Together director John Ford and actor John Wayne were synonymous with the Western genre and together their film The Searchers is regarded as one of the best if not the best.
It is the story of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), an embittered veteran, returns to Texas after the Civil War and discovers that Comanche Indians have killed his family and kidnapped his nieces. Along with Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hawley), who was adopted by the Edwards’ after his own parents were killed by Comanches years earlier, Ethan sets out to find his remaining niece, Debbie (a teenage Natalie Wood). The movie’s title refers to the duo’s five year search for the young woman, and their struggle to rescue her once she is adopted by the tribe and married to Chief Scar (Harry Brandon).
By modern standards the film is something of a slow burn compared to modern westerns classic such as Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven’ but it would be one of Wayne’s favourite films that he appeared in. Further, the AFI ranked it as the No 1 film on their list of Greatest Westerns and was among the first twenty-five movies to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in The National Film Registry in 1989.
The film is something of landmark in the genre and arguably it was Wayne’s best performance and yet the film was overlooked by the Oscars. Ford’s brilliantly captures the Monument Valley landscapes (Ford would shoot six other Westers there in the course of his life) and would influence George Lucas when he shot his Tattooine scenes for ‘Star Wars’. And that iconic shot of Wayne framed in a doorway turning away from camera that has been copied for so many films since most notably by Tarantino (check that opening scene in ‘Inglourious Basterds’ as the young girl flees from Lander and his soldiers).
The Searchers Blu-ray Disc contains the following special features:
- Featurette The Searchers: An Appreciation
A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers
1998 Documentary Narrated by John Milius
Introduction by John Wayne’s Son and The Searchers Co-Star Patrick Wayne
Commentary by Director/John Ford Biographer Peter Bogdanovich
Vintage Behind the Cameras Segments from the Warner Bros. Presents TV Series
Theatrical Trailer
The highlight of the disc is both the archive documentary and also the commentary by the late Peter Bogdanovich and both features give an excellent insight into the film and what was going on behind the scenes and they alone make the disc worth investing in and those Monument Valley landscapes still take the breath way (David Lean himself was rumoured to have studied them before he shot Lawrence of Arabia) perhaps even more so now they are in 4K.
related feature : ‘Patriots Day’ – the real life sergeant talks about shooting one of the Boston marathon bombers
related feature : The iconic roles Clint Eastwood refused ….
Here’s the trailer….
The Searchers 4K UHD BLU-RAY is out now
