Overrated

not horrible nor great

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

I enjoyed this movie, being a John Wayne fan for years, and felt it was one of his best. In short, a big distraction for me was seeing Natalie Wood playing an indian squaw wearing lipstick and mascara. Not a good call. Plus, her acting was below par.

Watching, for the first time, the 1956 Ford/Wayne classic that many hailed as the best western ever , I missed out on the most-praised aspect. On DVD, even with a modest flat TV screen, the splendour of the panoramic Texan landscape was lost.Before and after watching this movie, I gleaned two scores of "prolific author" reviews. Almost all, in addition to the cinematography, talk about the simple plot: the odyssey of a retired Texas ranger (Wayne), together with his 1/8 Apache nephew (Jeffrey Hunter), searching for two nieces kidnapped by Comanches that massacred his brother's family. Almost all talk about the racist aspect (real or perceived) and the good performances. One points out that the nieces are actually daughters from licentious activities with sister-in-law, and Wayne's real motivation is not to rescue them but rather to kill them, to be rid of the haunting memory. Be that as it may.I have only two specific observations and one general comment.The scene depicting the lull before the storm, the approach of the Comanches to the almost defenceless household (just one man with a rifle), is absolutely masterful. The suffocating suspense is almost good enough to give "High Noon" a run for its money. The violence is never shown, just implied.The other scene, or sequence rather, is the depiction of a good part of the odyssey via a letter from Hunter to his childhood sweetheart played by Vera Miles. Various scenes unfold as she reads the letter to her family. Without this technique in the midpoint, the two plus hours of narrative would feel too long.In general, I find this movie enjoyable but not exactly the best western ever. One setback is the rather inconsistent mix of pathos and comedy. Hitchcock and Kurosawa are masters of injecting a pinch of sense of humour when needed. Ford, unfortunately, has not accomplished the desired result in this movie.

