• John Ford’s The Searchers is many things: a meditation on wilderness and civilization is chief amongst them
  • An update of Melville—John Wayne is Ahab here, obsession—monomaniacal
  • My #1 film of all-time, #9 on TSPDT, #7 on Sight and Sound
  • The greatest work from 4-time Oscar-winning best director John Ford
  • Dazzling on-location shooting in Monument Valley. Ford shot there often, but never like this aided by VistaVision—the stunning red rock made of sandstone make for true architecture as character
  • This is from Ebert- he compared the low-brow humor which is a running trait in Ford’s oeuvre- to Shakespeare’s clowns- I like that
  • There is humor and community in Ford’s world- an important theme and habitat
  • Heavily influenced Kurosawa, Scorsese (Taxi Driver specifically)- Schrader (ditto—made Hardcore and Taxi Driver which are updated versions of this), Spielberg, John Milius De Palma, Godard, Wim Winders, and George Lucas (the massacre scene from The Searchers is lifted and used in Star Wars of course- both fantastic filmmaking)
  • Pop culture- “little Debbie” and “that’ll be the day” inspired Buddy Holly
  • Best of the 14 films made by Ford with Wayne
  • I’m going to leave this section from Ebert—I think it holds true—- Ebert “The Searchers” indeed seems to be two films. The Ethan Edwards story is stark and lonely, a portrait of obsession, and in it we can see Schrader’s inspiration for Travis Bickle of “Taxi Driver;” the Comanche chief named Scar (Henry Brandon) is paralleled by Harvey Keitel’s pimp named Sport, whose Western hat and long hair cause Travis to call him “chief.” Ethan doesn’t like Indians, and says so plainly. When he reveals his intention to kill Debbie, Martin says “She’s alive and she’s gonna stay alive!” and Ethan growls: “Livin’ with Comanches ain’t being alive.” He slaughters buffalo in a shooting frenzy, saying, “At least they won’t feed any Comanche this winter.” The film within this film involves the silly romantic subplot and characters hauled in for comic relief, including the Swedish neighbor Lars Jorgensen (John Qualen), who uses a vaudeville accent, and Mose Harper (Hank Worden), a half-wit treated like a mascot. There are even musical interludes. This second strand is without interest, and those who value “The Searchers” filter it out, patiently waiting for a return to the main story line.
  • Ford’s First film was in 1914 and started directing in 1917. More according to the great Roger Ebert: “Ford had an unrivaled eye for landscape, and famously used Monument Valley as the location for his Westerns. Ford’s eye for composition was bold and sure. Consider the funeral early in the film, with a wagon at low right, a cluster of mourners in the middle left, then a diagonal up the hill to the grave, as they all sing Ford’s favorite hymn, “Shall We Gather at the River” (he used it again in the wedding scene). Consider one of the most famous of all Ford shots, the search party in a valley as Indians ominously ride parallel to them, silhouetted against the sky. And the dramatic first sight of the adult Debbie, running down the side of a sand dune behind Ethan, who doesn’t see her. The opening and closing shots, of Ethan arriving and leaving, framed in a doorway. The poignancy with which he stands alone at the door, one hand on the opposite elbow, forgotten for a moment after delivering Debbie home. These shots are among the treasures of the cinema.
  • The opening framing, we have the shadow, the open door, tracking up and then panning right from behind Aunt Martha—it’s absolute cinematic bliss
  • Ford could stage a frame so well- I love the shot of the family standing in awe on the porch as Ethan returns
  • Clearly Edwards is racist, from the beginning he goes after Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) who is 1/8 Native American
  • There’s an incredibly rich unspoken backstory which gives the film such depth and nuance. There’s a grave of Wayne’s (Edward’s parents) “killed by Comanche’s” and then there’s the past love with Martha which is more than hinted at with the way she pets his confederate coat
  • It is one of the greatest examples of architecture as character in photography and film—these characters are swallowed up by the rugged uncivilized world. It’s both beautiful and unforgivably harsh
  • There are transcendent stand-alone moments like the shot of Wayne, alone, saddling his horse looking up knowing what’s happened to the family—the violin is a bit on the nose but it’s a very great scene— another would be the dolly-in on Lucy’s face as Martha blows out the lantern because they will soon be under attack. It’s pure fear- and pure cinema as the tracking in enhances the performance… there’s another when the camera slides in on Wayne’s distasteful face after he seized the crazed white captives
  • The door as a frame is Ozu—it’s brilliant and Ford emphasizes shadow. It happens again and again not just at the beginning and end which are two of the greatest moments in cinema history acting as bookends…. There’s the scene where Wayne finds Martha’s body, shadow, arriving at the Jorgensen’s, inside the cave escaping Scar towards the end and again chasing after Debbie—it’s brilliant visual film form
  • Ford is one of cinema’s true artists. He makes the avant-garde choice here more often than not over naturalism. Look at monument valley—there are no houses there- this isn’t realistic… look at the staging of the first battle with the Native Americans and the straight lines- it’s gorgeous
  • Max Steiner’s score is an underrated all-timer. The ending, the best film ending of all-time, doesn’t work without it
  • It’s a big masterpiece, my #1 of all-time but it’s close with Apocalypse Now and 2001 amongst others. There are flaws- broad comedic moments that fall flat, Ebert’s point about the secondary story, musical cues too on the nose and some of the clumsy writing with Wayne’s Ethan calling Hunter’s Martin “chunk head” and “blanket head”, there’s the ending with Pat Wayne stabbing Ward Bond in the ass—it’s just nails on the chalkboard after the great scene, the transcendent scene, of Wayne hoisting up Natalie Wood—I think the film also slows down cinematically in third quarter of the film (roughly 1 hour in to 90 minutes in) as Ford strays from Monument Valley and we spend more time on the Martin story, letter reading, “Look”, etc
  • I do think that the wedding, funeral, and community are important here as they’re important to Ford’s world. He creates a world like Lynch, Tarantino, Bunuel—“Gather at the River” song played at both Funeral and Wedding—
  • It’s one of the most American films of all-time and the racism is a part of that- it’s ugly, the civilization and frontier is a part of America as well- it’s Ben Franklin’s American- they call it a “Texican” here but it’s a more rugged race of people as Franklin says
  • The photography is stunning even without the landscape and shadow work- the dust kicking up during the fight at the wedding (this is the section shown in Scorsese’s Mean Streets”. There’s a comedic “is this somebody’s fiddle?” and the rules of the fight, shaking hands…
  • A masterpiece