THE SEARCHERS: Classic Director John Ford Corrects His Myth.

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, patriotic, one-eyed director printed the myth of the heroic White Man destroying red heathens to build a nation. Perhaps his experience making World War II documentaries for the Navy led him to see that bravery and culture came in many colors and two genders. In any case, his films after the war, such as FORT APACHE (l948), began to feature people of color in sympathetic and heroic images, and to admit the possible failure of the white man.


THE SEARCHERS (1956) is a veritable case history of this process. The Director's alter ego John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a racist, heroic, rugged individualist, a classic Ford hero, who gradually realizes through his search for his niece, stolen by Indians, that all human life has value.

It nearly tears him apart.

Some have objected to the episodic structure of this sweeping Western, but one must realize that Ethan's search to find his niece took many years, with no modern TV or lattes to ease the transitions. And, despite the magnificent scenery of the Monument Valley, and strong performances by Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood and Ward Bond, this is very much a story by a great auteur -- the man Orson Welles said taught him EVERYTHING about movies -- exorcizing his demons through alter ego Wayne, and making grudging amends for past artistic sins. It is a great film for anyone interested in the maturation of the Western, or the growth of racial and gender understanding in America.

For Macresarf1's review of other classic Westerns, copy, paste to your browser and go to:

THE WILD ROVERS --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-1197-1188F4E3-39B323B4-prod6


THE WILD BUNCH --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-1C3E-8E50B88-386D234B-prod1

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