American Myth: The Searchers (1956)

The Doorway Shot

On the heels of My Darling Clementine, I watched The Searchers. This does two things for me: allows me to see how ten years effected legendary director John Ford's skills, and allows me to say that I've finally seen a John Wayne movie. That's right: I haven't, until this point, seen a John Wayne film. I know the man, and I've seen clips of him, but I've never been interested in him as a performer enough to seek out his work. I am not enthused about the symbol of masculinity that Wayne became for a generation of men, and stayed away from his films. The Searchers, however, is widely considered not only one of the best westerns of all time, it also has a lofty spot as one of Ford's most renowned movies. There are some, even, that consider it one of Wayne's best performances.

Summary:

Ethan Edwards returns to his brother's farm, at long last, from his tour in the Civil War. Not long after, however, a band of Comanche raid the homestead, murder his family, and take the youngest daughter, Ethan's nieces Lucy and Debbie, as hostages. Ethan and the adopted brother, Martin, set off on an epic quest to find the girls and bring them back home. Before they do, they will face Comanche braves, grueling wilderness, the evils of men, and their own morals.

Pros:

John Ford Outdoes Himself: I liked My Darling Clementine. I wasn't blowed over by it, but I liked it. The Searchers, however, lives up to the man's mythic legacy in a way that I couldn't have anticipated. His techniques, by now, are perfected, and his movie-making is dynamic and gorgeous. This film comes to us in Technicolor, and Ford makes the most of it. He shows us wide blue skies, dotted with clouds, winding hills, sheer cliff faces, and worn down shacks. Juxtaposed against these vistas are the tiny men on horseback, searching for their lost family. The imagery in this film is immediately iconic (that first shot through the door of the Edwards farm is gorgeous) and the work of a true master. I noted how, in My Darling Clementine, Ford had a knack for allowing his actors to wander into frame and drop into place, creating wonderful tableaus. He continues that tradition, here. Only now he has aligned his actors to establish depth of field, frames relationships to one another with echoes in the scenery, and allows his camera to swing left and right, continuing established motion in breathtaking fashion. His eye for balance and sight lines have never been better. If you were going to sit down and watch just one of the two films I've seen, I'd recommend The Searchers every time.

Epic: This is truly a western epic. We follow the titular searchers on their quest for years: through Indian reservations, old west towns, military forts, and desert canyons. The story is epic in its scope. I have some minor nits to pick with it, but it is hard to fault the film for reaching beyond the grasp of the genre's simple roots.

Touches on Some Interesting Themes: The film has a complicated legacy in regards to its racism. Or, rather, Ethan's racism. He consistently reminds Martin of his mixed race heritage, wonders out loud whether Debbie is "even white any more," and makes brutal, ham-handed observations about Native Americans. And then there's the white dude in red face playing the lead Comanche, Scar. Yeah, this film is filled with Native actors, but the major role goes to a dude in shiny brown paint. Yeesh. But the film does advocate for Martin, and even has him challenge Ethan on a number of occasions, going so far as to shoot Ethan when he fears Ethan will kill Debbie instead of letting her return to her life in the tribe. The film works as an interesting exploration of how long a man will go for vengeance, and how much family means. That Ethan very NEARLY has a heel turn at the end of the movie is exciting. That he, hypocritical to his character at that point, decides to save Debbie, instead of killing her, like he planned, is a bit of a let down. The film touches on themes like this, but never fully commits to them, and that's a damn shame. The film succeeds, however, at exploring the idea that there are men for whom a home life is impossible. Ethan returns, not at the end of the Civil War, but years after the final shots are fired. He stayed away for years, trying to live the life that he had in the army, and stubbornly clings to his Confederate regalia, refusing, even, to swear an oath to the Rangers (upon being deputized to search for Debbie) because he has only ever made ONE oath in his life, and it was to The South. Even as he returns home, we get the sense that he is uneasy there. He is a man of action and domesticity does not serve him. He commits to the search for Debbie as much because he is in his element, as he does out of service to family. It's kind of tragic. And I love that.

