best film: The Searchers is the best film of all-time. This cannot be definitively proven of course – there is a short list of films that have a strong case and warrant serious consideration. Some of these films on the list (2001: A Space Odyssey belongs on there, The Passion of Joan of Arc) may be more even – or more formally perfect – but the transcendent bookmark opening and closing shots make The Searchers tough to beat. So obviously, this is John Wayne’s best film. That said, it is worth at least acknowledging the greatness of six (6) other John Wayne films including Stagecoach, Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Quiet Man, Rio Bravo, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
best performance: John Wayne gives one of the best performances in screen history as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers. He is a man with a dark past, hidden passions – a history of a relationship with his brother’s wife. Edwards is xenophobic, scarred by the war yet clearly shows moments of tenderness and redemption (including the moment of him above saddling his horse knowing his family’s fate – another would be the epic lifting of Natalie Wood and carrying her off upon their reunion). The physical acting in the final shot should not be overlooked either. Wayne’s Edwards is shut out of the domestic life of this family – after all that work – the whole search – he has no home and that is brilliantly conveyed by Wayne without speech. This is a masterful performance – and if that was not enough to fend off Wayne’s naysayers, he is nearly as good in Red River. Wayne battles with a Montgomery Clift at the top of his game (and Wayne wins). Clift is an undeniable talent and the champion of the new age of acting coming in the late 1940s to early 1950s (Marlon Brando, James Dean, Paul Newman) as the generations changed from the old guard (for sure – John Wayne belongs here) to the new. So for Wayne to tangle with Clift is quite an achievement.
John Ford’s The Searchers is many things – a meditation on wilderness and civilization is chief amongst them. It is also an update of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick – John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards is Ahab – monomaniacal.
stylistic innovations/traits: The argument for John Wayne is based his filmography and his incontestable screen presence. Even after subtracting his uncredited roles early in his career and his cameos, he has over 100 credits – with thirty-three (33) landing in the archives. Wayne, like Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant, often worked in genre films (mainly westerns of course) and has just three Oscar nominations (with a win for True Grit in 1969). Wayne made a dozen films with the great John Ford – and four (4) of his best five (5) performances are in Ford films. Wayne did not have great range of course. Nobody would want to see him try a tricky accent or try to disappear into character like Paul Muni, Dustin Hoffman or Philip Seymour Hoffman (but ask yourself if you would like to see any of these three actors play Ethan Edwards in The Searchers?) The same could be said for Bogart, Grant, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Cruise. There are actors that disappear, show their range, and can inhabit a character – and then there are actors who essentially play themselves or at least the on-screen version of themselves – but have an undisputable presence (Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford). Nobody wants to John Wayne doing Shakespeare with Laurence Olivier – but Olivier would look silly playing Thomas Dunston in Red River.
from 1949’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon – the middle film of John Ford’s Calvary Trilogy (Fort Apache in 1948 and Rio Grande in 1950). This is also set in Monument Valley – and Wayne’s
directors worked with: John Ford (12) including the Civil War segment of How the West Was Won, Howard Hawks (5), Henry Hathaway (3), William Wellman (2), Raoul Walsh (1), Cecil B. DeMille (1), Michael Curtiz (1), Otto Preminger (1), Don Siegel (1).
Wayne as “The Ringo Kid” in 1939’s Stagecoach. Wayne is thirty-two (32) here and had already appeared in dozens of films – but this is the true start of his career with Ford’s stylistic sonic boom flying tracking shot here in on Wayne – introducing him.
top five performances:
- The Searchers
- Red River
- The Quiet Man
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The work with Ford is obviously the root of Wayne’s filmography – but there is a fair resume without his main collaborator (more than Mifune without Kurosawa or Ullmann without Bergman) including Red River (here) and Rio Bravo with Hawks that help Wayne’s defense.
