The Searchers (1956) (1 Viewer)

[Dave B Ferris]

This is my all-time favorite film! I try to watch it in its entirety, once a year. Anyhow, the other day I was channel surfing and noticed it was on HDNET Movies and viewed the ending once again. IMO, that closing scene is one of the greatest closing scenes in cinematic history. The closing of the door while Ethan walks away from it, represents so much and speaks volumes about that character.

I would bet you also know the story behind the way he is holding/moving his arm during that scene, as well. I think it makes the scene all the more poignant and memorable.

 

[Tino]

I see Tall In The Saddle is only available on DVD. Correct?

 

[Tino]

My wife hasn't seen The Searchers so we're going to watch this weekend. Looking forward to seeing it again and catching stuff I missed.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I see Tall In The Saddle is only available on DVD. Correct?

That's correct, I bought the HD Digital of it from Vudu. I"m very happy with that presentation.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I love this movie but it has a moment when I'm taken out of the movie. That is when Natalie Wood first appears as (not sure of character's name at the moment) Debbie. She is the classic hollywood indian. She's gorgeous, wearing makeup, and shows no sign of living what must be a difficult life living on the land with very few, if any, of the things that people of that time had. It's quite jarring for me.

BTW, I can recommend a non-fiction book titled The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend. It has two parts, the first a background on the history of the old west during the period when the girl who was kidnapped and became the inspiration for the movie, and then a second part about the making of the movie.

It did not have a happy ending for the girl as she never readapted to living in the white world. She would have been better of staying with the Indians.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I love this movie but it has a moment when I'm taken out of the movie. That is when Natalie Wood first appears as (not sure of character's name at the moment) Debbie. She is the classic hollywood indian. She's gorgeous, wearing makeup, and shows no sign of living what must be a difficult life living on the land with very few, if any, of the things that people of that time had. It's quite jarring for me.

For me, it's a part of the film that I always look forward to seeing at each viewing of the film. Perhaps, I'm not as critical because I first viewed this movie as a little boy back in the 1960's, thus, it never bothered me about how see looked versus what she should've looked like. Since then, I've probably viewed this film 100 times in my lifetime.

 

[Johnny Angell]

For me, it's a part of the film that I always look forward to seeing at each viewing of the film. Perhaps, I'm not as critical because I viewed this movie as a little boy back in the 1960's, thus, it never bothered me about how see looked versus what she should've looked like.

Just another good example of different strokes for different folks. I certainly won't criticize you for your position. It's a great movie and perhaps John Wayne's best performance.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just another good example of different strokes for different folks. I certainly won't criticize you for your position. It's a great movie and perhaps John Wayne's best performance.

Did you first view The Searchers as an adult? If so then perhaps it's the reason why you and I differ on this point.

 

[David_B_K]

I love this movie but it has a moment when I'm taken out of the movie. That is when Natalie Wood first appears as (not sure of character's name at the moment) Debbie. She is the classic hollywood indian. She's gorgeous, wearing makeup, and shows no sign of living what must be a difficult life living on the land with very few, if any, of the things that people of that time had. It's quite jarring for me.

BTW, I can recommend a non-fiction book titled The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend. It has two parts, the first a background on the history of the old west during the period when the girl who was kidnapped and became the inspiration for the movie, and then a second part about the making of the movie.

It did not have a happy ending for the girl as she never readapted to living in the white world. She would have been better of staying with the Indians.

I am not at all bothered that the film went with a "happy ending" as opposed to the original true story. The fact that there was an original true story simply backs up the fact that the story in the film could have happened, which is all I require of most fiction. I do agree that Natalie Wood was a tad too gorgeous in the film. I do not crave realism, but I thought her looks were too Hollywood. I thought she actually looked hotter than Vera Miles.

As to the ending of the true story that The Searchers was based on (in which a captive could not re-adapt to her original civilization), I think Ford dealt well with that in Two Rode Together in which a character who could not re-adapt met with a tragic end.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Did you first view The Searchers as an adult? If so then perhaps it's the reason why you and I differ on this point.

I'm not certain when I first saw it. I think it's likely that I first appreciated it for the great movie it is, when I was a young adult. BTW, I don't criticize the movie for it's happy ending, just the hollywood indian. And I consider it a small flaw.

