John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS is considered one of the best Westerns ever made by many critics. It was ranked 96th on the AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films. The film made SIGHT & SOUND magazine’s coveted top ten list in 1982 and 1992. That poll asks critics every decade what they believe are the 10 best films of all time. Director Ford is considered one of the best, influencing filmmakers like Orson Welles, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.
But I try not to hold influence as top criteria for judging the quality of a film. Quentin Tarantino has been influenced by a lot of crappy films, but I’m not going to go out and say that SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is a masterpiece. I’m not saying that THE SEARCHERS is awful, but its flawed in such a way that it’s hard for me to overlook those flaws. Yet, the film still works remarkably well.
The raw story of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne, THE QUIET MAN) is the film’s brilliance. The film begins with Ethan riding back to his brother’s farm. He’s been wandering ever since he served in the Confederate Army. He has not given up his sword or uniform, holding onto the past. It’s pretty clear that he and his brother’s wife Martha (Dorothy Jordan) are in love. It’s equally clear that Ethan is racist. He hates Indians, which is displayed in his reaction to Martha’s adopted son Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter, THE LONGEST DAY), who is an eighth Comanche, which is an eighth too much for Ethan.
After Ethan and Martin are pulled away from the house, Comanche chief Scar (Henry Brandon, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13) attacks the homestead, scalping Martha and kidnapping her daughters Debbie (played as an adult by Natalie Wood, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE) and Lucy (Pippa Scott, AUNTIE MAME). The rest of the film is Ethan and Martin’s obsessive search for Debbie over the many years. Martin holds off hope to save Debbie, but Ethan feels she has turned “Comanche” and wants to kill her.
Where the film steps wrong is with its broad attempts at comedy. Ethan Edwards was a bold character for the 1950s and many feel the comedy shtick was to lighten the mood so audiences of the time could swallow Ethan’s bloody drive for revenge. What stops the silly comedy from ruining the film completely is its underlying artistic goal.
Much of the comedy comes from Laurie Jorgensen’s frustration in waiting for the clueless Martin to express his feelings for her and return from the frontier. Laurie (Vera Miles) and Martin’s romance mirrors the romance that is inferred between Ethan and Martha. The question is whether Martin’s wandering ways will jeopardize his chances for a civilized home too.
Ford uses a reoccurring image of a shot framed through a doorway to represent the security of home and the brutal wilderness outside. The cinematography is lush and seductive throughout. The film draws a lot of metaphors between characters even the bloody motivations of Ethan and Scar. The film ends with a bittersweet ending that’s perfect, but the comedy often undercuts the emotional power of the subtext. The comedy makes the film more of an “entertainment,” but it’s the drama that makes the film powerful. The flaws hurt the emotional power. The films and characters — like Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER — that have been inspired by this film have built off what Ford was trying to achieve. THE SEARCHERS seems to be a film tied down from aspiring to its true purpose. It’s a flawed gem that I reserve the opinion to reevaluate after repeated viewings. It’s challenging cinema.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