archiveable films
| 1933- Baby Face |
| 1939- Stagecoach |
| 1940- Dark Command |
| 1940- The Long Voyage Home |
| 1942- Reap the Wild Wind |
| 1945- Back to Bataan |
| 1945- They Were Expendable |
| 1948- Fort Apache |
| 1948- Red River |
| 1948- 3 Godfathers |
| 1949- Sands of Iwo Jima |
| 1949- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon |
| 1950- Rio Grande |
| 1952- The Quiet Man |
| 1953- Hondo |
| 1954- The High and the Mighty |
| 1955- Blood Alley |
| 1956- The Searchers |
| 1959- Rio Bravo |
| 1959- The Horse Soldiers |
| 1960- North to Alaska |
| 1960- The Alamo |
| 1961- The Comancheros |
| 1962- Hatari! |
| 1962- How the West Was Won |
| 1962- The Longest Day |
| 1962- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance |
| 1965- In Harm’s Way |
| 1965- The Sons of Katie Elders |
| 1966- El Dorado |
| 1969- True Grit |
| 1970- Rio Lobo |
| 1976- The Shootist |
Not a big fan but what a filmography. My top 10 of his performances :
1 – The Searchers
2 – Stagecoach
3 – Red River
4 – The Quiet Man
5 – Rio Bravo
6 – She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
7 – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
8 – Fort Apache
9 – The Shootist
10 – True Grit
@Drake – After reading your first sentence, is it safe to say The Searchers will hold off Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Passion of Joan of Arc and remain your best film of all time in the updated top 1000?
@Ian – It will be at that very short list at the top (along with the others) – and yes, though I am not quite yet tackling the top 500/1000 update, if I had to pick a #1 right now it would still be The Searchers.
Do you have Letterboxd account, I could follow you on,
@Zee188- I do not, I am sure it is a great resource. But I have the site here
Big fan, Drake, thanks
@Anton- Thank you- appreciate that
@Harry – yes of course- thank you for the error cleanup help here
(Bear with me)
Agreed on the physical acting in the final shot. It’s such a harsh, brutal and strong character, but for that moment there is only an extreme feeling of sadness and loss – to evoke such melancholy and poignance without speaking or having a closeup is the sign of a true master. And of course the music, framing, lighting, and narrative implications of what’s happening contributes to the feeling, but it IS Wayne who sells it at the end of the day. He hands the girl off, they ignore him, they walk inside and you barely make out his lonely face in between their silhouettes, and he steps forward onto the porch, almost like he wishes he could follow them inside into the shadowy civilized world (I love how this world is shown in this way, it’s pitch black and outside of the frame, it’s unreachable for him, perfect visual storytelling) – but he snaps out of this momentary fantasy when the reunited Martin and Laurie creep up behind him (or that’s atleast how I think I interpreted it). He side steps to let them pass by but then steps back into the middle of the doorway, and I think the slightly slouched shoulders and crossed arms in that moment is just perfect. He’s not appearing to be weak or pitiful – he’s a strong and harsh character and has surely been through much worse – but he very subtly just seems to be ever so slightly defeated in that moment. And then he sort of sluggishly and loosely (he’s not walking with a strong stance here… he’s stumbling forward) wanders back all alone into the wilderness. It’s just transcendent stuff to me, and while I am a fan of Wayne’s other performances (there is some great work in great films), never would I think the word “transcendent” would come out of my mouth when discussing Wayne’s acting
I watched The Searchers over a year ago, and I thought it was brilliant of course, but when I updated my all-time rankings it usually jumbled around between the 9-14 range. I haven’t even seen it since that viewing, but I’ve been pondering the film on and off since I saw it (and came across a very helpful review of the film), and only now within the last couple weeks do I feel like the brilliance of the ending finally clicked fully with me. And I’ve tentatively moved it up into my #3 or #4 spot without even having rewatched it (with a proper rewatch – who knows- I think it could go even higher). This has been my go to place for film analysis and discussion, and I think I’ve weighted your opinion more than other guys I follow, but I always felt like maybe you were overrating The Searchers a bit, but now I think I’ve seen the light and am onboard with The Searchers being the potential GOAT. It’s possible that because I haven’t seen the film in a good bit that only the key moments (which happen to be the transcendent moments and not the lesser moments) are sticking out (and this film is surely more top-heavy than my other GOAT contenders), but at the end of the day I think we should certainly prioritize the artistic highs over the artistic lows. And in this films defense, the campy scenes taking place in the “civilized” world DO ultimately serve a purpose. It creates the dichotomy between the harsh and brutal wilderness and the soft and squishy civilized world that is so core to Ethan Edward’s character and why he can only exist in wilderness. It’s essential to the story being told and certainly is genius in theory, even if not 100% there in execution of course (I think Lynch does something similar (and certainly better) in Blue Velvet)
Little random but thought I would share the epiphany I had. When revisiting the last scene just now I also noticed that the music is calling him back into wilderness…“ride awayyyyyyyy” brilliant touch
“it’s pitch black and outside of the frame, it’s unreachable for him, perfect visual storytelling) ” Great point here
I’ve seen Searchers three times since the start of 2021, I want to rank it as high and you and Drake since I think it arguably has the highest highs of anything I’ve seen but man there’s just too much of the campiness / Ford’s humour, it just grates and physically pains me. But you’re right, at least you can point towards the purpose with the films main weakness. It’s just something I have to grit my teeth and bare every time I put this film on.
