The Searchers

To be shown: 7 January 2002
Sponsored and introduced by David Gainsborough Roberts

USA 1956
120 minutes
Directed by John Ford
Leading players - John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood

Synopsis

In my opinion this is the finest film made by the dynamic duo of Wayne and John Ford although the star of this movie is the incredible scenery of Monument and Death Valleys.

The Searchers is based on the true story of the kidnapping of eight-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker in 1836 who was rescued 24 years later as an unsmiling, unhappy Indian squaw who starved herself to death on regaining her freedom. So much for civilisation! This is noted by Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) who in his crusade to rescue his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood) knows only too well that by now she will be a full fledged Comanche squaw.

This is not a pretty picture. These were not pretty times. The white settlers hated the red man considering him barbaric and cruel. They had good reason to. There was nothing noble about the fact that a killing party, usually intoxicated with the white man's firewater, would flee the reservation and torture and kill any white farmers they came across. You see Chief Scar (Henry Brandon) cruelly throwing a rock at an unfortunate dog. Don't go in there, Wayne tells Martin Pawsley (Jeffrey Hunter) on finding his relatives' bodies.

The slaughtering of a buffalo herd and the shooting out the eyes of a dead Comanche all add to the loathing and fear the white man held for native Americans 150 years ago.

The picture was dedicated by the star to silent cowboy movie actor Harry Carey whose widow Olive Carey (Mrs Jorgensen) appears in the movie. The final scene shows Wayne standing in the open doorway holding his arm in a characteristic Carey pose. Colourful, fast-paced, great acting - it is my number one western.