The Searchers

            John Ford’s The Searchers is an engaging, action-packed film which the New York Times review calls “a rip-snorting Western, as brashly entertaining as they come”.  I would have to agree with this assessment.  Ford’s use of the typical Western-style narrative coupled with Indian battle scenes and beautiful scenery make for a riveting experience of Hollywood’s old west.  The on-site shots of Monument Valley were not only realistic what with dust flying and establishing shots showing large expanses of hills and desert, but also gave the viewer a sense of the experiences of the characters who took it upon themselves to travel across these expanses in order to achieve their respective goals of revenge (for John Wayne’s character Ethan Edwards) and finding Debbie (for Jeffrey Hunter’s character Martin Pawley).  The one unfortunate aspect of shooting was obviously fake scenery, as noted by the New York Times as well.  I found this to be most noticeable in the backdrop of the campfire scene when Ethan kills Mr. Futterman.  In-studio shooting not only detracted visually, but aurally as well.  I cannot be entirely sure, but at some points when the shooting was clearly in-studio, there was an unfitting echoing quality to the sound.  This may have been due to the use of synchronous sound when shooting and the lack of technology available for audio recordings (as well as the creation of realistic set) in the early 1950’s.  Aside from these faults, the other technical aspects of the film appear to have been good, or at least adequate for the time.

            John Wayne’s portrayal of the brusque Ethan Edwards fits well into the typical persona of the leading character of a Western.  His go-it-alone attitude and persistence in his goals certainly make him an admirable character, while his insistence on seeking out revenge for the kidnapping of his nieces and the murder of his brother’s family present a character flaw which presents some difficulties in his interactions with other characters throughout the film.  At the beginning of the film, Ethan returns home after many years’ absence.  He does not seem to have a complete understanding of himself; he denies the surrender of the Confederate Army by refusing to ever surrender himself.  His anger and blood thirst for his nieces’ captors leaves him with very little true care for the welfare of himself or others, rather he is focused on his sole goal of revenge which is most likely a manifestation of his racist sentiments and loss of himself.  Debbie is the only blood relative that he has left after Chief Scar’s tribe kills the rest of the Edwards family.  Because he has lost himself, he needs to find Debbie in order to find a missing piece of himself, perhaps one that even he is unaware of.  When he eventually does find Debbie, and (to the surprise of Martin and the audience), takes her into his arms rather than killing her, he embraces not only his niece but a lost piece of himself, one that was buried deep under his many years of warring and revenge-seeking.

            In addition to Ethan’s need to find himself and his desire for vengeance, his blood thirst for the Indians stems from strong racist sentiments.  For much of the film, Native Americans are portrayed as the subhuman, bloodthirsty savages that one might expect in a Western film.  This is closely paralleled with Ethan’s understanding of them.  We see his hatred most clearly in two specific instances.  We learn early on that Martin is part Cherokee and although Ethan was the one who discovered him as a child, and Martin was raised by Ethan’s brother, Ethan seems to despise Martin and attempts to disconnect himself from him in all ways possible, refusing to allow Martin to call him “uncle”.  The second instance is that of Debbie.  On multiple occasions, Ethan proposes that they invade the Indian camp and simply massacre it, ignoring the fact that it is likely Debbie would be killed.  He believes that since she has become one of the Commanches, she is more likely better dead than living as an Indian.  Although certainly prevalent in the film, there is some sympathy shown, such as when Martin questions the morality of the killing of Native Americans, wondering why the cavalry needed to kill Look when she had done nothing wrong.  This pro-Indian moment in the film was intriguing because it goes against the typical portrayal of such issues.

            The New York Times review states that there is another fault in addition to that of in-studio shots.  It states that, “Episode is piled upon episode, climax upon climax and corpse upon corpse until the whole thing appears to be taking a couple of turns around the course”.  It is true that this can become tiring, but when one considers that this is the mark of an epic journey (for me, The Odyssey came to mind when I read this criticism), rather than the tireless repetition of bloody battle sequences, the story’s continuation is more a strength in relation to Ethan’s persistence than a weakness.

            Finally, I want to make note of something interesting that I learned after viewing the movie.  At the end of the film, I particularly noticed that John Wayne is framed in the doorway of the house, the viewer looking out at him standing on the porch, seemingly reluctant to enter.  This is a further representation of his character, and especially of the typical protagonist in a Western.  Apparently, this shot represents Ethan as an individualist, still rebelling against the constraints of society as a loner, while those inside of the house are collectivists, valuing community and interdependence (I wish I could claim credit for this, but my friend mentioned it to me when we were talking about the film, and I thought it was noteworthy).  I think that it is interesting that the sense of community is returned to the collectivists by the efforts of the individualist, and also Ford’s suggestion that we, too, are collectivists because of our placement looking from the inside out.