Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoThe Searchers
July 9th 2006 09:16
Westerns were my least favourite genre when I was a kid. I avoided them for ages because they seemed so old man-ish! As I got older I got into film big time and read about all these important westerns and, well, eventually I got curious and gave the genre a second shot and now I absolutely love a good western. One of the first westerns I decided to watch was ‘The Searchers’. It seemed an obvious place to start, considering the influence it has on 'Taxi Driver', one of my all-time favourite films.
Basically, the story follows Ethan, an enigmatic and hard-as-nails returned civil war soldier, who sets out to rescue his niece from Commanche Indians. What makes the story interesting is that his search takes five years. Over the course of the search we begin to doubt Ethan's role as the 'hero' of the film; we are never told why he took 3 years to return from the war, and he does some pretty anti-social things throughout the film. Such is his hatred for the Indians that he desecrates their graves and fires at their wounded (!) When it begins to appear that his niece may have turned native during the long amount of time that she has been missing we wonder why he is so obsessed with 'rescuing' her.
The direction is a benchmark for cinema; you can easily spot various shots that have influenced later films - most notably (for me, anyway) one particular scene where Ethan returns to a homestead to find it destroyed and on fire (hello 'Star Wars'). The acting, on John Wayne's part, is better than I thought it would be. Like most laymen, I used to associate Wayne with a particular character, and hence didn't think of him as being all that good. Wayne can act though, and he acts well, and if someone in the 1950s needed a toughened 'hero' for a western film, well, it would be stupid for them not to cast John Wayne in the role. In the grand scheme of things, I find myself appreciating Wayne more and more with each of his films that I watch. On the flip side though, I can't help but get annoyed by the poor acting of some of the supporting players (most notably Mr Jorgenson); it just seems sometimes that older films weren't too worried about sub-standard performances from actors in smaller roles!
Anyway, this film is worth checking out. It's in colour, so all you black-and-white-aphobes don't have to worry. It's not as dark and serious as I hoped it would be, but I guess that this was a mainstream 1950s film and comic relief was seen as a must by the movie execs of the time (hell, in most ways it still is!). I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I should have, owing to a poor-quality video, so maybe a DVD copy is in order. But it’s definitely a benchmark as far as film goes, I haven’t seen much in the way of traditional westerns yet that match this, my introduction to the genre.
HIGHLIGHTS: Hank Worden gives an amusing performance as Mose Harper, a rocking-chair-obsessed simpleton.
TRIVIA: John Wayne and Ward Bond were drinking buddies, and often played practical jokes on one another. In one particular incident, Ward Bond bet Wayne that they could stand at opposite ends of a sheet of newspaper and Wayne wouldn't be able to hit him. Wayne stepped up to the challenge and Bond proceeded to lay a sheet of newspaper on the floor in a doorway, then shutting the door. Bond shouted through the door "Try and hit me now!" Wayne did, sending his fist through the door and putting Bond on his arse in the process. (Source: IMDB.com)
The Searchers (1956)
Basically, the story follows Ethan, an enigmatic and hard-as-nails returned civil war soldier, who sets out to rescue his niece from Commanche Indians. What makes the story interesting is that his search takes five years. Over the course of the search we begin to doubt Ethan's role as the 'hero' of the film; we are never told why he took 3 years to return from the war, and he does some pretty anti-social things throughout the film. Such is his hatred for the Indians that he desecrates their graves and fires at their wounded (!) When it begins to appear that his niece may have turned native during the long amount of time that she has been missing we wonder why he is so obsessed with 'rescuing' her.
The direction is a benchmark for cinema; you can easily spot various shots that have influenced later films - most notably (for me, anyway) one particular scene where Ethan returns to a homestead to find it destroyed and on fire (hello 'Star Wars'). The acting, on John Wayne's part, is better than I thought it would be. Like most laymen, I used to associate Wayne with a particular character, and hence didn't think of him as being all that good. Wayne can act though, and he acts well, and if someone in the 1950s needed a toughened 'hero' for a western film, well, it would be stupid for them not to cast John Wayne in the role. In the grand scheme of things, I find myself appreciating Wayne more and more with each of his films that I watch. On the flip side though, I can't help but get annoyed by the poor acting of some of the supporting players (most notably Mr Jorgenson); it just seems sometimes that older films weren't too worried about sub-standard performances from actors in smaller roles!
Anyway, this film is worth checking out. It's in colour, so all you black-and-white-aphobes don't have to worry. It's not as dark and serious as I hoped it would be, but I guess that this was a mainstream 1950s film and comic relief was seen as a must by the movie execs of the time (hell, in most ways it still is!). I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I should have, owing to a poor-quality video, so maybe a DVD copy is in order. But it’s definitely a benchmark as far as film goes, I haven’t seen much in the way of traditional westerns yet that match this, my introduction to the genre.
HIGHLIGHTS: Hank Worden gives an amusing performance as Mose Harper, a rocking-chair-obsessed simpleton.
TRIVIA: John Wayne and Ward Bond were drinking buddies, and often played practical jokes on one another. In one particular incident, Ward Bond bet Wayne that they could stand at opposite ends of a sheet of newspaper and Wayne wouldn't be able to hit him. Wayne stepped up to the challenge and Bond proceeded to lay a sheet of newspaper on the floor in a doorway, then shutting the door. Bond shouted through the door "Try and hit me now!" Wayne did, sending his fist through the door and putting Bond on his arse in the process. (Source: IMDB.com)
| 71 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog