The Searchers, 1956.
Directed by John Ford.
Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, and Natalie Wood.
SYNOPSIS:
One of Warner Archive’s most anticipated releases is here: a 4K Ultra HD edition of John Ford’s 1956 classic The Searchers, which features a beautiful restoration of the movie along with a couple new bonus features and plenty of legacy extras. Highly recommended.
As Akira Kurosawa is best-remembered for his samurai movies, so is John Ford well-regarded for the westerns he directed. Both of them helmed a variety of other kinds of films, of course, but it’s not so bad in the grand scheme of things to be remembered for a specific genre, especially when one does it so well.
“Does it so well” is an apt description of Ford’s deft handling of The Searchers, his classic 1956 western written by Frank S. Nugent and based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Alan Le May. On its surface, it may seem like a stereotypical “cowboys vs. Indians” movie, complete with those well-known bugle notes as the cavalry rides in to help save the day.
However, as with many of Ford’s movies, The Searchers is much more than that. John Wayne plays the role of Ethan Edwards, a racist ex-Confederate soldier who arrives at the home of his brother Aaron (Walter Coy) in 1868, after having not seen him for eight years.
Aaron is married to Martha (Dorothy Jordan), and they have three children, including two girls, Lucy (Pippa Scott) and Debbie (Lana Wood; her sister Natalie plays the older version of Debbie). After a Comanche Indian attack on their home leaves the parents and one child dead, with the two girls abducted, Ethan leads a group in search of them.
That group eventually turns into just Ethan and Martin (Jeffrey Hunter, who was best known as Star Trek’s Captain Pike), Debbie’s adopted older brother, seeking the whereabouts of both girls. Others question the pair’s motive in continuing what seems to be a fruitless search, but Ethan in particular has his own bigoted reasons for seeking vengeance at any cost.
Some aspects of The Searchers don’t play well with modern sensibilities, especially the movie’s treatment of women. Yes, that’s unfortunately how women were treated in the late 1900s, but they weren’t in much better shape in the 1950s either.
Ethan’s racism is also troubling, of course, especially given some of the views John Wayne espoused, but his character does undergo an arc of change, and the film’s famous final shot makes it clear where someone like him belongs in the United States.
In the end, The Searchers remains a classic that lays bare the messiness of the post-Civil War United States and the ways in which the characters are aware of the foundation they’re putting down for future generations.
As Mrs. Jorgensen says at one point: “Some day this country’s gonna be a fine, good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come.”
This new 4K Ultra HD edition of The Searchers from Warner Archive features a restored version of the film that’s almost certainly the last copy of it that you’ll need to own on physical media. Another edition with newer bonus features may show up someday, but this version of the film is the pinnacle of presentation for the vast majority of people’s home theater systems. (If you’re someone whose system could benefit from 8K discs, well, that’s awesome, but you’re in a tiny sliver of the home video population.)
The only bonus feature on the 4K disc is a commentary track with acclaimed director, writer, actor, and producer Peter Bogdanovich. It’s a track that’s been kicking around on various home video releases for a while, but it’s worth a listen if you haven’t partaken in it yet. It’s a bit dry, and sometimes it commits the sins of lapsing into silence and describing what’s onscreen, but, overall, it’s an informative discussion.
The movie and commentary track are also found on the included Blu-ray disc, which is where the rest of the extras are housed. Warner Archive actually included two new extras in this edition: 44 seconds of black-and-white from a newsreel about the movie’s premiere and nearly 12 minutes of outtakes. As you might imagine, the outtakes are in very rough shape, but they’re worth watching to understand how John Ford molded his footage into the final product.
Everything else hails from early home video releases, including: an introduction by John Wayne’s son, Patrick; a 31-minute appreciation with filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Curtis Hanson, and John Milius; a 33-minute making-of that serves up a thorough look at the film’s production; and 21-minutes of promotional material shot in the 1950s, including interviews with Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood.
The original theatrical trailer rounds out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published December 29, 2024. Updated December 30, 2024.
