Working together for the 12th time, John Wayne and director John Ford forged The Searchers into an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, a believer more in bullets than in words. He's seeking his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive, five-year quest, Ethan encounters something he didn't expect to find: his own humanity. Director: John Ford.
An embittered frontiersman engages in an extensive and obsessive search for his niece, abducted years ago by Indians who killed her family in retaliation for a massacre in their village.
A classic Western regarded by many as the best of the genre, John Ford's THE SEARCHERS has been acknowledged by several directors who came into their own in the 1970s, including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Paul Schrader, and George Lucas, as a powerful influence on their work. The film stars John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, a case-hardened Civil War veteran returning to his brother Aaron's (Walter Coy) Texas home in 1868. When Rev. Samuel Johnson Clayton (Ward Bond) arrives to raise a posse to run down the Comanche who have stolen the cattle of neighbor Lars Jorgenson (John Qualen), Ethan is among those who join him. They return to find the Edwards family slaughtered and the two girls, Lucy (Pippa Scott) and Debbie (Natalie Wood), missing. The posse continues to search for the girls but turns back as winter settles in. However, Ethan and his reluctantly accepted companion, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), the girls' part-Cherokee stepbrother, press on for another seven years, with the Indian-hating veteran becoming ever more fanatical as the hard seasons pass. In his epic meditation on racism, obsession, paranoia, and the myth of the West, Ford explores the ugly underside of a genre that he had imbued with optimism in his early career. Wayne gives perhaps his most powerful performance as the embittered Edwards, but it's the visual poetry of what are possibly Ford's most carefully framed, lit, and composed images that shape this masterwork from beginning to end. As Wayne walks through the doorway at the film's end, he grabs his elbow in a tribute to his and Ford's close friend Harry Carey Sr., a Western film icon who had passed away a few years before.
THE SEARCHERS was an original selection to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1989.
Color by Technicolor; filmed in VistaVision.
The song "The Searchers" composed by Stan Jones.
Lana Wood, who plays Debbie Edwards as a little girl, is the younger sister of actress Natalie Wood.
Searchers Quotes/Excerpts:
"That'll be the day."--Ethan Edwards (John Wayne)
Searchers Reviews:
"...THE SEARCHERS contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne's best performances. There are shots that are astonishingly beautiful..."
-- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"...A masterpiece..."
-- Jonathan Wright, Total Film
"...The Western that bowled over a generation of film schoolers, from Lucas to Scorsese to Spielberg..."-- Entertainment Weekly Staff, Entertainment Weekly
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]ender and insightful. It will cut you up."
-- Nev Pierce, Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "Ford's picture is relentlessly unpretentious; tackling Big Themes without neon-slicking them or telling us what to think."
-- Nev Pierce, Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "It's a thoughtful, and rather dark piece....Ford used Monument Valley as a canvas for the breathtaking photography."
-- Jan Vincent-Rudzki, Ultimate DVD
"...Heads many a list of all-time cinematic favorites....Stunning..."
-- Janet Maslin, New York Times
"...An audience favorite from the beginning -- and a creative influence on a generation of filmmakers..."
-- Mike Clark, USA Today
Great movie This is one of John Wayne's best and John Ford did a outstanding job directing this movie. This is a classic that only got better with HD, the transfer to HD only improved a already great movie. This is a must have HD DVD!!! Submitted by david.long (Alaska) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
One of John Wayne's "best!" A great movie to add to my John Wayne Collection! Submitted by Ronald_Fortin (Uijeongbu, Korea) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
One of John Wayne's "best!" A great movie to add to my John Wayne Collection! Submitted by Ronald_Fortin (Uijeongbu, Korea) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Excellent John wayne is truly the greatest western hero to ever grace the screen. Submitted by lmoffatt7 (North Bay ON Canada) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo This review is for a different format.
Blu Ray version of old classic I am not a big John Wayne fan but The Searchers is a fantastic movie and to have it in Blu Ray is super! Submitted by Jjek-wheat (Marshall, Michigan) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo This review is for a different format.
Working together for the 12th time, John Wayne and director John Ford forged The Searchers into an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, a believer more in bullets than in words. He's seeking his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive, five-year quest, Ethan encounters something he didn't expect to find: his own humanity.
Source: Warner Home Video
HD
Keep Case Package Note: Elite Red HD Case Widescreen - 1.78 Audio: Mono 1.0 - English, French, Latin Spanish Subtitles - English SDH, English, French, Latin Spanish - Optional Additional Release Material: Introductions 1- . Patrick Wayne - John Wayne's Son Audio Commentary: John Ford - Director, Peter Bogdanovich - Biographer Trailers: Theatrical Trailer Featurette:
1. "THE SEARCHERS: An Appreciation" 2. "A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and THE SEARCHERS" - 1998 Documentary Narrated by John Milius 3. "Vintage Behind the Cameras Segments from the WARNER BROS. PRESENTS TV Series"
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