Despite being perhaps director John Ford's best Western, this film did not receive any Oscar nominations; it features a compelling story (Frank Nugent's screenplay from Alan Le May's novel) and beautiful Technicolor vistas of Monument Valley.John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a man who returns to the unsettled territory west of Texas two years after fighting for the south during the Civil War. His former Captain Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) is in charge of the Rangers, the law in this part of the country, where Edwards' family is trying to scratch out an existence among hostile Indians. Ethan doesn't try to hide his racism for his brother Aaron's adoptive son Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), who's one- eighth Cherokee, even though Ethan had saved the boy's life in the distant past. The Edwards and Jorgensens are about the only two families left who haven't given up trying to settle in the valley given its challenging conditions.When Lars Jorgensen (John Qualen) needs help retrieving some cattle after a Comanche Indian raid, Clayton and men from both families head out to find them. After a forty mile horseback ride from home, they discover that the raid was a ruse to separate the men from their homes and women. Because the Jorgensen ranch is closer, Clayton and most of the men head there while, to Martin's frustration, Ethan and Mose Harper bed down to rest their horses for the trip back to the Edwards' place.Later, Ethan and Mose catch up with Martin, who'd killed his horse by trying to ride back without resting it, just before discovering the worst: the Edwards' homestead is burning, its occupants killed, horrifying evidence that Aaron's wife Martha was raped before death, and the Edwards' daughters Lucy and Debbie missing, presumably taken by the Comanche.Clayton and the men search unsuccessfully for the girls, then hold off a Comanche onslaught – led by Chief Cicatriz aka Scar (Henry Brandon) – meant to eliminate them, but Ethan's surly nature and a subsequent disagreement cause most of the party to return home. Ethan, Martin, and Lars's son Brad (Harry Carey Jr.) soldier on. After coming upon the Indian's camp one night, and learning that Ethan had discovered that Lucy – Brad's fiancée – had met with a similar fate as her mother, Brad makes a suicidal raid of his own.Ethan and Martin continue on for almost a year without success before returning to the Jorgensen ranch. Mrs. Jorgensen greets Ethan, while her daughter Laurie (Vera Miles) rushes Martin. Though Martin is clueless and curiously uninterested in Laurie, she informs him they've been going steady since they were 3 years old! But just as he's come around to that fact, and his feelings for her, Ethan says that he's off to find Debbie again. Martin insists he has to go too since he believes Ethan's bigotry is his driving force, which will lead Ethan to kill Debbie when he finds her.The search takes several more years, some of which is related in a letter that Martin writes to Laurie, which she reluctantly reads aloud to her family and letter carrier Charlie (Ken Curtis), who's her unwanted suitor that later becomes her fiancé. Meanwhile Martin, while trading with a friendlier tribe of Indians, inadvertently became betrothed to a squaw. But, he writes, she was later killed, perhaps by the same Comanches that may still have Debbie.Eventually, through a prominent Mexican named Emilio, Ethan and Martin find – and have a peaceful if contentious meeting with – Scar, who speaks the English language fairly well and recognizes Ethan, who he's dubbed "Big Shoulders". They discover that Debbie (Natalie Wood), now 15 years old, is alive and is one of Scar's squaws. After the meeting, Emilio returns Ethan's money (paid to set up the meeting) and departs quickly, sensing bad blood.While Ethan and Martin set up camp down the river from the Comanche and discuss their pending fate, Debbie runs to warn them to leave as soon as possible. After hearing Debbie refuse Martin's plea that she escape with them, Ethan tells Martin to step aside as he draws his sidearm. Martin protects Debbie as an arrow from afar strikes Ethan in the shoulder. The two men scramble to escape a Comanche raid. After successfully defending their position, Martin helps Ethan to mend. But the two return 'home' at odds after Martin refuses to accept Ethan's last will and testament, which would have left the remaining Edwards' assets to him; unlike Ethan, Martin doesn't consider Debbie to be dead.At the Jorgensens', the men discover they've arrived just in time to interrupt Laurie's betrothal to Charlie. In a relatively civilized manner, Martin and Charlie fight it out, much to Laurie's and her mother's delight. Though neither man wins or loses the fight, Charlie realizes that he'd never had Laurie's heart, so he calls off the wedding and leaves. Martin and Laurie reconcile. Just then, a Union Cavalry Lieutenant (Wayne's son Patrick) arrives to announce to the Reverend – former Confederate Captain Clayton – that Scar and his Comanche are camped nearby. Clayton states that he and his rangers can handle the situation, but he allows the lieutenant to tag along. Martin sneaks into the camp to rescue Debbie, and ends up killing Scar, before Clayton, Ethan, and the rangers charge in cavalry-style, and finish things off. After visiting the Chief's tent to remove Scar's scalp, Ethan chases after and catches Debbie, successfully eluding Martin. He lifts her into the air and, instead of killing her, cradles her to his chest saying "let's go home Debbie".The iconic last scene of the film features Ethan returning home on horseback, dismounting and carrying Debbie to the porch where she is greeted and embraced by Mr. & Mrs. Jorgensen. Everyone else enters the homestead, leaving Ethan standing alone. He turns, takes the step down and walks away as the door closes.

Released in 1956 and directed by John Ford, "The Searchers" chronicles the story of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) who returns from the Civil War to his brother's ranch in the Southwest; and to his brother's wife, whom he secretly loves. After the ranch is raided by Comanches, Ethan and his 1/8 Indian nephew (Jeffrey Hunter) search for the band of Indians to get his captive niece back (Natalie Wood). As time passes and the niece assimilates with the Natives it's not certain if Ethan intends on rescuing the girl or killing her.Touted as a masterpiece and one of the greatest Westerns, I've seen "The Searchers" twice now and was disappointed each time. Sure, the Monument Valley locations are breathtaking and the cast is great, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. The plot's excellent, but the way the story is told isn't interesting and so there's very little momentum. On top of this we get sequences, characters and dialogue that seem to be stabs at amusement, which (1.) aren't funny, (2.) are awkward because the main story is a serious drama/adventure in a Western context, and (3.) make some of the characters out to be dimwits (note to the writers: just because someone lives in the wilderness it doesn't automatically make them doofuses).Give me "Stagecoach" (1939), "The Horse Soldiers" (1959), "The Alamo" (1960), "North to Alaska" (1960), "True Grit" (1969), "Chisum" (1970), "The Cowboys" (1972) and "Rooster Cogburn" (1975) any day over this mediocre Western. Heck, I'll even take "The Comancheros" (1961), "El Dorado" (1966), "The War Wagon" (1967), "Rio Lobo" (1970), "The Train Robbers" (1973) and "The Shootist" (1976).The movie runs 119 minutes and was shot in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.GRADE: C-