I forgot to mention in the previous post that I am going to be watching all 30 of these films in their production order. I originally planned on just picking at random but I feel like that may be doing an injustice to some of the later titles as they had 10, 20 years to build upon what came before them.
Also, I feel like that film making technology and styles change a great deal so I would not want to inadvertently judge an older entry versus a newer one based upon what may well have been the norm for making a film at that given time. It would be like me judging This Island Earth against Star Wars.
With that being said, let's dive right into my feelings on...
Film #2 The Searchers (1956)
Here is the imdb.com cast listing. Here is the wikipedia page about the production.
Let me start by saying you may not get more American Western than John Ford directing John Wayne. This is purely opinion (please feel free to point me in a direction if that statement is not mostly accurate), but when I think of the older westerns, Ford and Wayne come to mind first.
Tentatively, I was thinking this would be more in the mold of the traditional western, and if you happen to watch this out of the corner of your eye, you would be correct. It has a former soldier, on a mission to save a family member from some less than good Comanche Indians, but what it actually is though, is more of a study about a man who has fought in two wars (as a Confederate in the Civil War, and implied, the Mexican Revolutionary War) and has nothing to show for it.
Ethan Edwards (Wayne) returns to his brother's family and their homestead in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War. There he gets reacquainted with his extended family, mainly his two young nieces and 'adopted' nephew Martin Pawley (pre-Jesus and pre-Star Trek Jeffery Hunter). Shortly after, he is approached by a local Texas Ranger and called into assist with some cattle that had been stolen from a nearby farm. While the group is out, it becomes clear it was a ploy by the Comanche to lure the men away so that they can raid the homesteads. Edwards returns to find his family's home smoldering, the adults murdered, and the nieces taken by the Indians. This sets in a motion a 5 year journey for Ethan and Martin as they cross the painted desserts and snow covered mountains for any small sign that their family members may be alive.
Ethan is not a likable man or one worth cheering for. He doesn't much care for authority and he hates Indians. His hatred of them is so much that you wonder during the course of the film if he really cares about the missing family or he just needs another reason to never stop going to war. He even tosses Martin's possible mixed heritage in his face calling him a 'carpet head' on more than one occasion. However, this doesn't mean you can't feel some sympathy for him. He is haunted and stunted. Even when he is trying to do the right thing, he has to insult someone or push them away.
This example below is about midway through the film when another member of his search party (not Martin, he is the dark haired kid), believes they found the older of the two nieces and wants to rush the Comanche camp and save her.
He protected the younger men, boys really, from seeing the mutilated body of a young girl. Even though he is shouting them down for asking questions, he is trying to do the honorable thing. "...As long as you live, don't ever ask me more..." That softer broken delivery of that line is where Ethan shows there is more than his hard case exterior. And it is one of my favorite parts of the film.
Another favorite part of the film? Monument Valley.
This is the second thing that comes to mind when I think of American Westerns and this film is filled to the brim with beautiful wide shots and long-takes of the valley. The VistaVision Technicolor process make it look like you could take almost any outdoor shot and turn it into a painting.
After doing some reading on this film and realizing that it inspired many of the film makers I love and their future works (i.e. George Lucas was inspired by the homestead fire here and used it in Star Wars IV for when Luke comes to find his family burned) and how this one is on many, many, Best Films Of All Time lists, I can say I appreciate what it did. I can't say that I loved it.
The pacing in the film is odd. Again, I can forgive it because much like Johnny Guitar, that might just be the way the studios did back it then, but it feels much more noticeable in The Searchers. There are stray story beats that don't really add to the overall experience (there is a sore spot towards the middle where Martin writes a letter back home and explains how he accidentally got married to a Indian woman that ultimately doesn't affect the outcome in any significant way) and for a film that is to supposed to take place over the course of five years, you have a hard time seeing how much time has passed until the very end when they give John Wayne some convincing graying hair.
I wish I could say that I loved The Searchers. I wish I could say that from the first beautiful shot of the doorway opening to Ethan's approach to the homestead, to the final shot of him standing alone as the doorway closes, that this would have been just one of those Great Films that knocks you on your ass and you stare at it gobsmacked and realize that you are having a singular experience that only this film creates. But I can see why others do. There is a lot to love here. I just feel like the parts don't equal up to the whole.
I have a feeling that in the remaining 28 films there will be ones that will send me over the moon and a few that will leave me flat. That is the fun and exciting part about this for me, I just don't know what I will love until I get there. And the important part is that I keep Searching...
Western Checklist (nowhere near official or scientific):
- Weird gang member names? The Comanche Warchief was named Scar (and was a blue-eyed jewish actor).
- Beautiful Landscapes? Yes, yes, 1 million times yes.
- 1956's horses terrified? There were some horses that were chugging through 3 foot deep snow that had to be mad, but not scared. I am pretty sure John Wayne may have actually shot a buffalo though. That thing didn't drop like a prop.
- Odd musical cue's to denote whimsical comedy? Yes, but not as many as Johnny Guitar. There was also a comedic fist fight near the end that was enjoyable but didn't add much to the film.
- Does a building catch on fire? Yeah, the one homestead, some teepees, and John Wayne throws a glass of tequila at stove that causes a LARGE fireball that I don't know if it was intended to be that that scary.
- How many Ernest Borgnines? Zero, sadly. We did get John Wayne's son, Patrick Wayne, as a US solider with the worst line delivery ever.
- Does it have a theme song with the name of the film in the title? No, but it does have a theme song named The Sons of the Pioneers.
Rating:
I would give this 3 out of 5 tin stars. Interesting direction with the main character being hard to root for and hard to care about. John Wayne, when not just shouting at people, is very believable in his need to keep going even if the end doesn't really get him what he wants. I can appreciate the coming of age portions for Jeffery Hunter's character even if his performance is borderline annoying at times. The long shots of the dessert and the panning shots during the action sequences are beautiful and hold up. Your mileage may very!
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