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The Searchers (1956)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
13 March 1956 (USA)
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Tagline:
The story that sweeps from the great Southwest to the Canadian border in VistaVision. more
Plot:
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
1 win
&
2 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(35 articles)
Iconic Shots: Empire Captures 50 Picture Perfect Film Moments
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 16 November 2009, 5:39 AM, PST)
Pass notes No 2,683: Cinématon
(From The Guardian - Film News. 15 November 2009, 4:05 PM, PST)
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 16 November 2009, 5:39 AM, PST)
Pass notes No 2,683: Cinématon
(From The Guardian - Film News. 15 November 2009, 4:05 PM, PST)
User Comments:
A disturbing meditation on racism, rancor and violence...
more (344 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | John Wayne | ... | Ethan Edwards |
 | Jeffrey Hunter | ... | Martin Pawley |
 | Vera Miles | ... | Laurie Jorgensen |
| Ward Bond | ... | Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton |
 | Natalie Wood | ... | Debbie Edwards (older) |
| John Qualen | ... | Lars Jorgensen |
| Olive Carey | ... | Mrs. Jorgensen |
| Henry Brandon | ... | Chief Cicatrice (Scar) |
| Ken Curtis | ... | Charlie McCorry |
| Harry Carey Jr. | ... | Brad Jorgensen |
| Antonio Moreno | ... | Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa |
 | Hank Worden | ... | Mose Harper |
| Beulah Archuletta | ... | Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky (Look) |
| Walter Coy | ... | Aaron Edwards |
| Dorothy Jordan | ... | Martha Edwards |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
119 min
Country:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.75 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Certification:
Canada:F (Ontario) |
Canada:G (British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Quebec) |
Canada:G (Manitoba) |
Portugal:M/12 |
Iceland:L |
West Germany:12 (nf) |
USA:Approved (certificate #17787) |
South Korea:12 (2003) |
Brazil:12 |
Australia:G |
Finland:K-12 |
Norway:12 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:U
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The Mexican man who takes the searchers to meet Chief Scar is called Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa. The name of this character, played by Antonio Moreno, is a combination of the names of Mexican actor and director Emilio Fernandez and his cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa, both of whom were friends of director John Ford.
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Goofs:
Continuity: When the Indians chase the Rangers across the river Capt Clayton falls off his horse and into the water. When the Rangers regroup on the far bank to shoot back, he is dry.
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Quotes:
[first lines]
[seeing a horseman in the distance]
Aaron Edwards: Ethan?
Debbie Edwards: Hush, Prince.
Lucy Edwards: That's your Uncle Ethan!
Martha Edwards: [he approaches] Welcome home, Ethan!
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[seeing a horseman in the distance]
Aaron Edwards: Ethan?
Debbie Edwards: Hush, Prince.
Lucy Edwards: That's your Uncle Ethan!
Martha Edwards: [he approaches] Welcome home, Ethan!
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native American (2003) (TV)
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Soundtrack:
The Searchers
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (344 total)
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There are striking differences between 'Stagecoach' and 'The Searchers' reflecting a change more important than the mere passage of time:
- 'Stagecoach' is a classic Western... 'The Searchers' is a rich Western...
- 'Stagecoach' explores major social issues and themes... 'The Searchers' explores complex moral issues and myths concerning the frontier...
- 'Stagecoach' captures frenetic action and awe-inspiring panoramas... 'The Searchers' captures the beauty and isolating danger of the frontier...
- 'Stagecoach' is about characters of clashing social classes/values... 'The Searchers' is the complex story of a hate-ridden quest and odyssey of self-discovery...
- 'Stagecoach' shows the classic attack on the stagecoach by the rampaging Apaches... 'The Searchers' shows the Comanche attack on a home without ever showing the attack itself...
- 'Stagecoach' shows one of the most enjoyable rides in cinema history... 'The Searchers' shows the Old West as visually magnificent, but very dangerous to live in...
