If you want your family to appreciate the scale, the history, the beauty, the conflict and the sheer monumentalism of the American West, there are few better places to start than the greatest Western of all time, “The Searchers.”
It’s also John Wayne’s best film, where the great director John Ford uses Wayne’s natural swagger and confidence to raise doubts rather than pure admiration in the mind of the viewer. Wayne’s seemingly unconflicted racism as former Confederate Ethan Edwards plays as a cover for how uncomfortable Edwards truly is in the “modern” post-Civil War world.
Wayne appears to own the entire outdoors with his skill and courage, yet he can barely fit or stand still inside a frontier house that represents domestication and progress.
“The Searchers” showcases Ford’s beloved Monument Valley in Arizona/ Utah, and the blue sky seems to go on forever. It’ll make you book a trip for the Grand Canyon, or the quieter, mysterious skies of northern New Mexico.
Playing out in the valley is the search for young settler Debbie (played by Natalie Wood at the end of the film, when Debbie is older). Rampaging Cheyenne capture Debbie from her frontier home, and Uncle Ethan teams with part-Indian Martin Jeffrey Hunter in a six-year epic hunt for their missing relative.
Ethan’s overt hatred of all things Indian makes some cringe, but for me it enriches the movie. Ford is presenting the character at a turning point in American life, both in the 1860s when the story is set and the 1950s when the story is made. These attitudes won’t last in a modern America, and despite Ethan’s relentless bluster, he seems to know it.
There’s no better illustration than Ford’s famous last shot, mirroring his opening shot, with Wayne standing in a cabin doorway and all of the bright Southwest gleaming over his shoulders. He can’t or won’t come in. For good reason, countless critics have called it one of the most perfect and influential shots in all of 20th century film.
“The Searchers”
Not rated, but a PG for some violence and mature arguments about racism and implied rape.
Best suited for: Any movie buffs, young or old, who want to see how the image and myth of the Wild West was shaped and subverted over time.
