List Price: $14.97 Our Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
DVD The Searchers
A favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made. --Jeff Shannon
John Ford's THE SEARCHERS (1956) is considered one of the five greatest westerns of all time. How about if we knock it down a peg and call it merely very good or excellent? In 1868 Texas, Cavalry officer Ethan Edwards (John Wayne at his most unsympathetic) finally returns home-only to find that Comanche Indians have kidnapped his two granddaughters and killed the younger of the two. With son or grandson Jeffrey Hunter, Wayne goes on a ten year vendetta all over beautiful Monument Valley in search of the kidnapped Debbie (Natalie Wood, one year after REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE). Does he find her alive? Dead? Does she want to come home with a veritable stranger after years of being raised as a Comanche? And what does Wayne do to the Comanche villain Scar? This is a profoundly unhappy family saga.
Ravishingly photographed, in Technicolor and VistaVision, THE SEARCHERS is basically a bleak character study of an existential loner. He is warmly welcomed home at the beginning as a door opens; he is left outside alone at the end as the same door closes, in a classic scene. The film is helped by superb supporting work by some of Ford's repertory cast, especially Vera Miles, Ward Bond, and Olive Carey. But it is done in, for me personally, by Hank Worden's bald-headed idiot Moze and by whoever plays the guitar and laughs "Haw, haw, haw, haw, haw." I simply can't stand either of them here. On the other hand, Wayne has one of his finest roles and gives one of his greatest performances; he deserved an Oscar nomination.
THE SEARCHERS is not one of the greatest westerns of all time for me, but it certainly is superb and one of director/producer Ford's best films of the 1950's. And, yes, I love "Annie Laurie" over the legendary opening and closing scenes. Just lower your expectations and expect a beautifully crafted and finely acted western downer.
"We'll find 'em. Just as sure as a turnin' of the earth."
What is The Great American Film? THE SEARCHERS has a claim to this title. Released at very nearly the midpoint of the American filmmaking experience (1956), directed by The Great American Director (John Ford), starring The Great American Actor (John Wayne), and filmed in The Great American Genre (The Western), THE SEARCHERS embodies American film as perhaps none other. But John Ford filmed other westerns starring John Wayne in the middle of the last century. What makes THE SEARCHERS stand out?
THE SEARCHERS is an adult western which addresses themes largely absent in the genre up to that point: psychological conflict, racism, rape, and massacre. The film is far more violent than any other Ford western up to that point, and the line between hero and villain is blurrier. Disaster strikes early in this film, and the rest of the movie is a complex narrative about picking up those broken pieces that remain after such a tragedy. The epic timeframe of the movie allows complexity to seep into the characters realistically and believably.
Most old-time westerns seem dated to me today; I grew up after the heyday of cowboy films. THE SEARCHERS is one of those rare movies, however that transcends not only its genre, but the decade in which it was made. A fan of classic cinema, I steered away from westerns for many years, not thinking them worthy of being considered great films. After viewing THE SEARCHERS, I knew that I was wrong. No library of classic American film would be complete without this movie.
Jeremy W. Forstadt
Ford, Wayne, and Monument Valley Epic...
John Ford seemed to be able to get the most out of John Wayne and this film really shows just how good an actor Wayne could be. This is the epic western tale of survival in a hostile land. John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, an outsider, who comes back to his brother's ranch several years after the Civil War. Ethan was on the 'lost cause' side of the conflict. As a Confederate war veteran, he tries to find his place once again in this reconstruction phase of his life...he has been lost and wandering for several years. Once back home with his brother, he starts to slowly unwind. This conflicted character soon find himself with Marty (Jeff Hunter), and the Texas Rangers..lead by Ward Bond..chasing stolen cattle only to find themselves fooled by the Commache..(who are on a raiding party). Upon returning to the ranch, Commaches have massacred the brother, wife and stolen Lucy and Debbie..the two daughters. This leads to the downs and ups of them searching all over the territory for the stolen daughters.
