Movie-A-Day #411: The Searchers

Chaplin

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The Searchers
Directed by John Ford

Cast:
John Wayne - Ethan Edwards
Jeffrey Hunter - Martin Pawley
Vera Miles - Laurie Jorgensen
Ward Bond - Capt. Reverend Clayton
Natalie Wood - Debbie Edwards, older

Critic's Review:
If John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor spectacle like such Ford classics as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) and a film about one man's troubling moral codes, a big-screen adventure of the 1950s that anticipated the complex themes and characters that would dominate the 1970s. John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a former Confederate soldier who returns to his brother Aaron's frontier cabin three years after the end of the Civil War. Ethan still has his rebel uniform and weapons, a large stash of Yankee gold, and no explanations as to where he's been since Lee's surrender. A loner not comfortable in the bosom of his family, Ethan also harbors a bitter hatred of Indians (though he knows their lore and language well) and trusts no one but himself. Ethan and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), Aaron's adopted son, join a makeshift band of Texas Rangers fending off an assault by renegade Comanches. Before they can run off the Indians, several homes are attacked, and Ethan returns to discover his brother and sister-in-law dead and their two daughters kidnapped. While they soon learn that one of the girls is dead, the other, Debbie, is still alive, and with obsessive determination, Ethan and Martin spend the next five years in a relentless search for Debbie -- and for Scar (Henry Brandon), the fearsome Comanche chief who abducted her. But while Martin wants to save his sister and bring her home, Ethan seems primarily motivated by his hatred of the Comanches; it's hard to say if he wants to rescue Debbie or murder the girl who has lived with Indians too long to be considered "white." John Wayne gives perhaps his finest performance in a role that predated screen antiheroes of the 1970s; by the film's conclusion, his single-minded obsession seems less like heroism and more like madness. Wayne bravely refuses to soft-pedal Ethan's ugly side, and the result is a remarkable portrait of a man incapable of answering to anyone but himself, who ultimately has more in common with his despised Indians than with his more "civilized" brethren. Natalie Wood is striking in her brief role as the 16-year-old Debbie, lost between two worlds, and Winton C. Hoch's Technicolor photography captures Monument Valley's savage beauty with subtle grace. The Searchers paved the way for such revisionist Westerns as The Wild Bunch (1969) and McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and its influence on movies from Taxi Driver (1976) to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars (1977) testifies to its lasting importance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

My Review:
In all it's technicolor brilliance, The Searchers is arguably one of the best westerns of all time (It's very high on my list, but I prefer Rio Bravo). The film also features an underrated performance by John Wayne, IMO one of his best 2 or 3 in his career.

The film is definitely NOT politically correct, as seen through the eyes of Wayne's character. The Indians are less than human to him, nothing but savage animals. Nothing explains this better than his first reaction to finding Natalie Wood's Debbie late in the film. Ford doesn't shy away from controversial material either--women and children do not escape the brutality of the Indians.

The film really has 3 stars: John Wayne, John Ford and Monument Valley. Ford was a master at filming the area--making it desolate and beautiful all at the same time. He used the area in several films, but this film really shows the magnificence and grandeur of the desert.

This film is not only one of Wayne's best westerns, it's one of the best Westerns, period.

Trivia:
One of the first movies to market itself with a making-of documentary aired on TV. Gig Young hosted the program, with Jeffrey Hunter as the guest.

In the climactic scene, John Wayne and Natalie Wood run up the side of a hill in Monument Valley, Utah... and come down the other side of the hill in the Bronson Canyon area of Griffith Park, Los Angeles (647 miles away).

Western star Harry Carey died in 1947. Director John Ford cast Carey's wife (Olive Carey) as Mrs. Jorgensen (the mother) and Carey's son (Harry Carey Jr.) as one of the sons (Brad) as a tribute to Carey. In the closing scene with John Wayne framed in the doorway, Wayne holds his right elbow with his left hand in a pose that Carey fans would recognize as one that he often used. Wayne later stated he did it as a tribute to Carey. Off-camera, Olive watched.

Lana Wood played young Debbie Edwards and Natalie Wood, who was Lana's older sister by eight years, played teenaged Debbie Edwards.

The Mexican man who takes the searchers to meet Chief Scar is called Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa. The name of this character, played by Antonio Moreno, is a combination of the names of Mexican actor and director Emilio Fernandez and his cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa, both of whom were friends of director John Ford.

Hank Worden (Mose Harper) was tied up finishing shooting on The Indian Fighter (1955) and was unavailable for some shots in this movie. In scenes where the Rangers have ridden out together in Monument Valley, 'Old Mose Harper' is played in group shots by another actor hanging back and hiding his face. Single shots of Worden as Harper in these scenes were shot later.

Was voted the both the 13th Greatest Film of all time and the Greatest Western of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Natalie Wood was still a student in high school when this film was being made, and on several occasions both John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter had to pick her up at school on days when she was required on the set. This caused a good deal of excitement among Wood's female classmates.

The film's screenplay was adapted by Frank S. Nugent from Alan Le May's 1954 novel of the same name, that was first serialized as a short story in late fall 1954 issues of the Saturday Evening Post, and first titled, "The Avenging Texans", acknowledged similarities existed between the film's script and an actual Comanche kidnapping of a young white girl in Texas in 1836.