Edit: I do recognize that seeing a movie first as a child does give a movie a special cachet in the heart of the viewer. In the case of the searchers I think it's very likely it was too adult for me if I saw it as a 10 year-old.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I am not at all bothered that the film went with a "happy ending" as opposed to the original true story. The fact that there was an original true story simply backs up the fact that the story in the film could have happened, which is all I require of most fiction. I do agree that Natalie Wood was a tad too gorgeous in the film. I do not crave realism, but I thought her looks were too Hollywood. I thought she actually looked hotter than Vera Miles.

As to the ending of the true story that The Searchers was based on (in which a captive could not re-adapt to her original civilization), I think Ford dealt well with that in Two Rode Together in which a character who could not re-adapt met with a tragic end.

I don't know about that, but Vera Miles sure looked good in those jeans when she kissed Jeffrey Hunter and gave him her horse.

 

[AshJW]

I saw it as a kid on television, but had no recollection of it when I watched it the first time on DVD as an adult. Only when I saw the final scene with Wayne on the door step I remembered that I saw it some years back.

I noticed the make-up on Natalie Wood also, but it didn't pull me out of the movie.

If it were made today I guess she would look not so "Hollywood" but more realistic. But it would also be a different film.

 

[dpippel]

If it were made today they would more than likely cast a Native American actress in the role.

 

[David Weicker]

If it were made today they would more than likely cast a Native American actress in the role.

Except that would be wrong, since the character was not Native American

(Unless your answer was sarcastic)

 

[Race Bannon]

I love the Searchers, and love it without the need to qualify with how horrible Ethan is. He's consumed by the genuine horror of a massacre and an abduction

 

[dpippel]

Except that would be wrong, since the character was not Native American

(Unless your answer was sarcastic)

Yes it was an attempt at sarcasm, and not a very good one. I was thinking that if The Searchers were made in today's Hollywood, they'd probably flip the story's characters and have the narrative tell of a Native American child who was kidnapped and raised by European settlers.

 

[Sam Favate]

Oh no! I just realized that it's only matter of time before this movie is remade! #leaveitalone

 

[Mark McSherry]

There is a kindle edition of Alan LeMay's The Searchers that includes a long essay by Harry Carey Jr, who played Brad Jorgensen in the movie. The piece is long (and yet not long enough) and will induce many chuckles (if not belly laughs) from the reader. Most of it is free to read using Amazon's "Look Inside" feature. Unfortunately, it does not include the final paragraphs---

"There are moments and a certain feeling, somewhere between your heart and your throat, that you rarely get on a movie set. It might be a moment while shooting a TV episode of little consequence, except for that moment. This was a day possessed of one of those moments. It didn’t take Uncle Jack long to shoot it. One take, and boom, it was done. Had it been take five or ten, it would never have happened. It would not have been— well, one of the greatest endings of any picture ever made. I wasn’t in the scene, but I was behind the camera, able to see all of it— able to feel all of it. Duke was the only actor in front of the camera now. He was standing alone in the doorway...

"There he was! The big man standing alone in the doorway, the red desert stretching out behind him. The other players in the scene, which included my mother, had passed by the camera, a joyous moment. Debbie was home at last, brought there in the arms of the man in the doorway. He was to look and then walk away, but just before he turned, he saw Ollie Carey, the widow of his all-time hero, standing behind the camera. It was as natural as taking a breath. Duke raised his left hand, reached across his chest and grabbed his right arm at the elbow. Harry Carey did that a lot in the movies when Duke was a kid in Glendale, California. He’d spent many a dime just to see that.

"He stared at my mother for a couple of beats, then turned, walking away into loneliness across red sand. The cabin door slowly closed. "

Alan, LeMay (2013-03-05). The Searchers . Pinnacle. Kindle Edition.

For more, check out Harry Carey Jr's book--- Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company.

 

[bujaki]

Yes, Mark, I remember Harry Carey doing this arm-holding gesture in many of his movies. What a lovely tribute to Carey and his widow!

 

[Mark McSherry]

And, I'm sure you remember, in John Ford's tribute to Harry Carey at the beginning of the 3 Godfathers, the actor representing Mr Carey, mounted on a horse in the middle distance, also does that arm-holding gesture.