I love The Searchers but I have to say I agree with @Harry on the campiness, some of it I can bear but the fight on the day of the wedding is a rough scene for me. @Matthew does make a great point on the dichotomy that is established but I think that could have still been achieved in a less silly way. Mixing drama and comedy can be done well but comedy, even dark comedy, is not really Fords strength. Its artistic highs are undeniable and what gives it such a deservingly high place amongst Cinephiles
@James Trapp and @Harry – Ebert has quite a bit on this section I talk about it here https://thecinemaarchives.com/2018/09/19/the-searchers-1956-ford/
“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.”
@Drake – I agree with Ebert.
If only the worlds were differentiated through visual style like Soderbergh’s Traffic rather than weak humour. The final shot really does an excellent job at that though.
@Harry- Yep, in a glowing 4 star review where he compares it to Shakespeare
@Drake – the clowns of Shakespeare are NOT close to my favourite part of Shakespeare!
@Harry- Haha sure- me neither. But it doesn’t keep him from being one of, if not, the greatest writer of all-time
@Drake – the discussion I really want to have with you is this. You have 4-5 legendary films battling it out for the spot of the best of all time and assuming you stand with Ebert on the passage you quote on the page, it’s the film that has an entire B-plot without interest you have to patiently sit through.
I’m working on my own top 100 over time and I would want my best film to not a sizeable segment like that. I do think its not the most productive thing to pick apart all the flaws in all the top films, but still the civilization part of The Searchers generally grates on me everytime. I can get behind the idea that it has the highest highs of any film but I couldn’t put it in the top 10 myself because of my issues bogging it down. Something like The Conformist which I have at #15 right now, the most beautiful moments of that film awe me just as much as the highest points in The Searchers, yet I’m just loving the whole film, not thinking it falls off a lil after one hour nor having to tough out a section I dislike.
Just want your thoughts here.
@Harry – Hmm – yeah I mean I’d have to know how far down this section of the film pushes it down for you. And I would push back on you (respectively of course) about a film like The Conformist hitting the same level of highest points as those high points in The Searchers. Nothing in The Conformist can touch those bookend shots.
I often get comments like “2001: A Spacey Odyssey has weak acting and no character you can wrap your arms around so it cannot be one of the best films of all-time”. Or what if someone got so hung up on the momentary shifting voiceover narrator in Goodfellas – or my entire class in college laughed 20 years ago (except for me!) when Jimmy Stewart falls in Rear Window. I’m not sure I’m equating any of these with some of the goofy low-brow comedy stuff in The Searchers, but you get my point. Yes- we’re in agreement that picking apart the flaws of the best films is not the most productive use of time.
If you told me you had The Conformist ahead of The Searchers, hey fair- The Conformist is brilliant. I’d argue with you – but I’d respect it. My argument would boil down to this – I wish The Searchers didn’t have some of the squaw jokes and and Ethan calling Hunter’s Martin “chunk head” and “blanket head”- there are a few more. But I also wish The Conformist had the opening and closing The Searchers does.
