The Searchers
1956
*****
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, John Qualen, Olive Carey
John Ford's majestic Western gives us one of the most complex and ambiguous heroes in the genre. Ethan Edwards, wonderfully played by John Wayne, is a veteran of the Civil War whose niece is abducted by the Comanches. Ethan and his nephew spend years searching for the girl, which turns this stubborn, racist man increasingly bitter and single-minded. The story is based on Alan Le May's novel, and the film is shot in Monument Valley in beautiful Technicolor.
