The searchers

USA Color 119 minutes

John WayneJohn Wayne + Hank Worden + Jeffrey HunterWard Bond

Review

That'll be the day

Natalie WoodEtan Edwards (John Wayne) returns to his sister's home after years away fighting on the wrong side of the War of the Rebellion. The local Comanche indians attack the Edwards family farm, killing most of the women but kidnapping the two youngest daughters. Ethan sets off to find the young nieces. His sole companion for most of the trip is Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), a half-breed youth who had been raised in his late brother's family.

Henry BrandonPawley wants to rescue his sister but Edwards wants to kill her because in his view, she would already have suffered a fate worse than death, defloration by a savage. They spend five years on a lonely quest to hunt down the tribe and their leader Scar (Henry Brandon). But then, will Ethan treat her like family or like the Comanche she's been raised to be?

Cast

Directed by John Ford

Links and more

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Listen to: I found Lucy (Small mp3 file, 32kb) I found Lucy
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In focus: The Western

 

Comanches

News

Nathalie Wood

Within 30 days it would have been Nathalie Wood`s (Older Debbie Edwards) 75th birthday.
* July 20, 1938
† November 29, 1981

Trivia

Release date: March 13, 1956

A young Marxist critic of the movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema and director named Jean-Luc Godard: “ How can I hate John Wayne [] and yet love him tenderly [] in the last reel of The Searchers?” Source / More (Book)

Lana Wood played young Debbie Edwards and Natalie Wood, who was Lana’s older sister, played teenaged Debbie Edwards.

Buddy Holly stole That'll be the day from this movie::“Martin Pawley: I hope you die. Ethan Edwards: That'll be the day”

Legend has it that there are three films Steven Spielberg always watches before he launches into his next shoot: A Guy Named Joe, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Searchers.

The novel was written by Alan Le May. Source / More (Book)

The movie has been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry (U.S.A.)




Bio

John Wayne

John Wayne
I never trust a man that doesn't drink

Remarkable:

Wayne told a group of friends after a private screening of Midnight cowboy that he thought that actors Hoffman and Voight were great. A few days later he wondered: “Whoever thought I’d say good things about a movie featuring a gigolo, a homeless Italian dwarf, and gang rape”.

Born:

May 26, 1907

Born as:

Marion Robert Morrison

Died:

June 11, 1979

Raised in California, Marion went to USC on a football scholarship. During summer vacations he was employed as a third-string prop man in the Fox-studio's and on the set he became close friends with director John Ford for whom he began doing bit parts.

Wayne got his break winning the the lead in Fox's upcoming Western epic The big trail. He changed his name in John Wayne and became in 1939 a star in the role of The Ringo kid in Stagecoach.

In 1948 for the first time, critics sat up and took notice when the duke starred in Howard Hawks' Red River (1948). The 50s gave Wayne an opportunity to depth and poignancy in films like She wore a yellow ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), The Searchers (1956) and Rio Bravo (1959).

In real life he was a patriot, an ultra-American who reflected his right-wing political stance in The Alamo (1960) and in The green berets (1968). John won his only Academy Award with True Grit (1969).

Academy awards

1970 Won Best actor for: True grit (1969)
1961 Nominated Best picture for: The Alamo(1960)
1950 Nominated Best actor for: Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

Selected Movies:

Books:

S. Zmijewsky and B. Zmijewsky and M. Ricci -> The Complete Films of John Wayne (1983/1995)
Randy Roberts and James S. Olson -> John Wayne, American (1995)
Ronald L. Davis -> Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne (1998)
Emanuel Levy -> John Wayne: Prophet of the American Way of Life (1988/1998)


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