The Searchers (1956)

"That'll be the day."

Of all genres of film, Westerns have generally been most susceptible to the capricious nature of the film-going public. While film-noir, for example, has maintained its consistent popularity for over half a century, certainly from the 1980s onwards there's been a lot of negativity towards Westerns - not helped by the changing view of America at this period in their history which, due to accusations of racism and suchlike, is subject to far more negativity that it used to be. Though films like the Coen brothers' well-received remake of True Grit (2010) show that there is still a market for a well-made Western, the lines between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' are a lot more blurred - a trend that was kickstarted in 1990 with Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves. So with such mixed opinion over Westerns, it takes a particularly good one to have increased in popularity over the last 50 years. Indeed, in the 2012 Sight & Sound magazine's Top Ten films of all time, The Searchers placed seventh, and though it didn't appear in the 2002 list, it was fifth in 1992, and tenth in 1982 - a testament to its longevity.

Watching The Searchers for the first time, the most striking thing about it is how it looks. Director John Ford shot it in VistaVision, which had been used to great effect on films like White Christmas (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955), with the the increased real estate on the big screen as well as the higher resolution allowing him to film some truly breathtaking panoramas across the American landscape.

The opening shot, instantly transporting the audience back to the Old West

By 1956, John Ford was one of the most experienced and prolific filmmakers in the world, having made over 100 features going right back to the early days of full length silent features, and had already won 4 Academy Awards for Best Director (a record that still stands today). Ford was well known for his preference for wide shots, where the characters could be seen framed by the stunning natural background, and generally only used closeups sparingly for effect. The very first shot of the film, where the door to a ranch opens up as we follow a woman outside, and the epic distinctive landscape opens up in front of us, demonstrates how in just a few seconds Ford is able to  effortlessly set the scene. The shot is brilliantly mirrored at the end of the film's final scene.

The decision to use VistaVision film seems a perfect choice for Ford as the increased resolution in the frame not only shows off the landscape (set in Texas, through actually filmed in Monument Valley, Arizona) but means that even in the wide shots, we can see the character's reactions in a way that is not usually possible without using closeups. Similarly, this increased range means there was less requirement to move the camera so much, and it is striking just how few moving shots there are in The Searchers, even in some of the action sequences Ford was content to lock the camera in place and allow the action to unfold around it. What this also means is that when Ford does move the camera, the audience notices, and it's always for good effect.

The story hits the ground running and doesn't let up. It's 1868 and Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) is returning from fighting for the Confederacy in the American Civil War to his brother's family home in the wild west of Texas. Soon after Ethan's arrival he assists Captain Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) and his rangers with going to recover a neighbour's escaped cattle. The group then realise that the cattle theft was a trick by the Comanche Indians to lure the men away from their families. As they return to the ranch, Ethan finds his brother's home in flames, and his brother, his wife and their eldest son dead. The two daughters, Lucy and Debbie, are missing, and the men believe them abducted. Months pass and ultimately Ethan is left to continue his search with the eldest daughter Lucy's fiancé Brad (Harry Carey Jr.), and the girls' adopted brother Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter).
One of the stand out scenes takes place after the three men return from scouting the Comanche camp and realising that they are hopelessly outnumbered on this occasion, they hold back. The continue their search for the girls, and Ethan finds Lucy's dead body in a canyon near to the camp. He hides the news from the other men at first, but when Brad spots a child in the Comanche camp wearing Lucy's dress he mistakes it for his fiance and returns jubilant to Ethan, who then tells him the truth. When pressed for more information, Ethan rebukes Brad: "what do you want me to do, draw a picture?! Spell it out? Don't ever ask me. Long as you live don't ever ask me more." The thinly veiled implication is that Lucy was raped before being murdered, and this was very dark territory indeed for a 50s Western film. This is too much for Brad, who, blinded by his loss, rides out to the camp and is swiftly killed by the Indians. Lots of time continues to pass as Ethan and Martin continue their search, and they eventually learn that Debbie has been taken by the chief of the Nawyecka band of Comanche's, a man called Scar (Henry Brandon). Their search for Scar takes them to New Mexico, where they meet Scar, and finally come face to face with Debbie.

The Searchers takes place over a five-year period and it really does seem to have an epic scale and scope that's unusual in Westerns (and certainly very rare in non-John Ford Westerns). There is a dark undercurrent running through the film, and John Wayne's Ethan Edwards is a lead character who does things at times that are not only morally dubious, but is at times downright cruel. In many films having a lead like this could make things fall apart, but through Ford's careful direction and Wayne's barely repressed menace we see that this is a man who has been through so much that he is now literally on the edge, and the only thing he clings to is being able to save his niece from the Comanches.
Another interesting point is that there are a lot of grim moments in the film, but the vast majority of the violence occurs off screen. Unlike in Tod Browning's Dracula where this is simply frustrating, because of the way Ford deals with the events, we are forced to use our imagination, which will likely be more terrifying than anything that could have been shown on the screen. A good example is the scene mentioned earlier when Ethan discovers Lucy's body. All we see is his devastated reaction afterwards, but we know she was in a bad way and this is, if anything, more effective than seeing her corpse. Again, early in the film when the Comanches attack the homestead, we hear Lucy's terrified scream and see the horror on her face but the camera doesn't show the cause of her reaction, forcing the audience to imagine the evil she saw.
It's hard to imagine that there will ever be a better Western than The Searchers, and it has such universal themes and moves along a such a fair pace that even non-fans of the genre will love this. More than any other film Ford made, The Searchers is summed up by a remark made by non other than Alfred Hitchcock when he described a John Ford film as "a visual gratification".