Love the story, love the movie ... hate the acting

The Searchers (1956)

Adam’s rating: ★★★ (out of 5)

Director: John Ford

Rated: none. 119 min.

No. 96 on AFI 100

No. 12 on AFI 100 reissue

None on IMDB Top 250

Starring: John Wayne, Vera Miles,
Jeffrey Hunter, Ward Bond,
Natalie Wood

"The Searchers": No. 96 on AFI 100 (1998);
No. 12 on AFI 100 (2007)

I’m just going to come out and say it: this might be The Duke’s best western film? But, I think John Wayne’s role in this film is stronger because of his work with legendary director John Ford than any other reason.

I was a big fan of the story. There wasn’t much that needed to be done on a technical aspect because the Western genre is quite simplistic and with the advent of color film, focuses on quality photography of the scenery – and shooting on location in Utah’s Monument Valley makes the scenery top-notch.

The story, to me, was quite unique.

Based on the book by Alan LeMay, “The Searchers” is about Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns to his brother’s home three years after the war when a neighbor’s cattle are stolen as a ploy to drive the men away from their families as they chase after the cattle. When the men discover this plot, they return to find Edwards’ brother’s house on fire and his two youngest girls abducted.

Long story short, Ethan and the girl’s adopted brother, Martin, lead a search party and the two end up searching for the girl for what we are led to believe is years as they eventually find her living among the Indians as an adolescent when she is finally found.

What I like about the story, though, is Edwards’ unstoppable desire to find his niece, avenge deaths and the wrongs done to his brother’s family. The need for justice seems to be the key element in most John Wayne films – and I think that element is at its best in this film.

But the acting is so-so. Granted, it’s not as bad as “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” but I still wasn’t over-the-top impressed. I always feel, when I watch a John Wayne movie, that his acting abilities are mediocre and that he shows up, lumbers through his scenes, delivers his lines and collects the paycheck because he was a big box office draw. That’s great that a bunch of producers made money, but where is the overall quality? It’s believable because he’s typecast as this tough guy, no-nonsense cowboy who doles out justice – but, and I’m going to duck for cover upon saying this, he’s about as big of a joke as an actor as Chuck Norris, who has a penchant for doling out cheesy lines, roundhouse kicks and a crappy show that everyone loves. (By the time you read this, I will be dead -- from trauma sustained as a result of a roundhouse kick to the face a la Texas justice.)

And that is the drawback of John Wayne’s repertoire. Sure, he makes entertaining movies. But where is the quality acting that the likes of his contemporaries were able to produce? I mean, Gary Cooper made quite possibly the best western of all time in “High Noon,” but he was a more accomplished actor branching out into this one genre. And while it would be silly to think of John Wayne branching out because the people that watch his movies don’t want to see him in anything but westerns and war, the branching out is the difference between being a one-dimensional typecast actor who can only do the same role and being regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time.

At the end of the day, the thing you must take away from this film is photography – and capturing the majestic landscape on film is where it’s at. This film used a seldom-used technological advance of the 1950s called VistaVision. Alfred Hitchcock also used this short-lived film for a few of his 1950s films and the process made for a higher resolution picture in the widescreen format. The result is that photography is quite beautiful, especially for the 1950s. Maybe it’s not as beautiful as the vistas and landscape photography in “Days of Heaven,” but the overall picture is crisp and very pretty with the combination of red rocks, blue skies, sunsets, etc. I would actually like to see these films in their blu-ray transfers.