Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

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 Civil War veteran whose niece is abducted by the Comanche Indians. Ethan and his adopted nephew spend years searching for the girl, which turns this stubborn, racist man increasingly bitter and single-minded. The visually stunning film is shot in Monument Valley in beautiful Technicolor. Frank S. Nugent's screenplay is based on Alan Le May's 1954 novel.