Watch this film for the cinematography as well as the fine acting by John Wayne. As the movie opens the film starts inside the cabin home and as the door opens we are sweeped into the Monument Valley vistas. All throughout the film, Ford used the landscape as another actor. When the movie closes, the camera pulls back into the same cabin view, just in reverse. With everyone going back to loved ones, the door closes leaving Ethan..much as he started...outside the door and homeless...clutching just himself.
This is a great movie especially for those who want to learn more about the art and technique of movie making. Well worth adding to any collection.
Any short list of the all-time greatest Westerns is bound to include this 1948 Howard Hawks classic about an epic cattle drive. Red River features one of John Wayne's greatest performances. Like his Ethan Edwards in John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers, the Duke plays an isolated and unsympathetic man who is possessed by bitterness. Wayne is Texas rancher Tom Dunson, who adopts a young boy orphaned in an Indian massacre. That boy, Matthew Garth (played as an adult by Montgomery Clift in his screen debut), becomes Dunson's assistant and heir apparent--until Dunson's temper gets out of control during a long cattle drive and Matt intervenes to stop him. From that moment on, Dunson swears he will kill Matt. Red River has everything a great Western ought to have:... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Montgomery Clift - Joanne Dru Director(s): Howard Hawks - Arthur Rosson DVD Release Date: Released the 15 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $11.96YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." That's more than the code of a newspaperman in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; it's practically the operating credo of director John Ford, the most honored of American filmmakers. In this late film from a long career, Ford looks at the civilizing of an Old West town, Shinbone, through the sad memories of settlers looking back. In the town's wide-open youth, two-fisted Westerner John Wayne and tenderfoot newcomer James Stewart clash over a woman (Vera Miles) but ultimately unite against the notorious outlaw Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Ford's nostalgia for the past is tempered by his stark approach, unusual for the visual poet of Stagecoach and The Searchers. The two heavyweights, Wayne and Stewart, are good... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Stewart Director(s): John Ford DVD Release Date: Released the 05 June 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $12.99 Your Price: $9.74YOU SAVE $3.25!
Buy it
The second installment of John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (which also includes Fort Apache and Rio Grande), this meditative Western continues the director's fascination with history's obliteration of the past. It features one of John Wayne's more sensitive performances as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a stern yet sentimental war horse who has difficulty preparing for his impending military retirement. All things considered, he refuses to leave before fulfilling his obligation to the local Indian tribe. It's a film about honor and duty as well as loneliness and mortality. And Oscar-winner Winton C. Hoch beautifully photographs it in Remington-like Technicolor tones (you've never seen such stunning cloud-covered skies). The combination of melancholy and farce (Victor... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Joanne Dru Director(s): John Ford DVD Release Date: Released the 04 June 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $15.98YOU SAVE $4!
Buy it
When it comes down to naming the best Western of all time, the list usually narrows to three completely different pictures: John Ford's The Searchers, Howard Hawks's Red River, and Hawks's Rio Bravo. About the only thing they all have in common is that they all star John Wayne. But while The Searchers is an epic quest for revenge and Red River is a sweeping cattle-drive drama ("Take 'em to Missouri! Yeeee-hah!"), Rio Bravo is on a much more modest scale. Basically, it comes down to Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne), his sobering-up alcoholic friend Dude (Dean Martin), the hotshot new kid Colorado (Ricky Nelson), and deputy-sidekick Stumpy (Walter Brennan), sittin' around in the town jail, drinkin' black cofee, shootin' the breeze, and occasionally,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Dean Martin Director(s): Howard Hawks DVD Release Date: Released the 08 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.97 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
This landmark 1939 Western began the legendary relationship between John Ford and John Wayne, and became the standard for all subsequent Westerns. It solidified Ford as a major director and established Wayne as a charismatic screen presence. Seen today, Stagecoach still impresses as the first mature instance of a Western that is both mythic and poetic. The story about a cross-section of troubled passengers unraveling under the strain of Indian attack contains all of Ford's incomparable storytelling trademarks--particularly swift action and social introspection--underscored by the painterly landscape of Monument Valley. And what an ensemble of actors: Thomas Mitchell (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the drunken doctor), Claire Trevor, Donald Meek, Andy Devine, and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Claire Trevor - John Wayne Director(s): John Ford DVD Release Date: Released the 30 October 1997 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.97 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
