

  

Review: In 1956 the prolific director John Ford, who's name is now synonymous with the American Western, released what many regard as his masterpiece with The Searchers. Based on the novel of the same name by Alan Le May, a screenplay by Ford collaborator Frank Nugent it had all of the fixin's for a classic but it ended up be so much more than that. Starring the one and only John Wayne, cast somewhat against type as a bitter anti-hero, with a young Jeffrey Hunter as his somewhat unwanted companion and the beautiful Natalie Wood along with a whole great mess of character actors The Searchers had the depth and chops to set itself apart from an ailing genre, rejuvenate it and would set the stage for the next couple of decades of deconstruncted Westerns.

Shot in beautifully rich VistaVision by cinematographer Winton T. Hoch, another long-time Ford collaborator, The Searchers ranks toward the top of many best-of lists (if not the top!) as the greatest American Western. It is little wonder why its legacy has endured as it transcends its own genre and is no less powerful a viewing, being full of complex characters and themes displayed over a such grand backdrop, almost sixty years later … 

Taken at face value The Searchers is a tale of vengeance, adventure and redemption catalyzed by a grisly offscreen event early in the film. Sending two characters; one a world weary anti-hero and the other a young idealistic, emotional but loyal man with no real claims to his name, on a rescue mission.

There are many great moments in this film that capture the brooding darkness lying under all of that eye-poppingly colorful motion painting that is VistaVision but none more defining than when the characters of Ethan (Wayne) and Martin (Hunter) return to find their homestead still burning and their family slaughtered. While the actual raid on the house all happens offscreen, we don't see any gore or bodies, what we don't see still speaks volumes. Ethan is first on the scene and he sees a torn and bloody dress of his brother's wife and as he grips it in his hands he approaches a dugout shed behind the main house and looks inside. The camera angle is from inside the darkened shed looking out at Ethan's silhouetted frame and what he see horrifies, shocks and disgusts the grizzled Civil War veteran. As the shadows cover his now averted gaze (because even “The Duke” can't bare to look inside the shed again) he orders that Martin to “not go in there, boy”, punches the kid square in the face when he attempts to look and has him restrained so he doesn't see the gruesome remains of the barbarous acts on his family. Like Martin the viewers minds can only imagine the horrors within, with the not knowing arguably being far worse than bearing witness to the carnage itself.

Perhaps it is worth noting that The Searchers was a film made while many Hollywood productions were still adhering to the censorship mandated by the Hays Code which could limit a lot on what a movie could present in the terms of violent and sexual content but when a bloody torn dress is presented as evidence before our eyes unspeakable (and because of the Hays Code, unshowable) acts must begin to race through our heads; images of murder, mutilation such as scalping, and rape just to name a few. The way this film handles this content by allowing us to experience it through visual innuendo and the reactions of the characters discovering the scene of the slaughter is all the more horrifying because it leaves the audience to imagine what really happened with any manner of gory details. Along with the way this scene is shot, particularly the angles used that show us the carnage through the reaction of the character of Ethan, the musical score that accompanies the scene is mournful and forlorn until he discovers the doll of the missing niece not among the bodies. We see his hand reach into frame pick up the doll and the music changes ever so slightly when combined with the imagery gives a sense of resolve, it is at this moment it is clear that Ethan has dedicated himself to one purpose and that purpose is to find his niece no matter the cost.

What makes this scene so great though is in many ways it is the perfect reflection of John Wayne's troubled character. There is so much ugliness implied and a deep sadness and regret under the surface that we can experience here in this scene as it is a microcosm of the themes of acceptance, love, loss and redemption that will be expanded on in the rest of the film. While Ethan is a calloused man he is not a completely uncaring one, in his own rough way he makes sure Martin retains his innocence and protects him and by extension the viewer from the horrors that humanity is capable of. The entire flick you are left wondering what Ethan's convictions truly are, is he really such a hard, stubborn sunovabitch as to search years for a girl knowing in the back of his mind even if he did find her alive she would now come to represent everything he has come to loathe? What will happen if and when he does find her? Will he reclaim her as his kin or put a bullet in her head because she is no longer his neice but a savage indian? In the end John Wayne saunters that line of moral ambiguity and righteous heroism in a truly masterful way and takes more than just Jeffrey Hunter along for the ride.

While the title The Searchers could simply be a two-word summation of the plot of rescuing a kidnapped girl like so many things about this film there are multiple layers of meanings. Not the least of which could be John Wayne's character of Ethan Edwards rediscovering his own humanity and in doing so finds some kind of redemption ... if not for himself then for the ones he cares about. 

Tidbit: Here, just enjoy this fantastic clip of a nostalgiac Martin Scorsese describing his first time experiencing The Searchers ... 

Drink of Choice: This is a Western, one that does make its way south of the border at one point, so why not give John Wayne's tequila of choice a shot?