- 'Stagecoach' captures the untamed, rocky wilderness in Black and White... 'The Searchers' captures the vast, sprawling desert wilderness in grand Technicolor fashion...
- 'Stagecoach" is the first movie Ford filmed in Utah's Monument Valley... 'The Searchers' is the 9th time Ford shoots footage in Monument Valley...
- 'Stagecoach' holds our attention because its story is in continual change... 'The Searchers' hunts us for its unique cinematic art...
- 'Stagecoach' made John Wayne a star... 'The Searchers' stars the biggest Western star of all time the 'Duke.'
- 'Stagecoach' is a picture that excites the sight... 'The Searchers' is a film that moves the heart...
- In 'Stagecoach' Wayne shoots and kills Apaches... In 'The Searchers' he kills Comanches and even shoots two bullets at an Indian corpse...
- In 'Stagecoach' John Wayne is a charming, reluctant outlaw... In 'The Searchers' he is an embittered man, a prejudiced Indian hater...
- The essence of 'Stagecoach' is the humanity that resides in all of us... The essence of 'The Searchers' is one man's tragedy...
'The Searchers' is a stunning film with enormous scope, and breathtaking beauty, the ultimate meeting of two legends who frequently worked together—John Ford and John Wayne...
"The Searchers" brings the feeling to focus in the story of the abduction by Indians of two white girls and the long hunt for them that becomes a personal crusade…
"The Searchers" is about just such a raid and the terrible obsession of a man who seeks not only to rescue captives but to exact fearful vengeance…
John Wayne comes riding back from Confederate service in the Civil War, three years after it's over, to the Texan ranch he co-owns with his brother (Walter Coy). There's bitterness and mystery about the man… There are gold double eagles in his saddle-bags and there's a clammed up look in his eyes that says whatever he's done, or whatever he's been through, he's telling nothing… It's obvious, though, that he's glad to be home, that he's quite fond of his brother's wife (Dorothy Jordan), but he hates the fact that they've adopted a Cherokee half-breed (Jeffrey Hunter) into the family…
When Ward Bond, a preacher-cum-Rangers' captain, drops in to form a posse, Wayne goes along with him, only to find later that they've been decoyed away by Comanches… He gets back to learn that his brother, his wife, and their son have been killed and their two daughters have been abducted…
As always, certain words, sequences, images stay in the mind and evoke an emotional response:
- The wind sweeping across the landscape and through a frontier woman's black hair...
- The homecoming of a lean ex-Confederate soldier (against a bright sky) approaching a solitary house...
- The sad reflective look of a loner, sitting on the porch with only a dog for company...
- A married woman seen, by a Captain/Reverend, taking out and gently caressing her brother-in-law's cape in a manner that betrays her love for him...
- The ride of the posse through the grandeur of Monument Valley, Utah...
- White men riding scared through a valley while marauding Indians surround them between two parallel lines...
- The anguish face of a man agonizingly realizing that his brother's family could be the target of a Comanche murder raid...
- A shadow covering a ten year old girl, and the shocking view of an Indian standing menacingly before her...
- The catchphrase, 'That'll be the day!'
- A long view of a two searchers riding along a ridge in front of a sunset...
- The passionate frenzy of an avenging man, shooting wildly at a herd of buffalo...
- The 7th Cavalry riding beautiful horses in lines, galloping through an icy river, and carrying colorful flags against the white of the snow...
- Dignified women line up on one side, and their well-behaved men on the other, to the tune of "Shall We Gather at the River."
- The old man Mose, peacefully sitting, on the porch, in the family's rocking chair...
'The Searchers' is a big motion picture that cries 'wilderness' and the images sustain it... The eye is constantly filled with space, and isolation... It is perhaps the first film to clearly investigate the emotional bases for the racial tensions between Indians and whites, and shows a shocking massacre of a Comanche village...
John Ford was certainly a fantasist that has meditated on the West for a long period of years and has created an imaginary West that is uniquely his own... Ford was a folk artist, a master storyteller, a poet of the moving image..