Searchers

Pros: Epic John Ford tale of the West

Cons: Some of the acting is a little stilted

The Bottom Line: for those who desire to see the seminal Western from a master director at the top of his game, devour this film

Review: It is difficult to distil down to one single idea how the story elements in the 1956 film The Searchers work to create such a palpable and at times visceral visual treat. The film is the seminal western. It shows the white man Ethan Edwards as a ...

Pros: Cinematography, Direction, Script, Wayne, Hunter, supporting cast

Cons: None

Review: The Searchers (1956)

The Searchers is a movie framed in doorways, from the first scene when Martha Edwards opens the front door of her cabin only to see the tiny figure of Ethan Edwards approaching in the distance, until the end of the...

Pros: A Truly Great Film.

Cons: None

The Bottom Line: A Great Western Film.

Review: The SearchersTexas 1868Ethan Edwards returns to his brothers farm three years after the end of the civil war.While Ethan and his adoptive nephew Martin Pawley join a company of Texas Rangers to track a Commanche raiding party, the ...

Pros: Everything

Cons: None

The Bottom Line: The Best of the West

Review: (A shorter review of this video appears in my "10 Best Westerns" review)

This is the movie for which the Duke should've gotten the Oscar for. Not that Rooster Cogburn isn't a great character, but it's Ethan Edwards that shows that
he was...

Pros: Epic story, John Wayne in his best dramatic performance, great photography and scenery

Cons: Episodic structure requires viewers' concentration. View the restored edition!

The Bottom Line: THE SEARCHERS is, if not John Ford's masterpiece in the Western Genre, certainly one of his most mature explorations the phrase -- The Winning of the West.

Review: John Ford once said, given a choice between facts and myth, he would print the myth. From Ford's earliest silent films, such as THE IRON HORSE (1924) through his l939 groundbreaking Western STAGECOACH (which made John Wayne a star), the tough, ...

Pros: complex central figure, Ford's direction

Cons: one scene seemed out of place

The Bottom Line: One of the two or three best westerns ever, Ethan is one of the most haunting and complex characters in film history.

Review: In most westerns, men kill each other with guns. The Searchers has a few scenes of gun-play, but the guts of the movie lie in the motivations of the main character, Ethan (John Wayne). What is he searching for and, more importantly why is he ...

Pros: The Searchers is a masterpiece not because it's technically brilliant (though the cinematography is certainly wonderful), but because it puts a heart to all the best westerns, and conjures a feeling of sublime longing, one that, once stirred, can't be shak

Cons: Just about none -- its surface looks dated by today's standards, but anyone with the least bit of appreciation for film should be deeply stirred by this dark, uncompromising fable.

Review: By Max Scheinin.

Look at the picture planted next to these words. It's a portrait of a grinning John Wayne, his chin covered in bristles, his eyes a-gleamin', ready to take to the open range. What is it you'd imagine from the film that this...

Pros: Perhaps John Wayne's best performance ever, beautiful natural backdrops of Monument Valley and Canada

Cons: underrated and under-appreciated

Review: The Searchers is a beautifully-shot, influential film which has resulted in some interesting inspirations, most notably that of Taxi Driver according to director Martin Scorcese and writer Paul Schrader.

Ethan Edwards (John...

Pros: Fun, deep, gorgeous to look at

Cons: not much, Pat Wayne in a small role

Review: What is The Searchers, and why is it so enamored by the critics of the post-modern era of film? Why do I love this film so? How many times has this shown up in modern cinema? First, I must say this film is probably not going to be liked by viewers the...

Pros: It will change the way you feel about western films.

Cons: It is about 15 minutes too long.

Review: Being a product of the 70s, I was never exposed to western films. I had never seen one but there was no doubt in my mind that I hated them! After all, old men and unmarried uncles watch westerns. Girls do not. The Searchers has changed all that. I...