Ethan is a Monster: Ultimately, he doesn't kill his niece, but he does some fucked up shit along the way. He shoots out the eyes of a Comanche corpse in order to rob the spirit of its way in the after life; he uses Martin as bate to lure out a robber intent on killing them; he makes snide, casually racist remarks throughout the film. He is a monster. And a compelling character for it. I am not sure how much of Ethan's awfulness John Ford condoned: Ford never lets the character drop too low, but he does not seem to paint Ethan as a shining knight, either. Wayne, for his part, commits to the role and shows us a cranky old soldier who really is only good at killing, and hunting. I like that Ethan is not played as a white hat, here. I like the shades of grey in him. I like that, at any moment, he can easily become a monster to rival the men that killed his family. You need monsters to fight monsters, the saying goes.

Violent, but Not Gory: Again, Ford deals with violence in interesting ways. The true violence always happens off screen, and the audience is left to imagine it, which is a deft piece of filmmaking. Modern directors might be tempted to show us the mangled, burnt remains of Aaron and Martha Edwards; they might be tempted to show us the evils inflicted on Lucy's corpse in the canyon. Ford does none of these things. He punctuates great immediate violence just off screen with sharp instrumental flourishes, and allows the truly horrific bits to fester in the mind of the viewer, being told snippets of information, and watching how it affects the actors. We don't even get Ethan's great revenge on Scar, but we do get Ethan striding into frame, victorious, with a scalp in hand. The awfulness is all implied. It's a great way to allow a film to be violent, but not to glory in it, or flood the screen with red.

Cons:

Too Long: This movie is a minute shy of two hours, but feels like three. I understand the epic scope, but I could have used a little trimming, here and there.

Problematic: I have discussed, earlier in this review, Ethan's failings as a human being and some of the other absurd things that happen in this film. Some of those things are glorified, and some of those things seem genuinely to be cast in a negative light. Ethan is, at once, a Romantic Former Confederate, and also a monstrous racist. You really can't have it both ways. And Hollywood has done a number on our psyche as a nation for memorializing and romanticizing The South. Ethan is just one in a long line of men who have played The Romantic Confederate, and the portrait has lost its zest, for me. I can no longer really support the idea of The Lost Cause; I can no longer really laugh at, or derive humor from Mose's obvious emotionally delayed state. Now I wince, every time broad, negative comments are made about Native Americans. This is a beautiful film. John Ford is a wonderful filmmaker. But this movie has problems, and we cannot ignore them.

In Conclusion:

I think John Ford was a good filmmaker when he made My Darling Clementine. But he was a master when he made The Searchers. The film is vibrant, and intriguing, and entertaining. It is everything a great western can, and should, be. Is it the best western of all time? I don't know that anyone alive can really make that claim, opinion being subjective as it is, but, if ever a film was to make a strong case for a place at the top of the mountain, The Searchers certainly comes with a loaded saddlebag of compelling arguments.

Should You Watch It?

Yes, you should. If you love westerns, this is for you. If you love beautiful cinema, this is for you. It's a great western, but it's also a great film.

Miscellany:

- John Wayne considered Ethan to be his best role, and The Searchers as his favorite film that he was involved in.

- Rumor has it that Buddy Holly was so taken with Ethan's catch phrase,"That'll be the day," that they wrote a song about it, "That'll Be the Day," in 1957.
- All of the Comanche in the film are actually Navajo Indians. The songs and dances that are depicted are also Navajo, not Comanche. Fuck, man. This movie.
- The American Film Institute named The Searchers as its 12th best movie of all time in 2007, and its first best western genre film in 2008.
- The film was one of the first 25 films to be chosen for preservation by The Library of Congress in 1989.
- In the 90s, a remake was rumored to be in the works, directed by Terry Gilliam, and starring Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp. And it would have taken place in space. SPACE.
- According to Wayne, Ford hinted to him that Ethan and Martha had had an affair. And that Debbie might be Ethan's daughter. I KNEW IT. Ethan was making "fuck me eyes" at Martha the moment he walked in that cabin. VINDICATION!
- Warner Brothers produced one of the first making of documentaries in film history for the film and aired it on TV in conjunction with the movie's release.