Review: The Searchers

John Wayne plays a former confederate soldier on a relentless search for his niece (played at various stages by the Wood sisters Natalie and Lana), kidnapped by Comanche Indians (led by the decidedly ‘honky’-looking Henry Brandon), who also killed her family. But what will the embittered, vengeful Wayne do if and when he finds his niece, now taken in by the Comanche? Surely he’s not going to kill her like he says, is he? (His reasoning being that she’s damaged goods now). Jeffrey Hunter is the half-breed (one-eighth Cherokee) adopted by Wayne’s family (saved by Wayne as a boy), who accompanies him on the search (much to the chagrin of confirmed Indian hater Wayne, with Hunter trying to save Wayne from himself), with Vera Miles as Hunter’s not-so patient woman back home. Veteran character actor (usually in simple immigrant roles) John Qualen is Miles’ father, Ward Bond is a preacher and Texas Ranger (Hell yeah!), and the inimitable Hank Worden is feeble-minded Mose Harper, an old Indian scout.

One of the most popular and critically praised westerns of all-time, this 1956 John Ford (“Stagecoach”, “The Grapes of Wrath”, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, “The Quiet Man”, “Two Rode Together”) western probably isn’t quite in that category of worthiness for me, but it’s a lot darker, and thematically complicated (and fascinating) than I was expecting. Many mistakenly see the film as somewhat racist towards Native Americans. This isn’t so, unless you believe that Ford sees Wayne’s Indian-hating character as an uncomplicated and entirely virtuous hero. I saw no such thing, this guy’s messed up in the head, I knew it, Ford and Wayne knew it, and as far as I’m concerned, he’s not a total hero (though we know, because he’s John Wayne, he’s not likely a simple, cold-blooded killer, either), nor are Indians seen in a one-dimensional, villainous light. Sure, it’s a 1956 version of 3-D portrayals and complexity (for starters, we have white actor Hunter portraying a half-breed, and more offensively, the equally Caucasian Brandon playing the Indian Scar, as was often the practice in films of the time), but for that period, it sure is surprisingly intelligent and fascinating in that regard.

Wayne gives one of the three best performances of his long career (along with “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, and “The Shootist”), playing easily the most layered of any character he has ever portrayed. He gets colourful support from Bond, Qualen (did he ever play anything other than well-meaning ethnic-types? Who cares, he’s the best at it!), and especially the haunting and unusual Worden, in perhaps his best-remembered part, a role that at times, is also rather humorous. For me, the film falters in its attempt to cover too much ground, with jarring jumps ahead in time to fit its rather expansive journey (several years) into over two hours of film. I understand that this had to be done due to the scope of the story, but like I said, it is rather jarring and took me out of the film a bit. And surely, no one seeing this film will have been hankering out for some Vera Miles, who doesn’t get much to do, except eat some precious screen time, in a subplot that goes nowhere. This despite a funny small role for Ken Curtis as a bumpkin suitor, while Hunter is away, inadvertently agreeing to purchase a squaw, in an equally funny moment.

Overall, this is a fine film about obsession and issues of racial hatred dealt with in a more adult manner than usual for a John Wayne film. What will this man do when his beloved niece has become the very thing he has grown to passionately despise? Yes Wayne is still playing the same kind of character he always did, but in a more complicated context this time. It’s also a film about the changing times and attitudes, with Wayne’s old school, violent, Indian-hater seemingly an outcast in his own family, which now includes half-breed Hunter, whom Wayne’s character seems to treat indifferently for the most part, if not worse. The screenplay is by Frank S. Nugent (“The Quiet Man”, “Two Rode Together”), from the Alan LeMay (“The Unforgiven” with Audrey Hepburn as a half-breed) novel.

Rating: B-