The Searchers (1956)

The Searchers ★★★★★ 5/5

This is my absolute all time favorite Western. Hands down. I am not a fan of John Wayne. While I know he epitomizes the essence of Westerns, he comes off flat to me. I don't feel he is an actor. I feel that his performances are all extremely similar and there is no variation from one film he stars in to the other. However in The Searchers the character he plays has great depth. His character, Ethan Edwards, is conflicted. While he claims to care only about himself and his motives, his actions say otherwise.

The film opens upon the majestic scenery of the glorious west. John Ford uses the camera and the cast magnificently. From the front porch of a ranch, the camera looks out red rocks. In the foreground, a woman in a blue dress looks out to the plains. Out from the horizon comes a Civil War vet on a horse. That man is Ethan Edwards. The woman is his sister in law,Martha (Dorothy Jordan). He is soon greeted by his Brother Aaron (Walter Coy) and their children: Ben (Robert Lyden), Lucy (Pippa Scott) and Debbie (Lana Wood as a child and Natalie Wood as teenager). The family settles in getting reacquainted with Ethan. As dinner starts, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter) joins the family. He is an adopted son of Martha and Aaron. He is also 1/8 Indian heritage. Ethan shows no hesitation in making that known and even less hesitation declaring his dislike for Indians.

Within the first few scenes, the audience knows two things. First, Ethan despises Indians and is fueled with racist thoughts towards them. Second, he longs to be with Martha. It is never spoken of or acknowledged, but it is made clear from the way he looks at her. It has been suggested by some critics and observers that Debbie may actually be Ethan's daughter. This observation comes from Ethan giving Debbie a medal from the Civil War and her age calculated with when Ethan was last there. But this is all speculation.

The family is interrupted by Captain Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) and a group of his men who ask for Aaron and Martin to join them in tracking some stolen cattle. Ethan offers to take the place of Aaron and the group head out to find the cattle. They come across prize cattle slaughtered in the desert. Ethan advises that the killing of the cattle was a diversion and that it meant only one thing - that the Indians were looking to ambush nearby homes. The men split up and go to their respective families. Ethan and Martin ride to the home of Martha and Aaron. The scene they approach is very, very similar to the scene from Star Wars where Luke returns to his Aunt & Uncle's burnt down home and dead bodies. In The Searchers, Martin finds Martha and Aaron's home - and it is worth mentioning he refers to them as his Aunt & Uncle - completely charred and their bodies to be burned. One could easily find the influence of The Searchers in the similar scene of Star Wars.

Ethan and Martin decide to hunt down the Indians to see if they may have possibly kept Lucy and Debbie alive and kidnapped them. Brad Jorgensen (Harry Carey, Jr.), Lucy's boyfriend rides along with them. While on the trail of the Indians, Ethan finds Lucy's body. She had been raped and murdered by the Indians. Upon learning this, Brad raids the Indians and is murdered by them.

The story continues for the course of 5 years. Through this time, there are some additional plot lines. Martin has a girl whom he plans on marrying someday. She does not want to wait and proceeds to marry another. The wedding is abruptly cancelled when martin rides into town. At the same time the US Calvary enters to inform the group that they need help capturing the Indian chief Scar (Henry Brandon). Scar is the Indian that Martin and Ethan have been looking for. After a raid on the Indian camp, Martin finds and rescues Debbie. Ethan however has an extreme resentment towards her and no longer considers her an equal human, feeling that now she was an Indian.

By the end of the film, he does two things that show his character development. While he doesn't feel that Debbie is kin because she has lived with the Indians for so long, he overcomes this in the rescue and does eventually save her rather then shoot her. He also at one point makes a will and leaves everything to Martin. Which completely goes against everything that we were initially introduced to early in the film.

The film is compelling and solidly written. The plot is clear and not clouded by unimportant details. Throughout the film you hear John Wayne say "That'll Be The Day." Yes, this line was the influence to the Buddy Holly song of the same name.

A great film and more then worthy of being on the list of movies to see. Pay close attention to the beautiful cinematography. Appreciate the brilliance of the score. Connect with the characters and follow their growth. Pay attention to what is not being said. enjoy it!

Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957)

Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957) ★★★★★ 4/5

This is the film adaptation of the conflict between Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) and the outlaws he met up with in Tobstone. This film is truly Western in it's nature and does not contain the elements of humor like Rio Bravo or the shock value of the The Wild Bunch. There were some hints of underlying subtle humor but you really had to be paying attention. One of the lines that caught me off gaurd was when Doc Holiday (Kirk Douglas) found out his girl Kate (Jo Van Fleet) left him for another man (John Ireland) - a cattle man - he replied "There seems to be a lot of beef coming around" or something of that effect. It was clearly a statement not referring to the stolen cattle being rounded towards Mexico, but a reference to Kate finding another man. It was quite brazen for 1957, as when the scene when Holiday calls her a slut. But that is as much shock value as you will get in the film.

The movie is very typical of the Western. The premise is based on actual events, and had they not taken so many liberties with the accuracy of the events I would have given the movie 5 stars. Of the Westerns seen so far this was the best. The acting was stellar. Kirk Douglas was likable as Holiday and Burt Lancaster played Wyatt Earp with dignity. My only issue with their on screen relationship in this movie is that they almost portrayed the two men as having a love affair. The two men were drawn together and formed an unlikely relationship. The Sheriff and the murderer. There was a point where Kate even confessed to Holiday that she was jealous of Wyatt Earp. The closeness and dedication of the two men make the modern day viewer think there was a lot more going on there then friendship.

This was a movie where the lines were clear. There were good and bad characters. There was no in between. While Holiday was known to be a murderer of sorts, for the purpose of this film his intentions were clear. He was there to help Earp. Earp's brothers, Jimmy (Martin Milner), Morgan (DeForest Kelley) and Virgil (John Hudson) are clearly on his side. The outlaws, led by Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger) were the clear antagonists. Plot wise, the film was layed out clearly. The Clantons had stolen cattle and were working to push the cattle to Mexico. In the process there were conflicts in smaller towns and the cowboys were going to cause problems in towns they were passing through. The Earps were going to put an end to that - and did.

The film is solid with great performances - particularily notable is that of Jo Van Fleet's. As the love interest of Doc Holiday she serves as a minor antagonist to him. Basically she is a crazy mess of insecurity and dependency. Her dependency being Holiday. She loves and hates him at the same time. But she is so emotionally unstable you don't know what she will do. One minute she is setting Holiday up to be killed and the next minute she is trying to save his life. There are brief moments where it gets to be too much, but overall it is a charged performance worthy of seeing.

The movie is long, but face paced. This is movie represents the classic Western at it's finest. As stated before, I would have easily given this movie 5 stars if the historical accuracy was there. When I watch a film based on real events, I become enthralled with the facts and the premise on which the film was based. When I started researching the events of 1881 I became disappointed. I am very much a realist when it comes to films based on actual events. Other then the liberties they took with the facts, this is a well done, enjoyable movie.