Considering the part of Ethan Edwards to be the best character he ever portrayed on-screen and his favorite film role, John Wayne named a son Ethan in homage.

A significant portion of the film's labyrinthine plot is revealed on a throwaway prop that most casual viewers rarely notice. Just before the Indian raid on the Edwards homestead, the tombstone that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan's glaring hatred for Native Americans. The marker reads: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Commanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year." Sixteen years earlier, Ethan's own mother was massacred by Comanches.

The eccentric character of Mose Harper, played by Hank Worden, is loosely based on an actual historical personage called Mad Mose, a legendary half-crazy Indian fighter of the American southwest with a fondness for rocking chairs.

The role of a young cavalry officer, Lt. Greenhill, is played by Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son.

The medal Ethan Edwards gives to Debbie is not a Confederate or Union Army medal. It is a French medal awarded to mercenary soldiers who fought between 1865 and 1867 for the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. This medal implies Ethan served in the French Mexican Expedition during his mysterious three year absence and also explains his fluency in Spanish.

According to John Wayne in a 1974 interview, John Ford hinted throughout the movie that Ethan had had an affair with his brother's wife, and was possibly the father of Lucy and Debbie. This meant Ethan's thirst for vengeance stemmed not from the murder of his brother, but of the woman Ethan had loved. This was so subtle that many viewers at the time missed it altogether.

In a biography of John Ford it is mentioned that Ward Bond, in his motel room after shooting, would walk around naked with the curtains open in hopes of attracting Vera Miles. Apparently, this plan did not have the intended results.

The melody behind the opening credits is "Lorena" by Joseph Webster and Henry DeLafayette Webster, a song much favored by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The lyrics are the longings of a man for his now-dead wife.

The medal that Ethan gives away is the Order of St. Guadalupe, the second highest award of the Mexicans at the time (equivalent to the Distinguished Service Cross). Many Confederates went south after the war and as a Horse Artillery Sergeant (red SGT stripes with yellow britches stripes) he would have been highly paid.

In 2007, the America Film Institute ranked this as the #12 Greatest Movie of All Time.

The song playing as John Wayne approaches at the beginning of the film is a slow version of "The Bonnie Blue Flag", which along with "Dixie" were the two "anthems" of the Confederacy.

According to Harry Carey Jr.'s book "Company of Heroes", John Wayne stayed in character between takes.

Fess Parker was offered the part of Martin but Walt Disney refused to loan him out. Jeffrey Hunter got the role instead. Parker and Hunter would later star together in The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).

According to film restorer Ned Price, by 1991 when the first digital transfer was made (on Laserdisc), the yellow layer of the original VistaVision negative had completely faded, making it unusable. Black and white separation masters (yellow, cyan, and magenta) made in the late 1950s have been used since then to master DVD releases.

Ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Western" in June 2008.

Robert Wagner auditioned for the role of Martin Pawley.

John Wayne's performance as Ethan Edwards is ranked #87 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Martha (Dorothy Jordan) was the real life wife of film producer Merian C. Cooper.

Items #11 and #14 give contradicting descriptions of the medal given to Debbie. The medal may be a prop combining features of French and Mexican medals. The white and blue Maltese cross is similar to the white and red cross on the Mexican Order of Guadalupe and the red and green ribbon appears on the French Order of Merite Agricole.

In the dance scene just before the wedding, the male dancers are some of the most famous and toughest stunt men of the period. Chuck Hayward, Terry Wilson, John Hudkins, Fred Kennedy, Frank McGrath and Chuck Roberson can all be seen dancing. After the scene the crew nicknamed them "Ford's chorus girls". At the end of the scene John Wayne moves to the bar and Roberson says, "Let's have a drink." As he speaks, Hayward and Wilson move into the shot behind Wayne. Wayne is then surrounded by the three men who doubled him at various times in the movie.

Reportedly this film was seen in a theater in Texas by Buddy Holly and his friends in the summer of 1956. They were so impressed with Ethan's (John Wayne) repeated use of the phrase "That'll be the day" that they used it as the title for their now standard R'n'R song that they composed soon after.

Film debut of Pippa Scott.

In the scene directly after Ethan (John Wayne) shoots several buffalo in the small herd so they "...won't fill any Indian bellies this winter!", as the mounted Cavalry is going through the creek after a deep snowfall, there is a car that can be seen in the background. It is traveling from left to right and its lights can be seen in the background as it starts from the center of the screen in the shot and moves to the right.

The language spoken by the "Comanche" Indians is actually Navajo.

The actors playing Comanche Indians are all Navajo, with the exception of Chief Scar, played by a German actor. The language, traditional dress, dances depicted in the film are all Navajo, not Comanche. The scene where the "Comanche" natives are singing, with Ethan (John Wayne) declaring that they are singing a Comanche "Death Song" is actually a social Navajo "Squaw Dance Song".
 

Mulli

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It took me a few tries at watching this before I realized its greatness. Agree with your review completely. The statements made in regards to the "Indians" and/or Comanchees are unfiltered and must send some into convulsions.

John Wayne rocks it and the supporting cast is awesome. Including the original Captian Pike.

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DemsMyBoys

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IMO The Duke's greatest role.

Chaplin: I thought for sure I could add my own trivia to your list, but you've done a splendid job. I bow down to the master.
 
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