Review of The Searchers

Was John Wayne really that bad? Over the course of his film career he made himself into an icon of The Western. In Film History you can't study The Western without considering John Wayne. He made so many Westerns that were of such quality that he is a legend. Whatever his politics are. The Searchers is a Western that many people consider his best work. Working with John Ford it addresses so many questions of The Western; settlement by White pioneers, the one sided portrayal of Native Americans, the archetype of the Western gunman which is so ingrained into American culture, and the defense of White, Christian culture against outsiders.

For me it brought up questions about the very broad issue of Colonialism. The Western frontier ended sometime in the 20th century. Yet, Colonialism affected not just North America, but also Asia, Africa, and South America. Whatever your opinion about Western settlement, The Searchers is a canonical film which raises questions for debate and is indispensable for studying the West and Colonialism. Like Huckleberry Finn and Gone With the Wind, The Searchers is a film which shows life as it was in those days. However Racist, one sided, and White Supremacist it might be, we should allow films like The Searchers to show how life really was before revisionism and political correctness took hold. Times have changed. But I'm not for white washing History just to show how far we have come. For it is only when we know where we are from that we know where we are. And if you forget your past, you are forever condemned to repeat it.

The best qualities of The Searchers are it's plot and main character Ethan played by John Wayne. The plot commences with an idyllic setting on the Texas plains. Everything seems hunky dory until one of the farmers has his cows stolen. This leads to the defining moment of the film; when Ethan's family is slaughtered. This sequence was masterfully done by John Ford. I was reminded of the scene from the first Star Wars movie where Luke Skywalker returns to find his Aunt and Uncle slaughtered by Imperial troops. The scene from The Searchers is almost the same. The house is burning, the women have been kidnapped or murdered, and the men are dead. The reaction of John Wayne is memorable. His eyes are teary as he looks on. The only action is anger. Thus begins his long search to avenge his family.

It is the plot that keeps this film going. There is a debate about what should be the motive force in a film. Should it be the plot? Or character? This film moves along because of plot. Without the plot there would be no film. Beginning with Laurie's reading of Martin's letter the film moves from scene to scene up until the final thirty minutes of the film. Along the way there are minor characters and Ethan always figures into the action. But the plot, the sequence of events, keeps the film moving from scene to scene. Until finally, Scar is killed and Debbie is rescued from captivity.

The film would be nothing without John Wayne. The second time I watched the film it occurred to me that no one talks down to The Duke. He is always posturing and speaking from a position of superiority. The only person who can confront Ethan is the Commanche Chief Scar. The scene where Ethan and Scar meet is a taught scene filled with anger and tension and the one person who might be able to best Ethan. But John Wayne is never defeated. He doesn't kill Scar. In fact I thought the killing of Scar could have been done better. Scar gets three pistol shots from Martin and dies. Only to be disgraced by Ethan in a later scene. I thought they could have shown Scar's death a little more gruesomely. After all he does remorselessly kill many white settlers. I was hoping for more revenge.

The Western was John Wayne's best genre and produced his best films. The Green Berets, which so many people have criticized negatively, may have been out of touch and too propagandistic. But, you can't deny that some of Wayne's Westerns are not only entertaining, but critically address issues of the White Settler community. Perhaps they don't address the other side of the argument very well.

The Searchers will stand as a film which shows the perspective of the White Settler. It reminds me of arguments Niall Ferguson made about the British Empire. Would the World be a better place without the British Empire? The spread of Democracy, Capitalism, and the English language on the rest of the World, are seen by Ferguson as positives. The same could be said for the settlement of the Western United States. And I think The Searchers is representative of that argument. That settlement, the spread of Democracy, Capitalism, and the American way of life was a good thing.