How far down your list does The Searchers fall? We could be splitting hairs here.
@Drake – yeah I mean the thing is, those issues with 2001, Goodfellas and Rear Window I don’t even really recognize as flaws. With the Searchers its a lot that bothers me
– The guy singing that song on the guitar
– The annoying letter reading
– Kicking the squaw down the hill
– The dragged out wedding fight (the dust is kind of nice though but would rather not have this)
– Ward Bond getting slapped during the battle
The order of my top 100 is pretty disordely, but to give you the ranges, I’d have the Conformist in my top 30 at all times I think, and the flaws of The Searchers are too much for me and keep it outside of the top 50,around #70. I find it a hard film to place because again, it might have the highest highs of any film, but out of all my favourites it’s the film with the most I dislike.
I’d argue that all my favourite films have really high artistic highs but no lows that bother on that level. Going back to The Searchers the problem here is that a lot of these indoor campy scenes I just don’t find cinematic, you might disagree here, the dust in the fight (and there is good indoor blocking when Wayne is in the first house) but otherwise I am not blown away by those scenes.
I get that the film would be too dark at the time without these scenes, but I don’t like making excuses, the film is what it is.
@Harry – Well thanks for sharing. I’m not going to mount a defense for The Searchers here – I have an entire page for that on the site. I’m not sure there’s a proper cinematic justification for having it as low as 70. I have it #1 – the TSPDT consensus has it as #9. I could see it going a little lower than 9 of course and that would be reasonable – but not 70.
@Drake – there’s no need to mount a defence, I see #70 of all time to be a hell of tonne of praise. I’ve read your searchers page 10+ times anyway.
I’m just not having a film with those flaws in my top 10/20. But there are multiple sequences I’d rush to call some of the greatest ever from the film.
This is what I wrote about the film after my watch in January, plenty of praise here
“ This is my third time seeing this. The first hour and last fifteen minutes (with some spots in between) are just crammed with brilliance, enough that it’s difficult to deny the overall greatness of The Searchers. The shadowy bookends, the general use of large rocks that swallow up our parties, Ford’s perfect compositions of actors, the sunset that pours into the house before the attack at the start and the two uses of caves. There’s a huge depth to the desolate landscape and dust enveloping the ground is just another technique to appreciate. A stunning magic hour shot I didn’t remember from previous viewings. It’s not an overall great score, but there some good moments on the soundtrack too. The opening credits are bland brick background, Ford obviously didn’t see them as a form of art like Hitchcock or Scorsese did.
Ethan is an amazing anti-hero, apart from when he is compromised by having to call Hunter ‘chunk head’ and ‘blanket head’ (Ethan is too cruel a person for insults that goofy) and also having to force in the “that will be the day” every half hour or so. A hateful but layered character, Ford is able to criticise his type without making him come off as too much of a goon. His knowledge of the land helps, he’s a leader and can do an efficient job. Wayne’s performance is his greatest, there are many subtleties to pick up on, and his descent into madness puts him in places as an actor that he doesn’t normally touch. I love diving into theories about Ethan, could agree to him being one of cinema’s greatest (but not likeable) characters. Of the two key “searchers” it’s Ethan who is closer to the native Scar rather than Martin who is 1/8 Cherokee and bullied for it by Ethan.
One theory I’d like to give attention to is that Ethan is Martin’s father. He knew Martin’s mother as he recognises the scalp in Scar’s tent. Maybe at one point in the past Ethan procreated with Martin’s mother looking past his ideals, but then was pushed even deeper into hatred when she was killed anyway. They have similar mannerisms, and there’s Ethan’s last will plus his possibly repressed anger at Martin calling Debbie (Ethan’s theorised daughter) his sister as it reminds him of the truth he has to hide from himself to live. Not sure if this holds up overall but an interesting thought.
With all that, the film loses me in the second hour at many points. There are just too many parts where we have to sit around watching sub-par acting and dialogue, holding us back from returning to the epic journey. The letter-reading scene is a waste of time and the cut-back to Wayne and Hunter being followed by a Comanche woman before kicking her down the film is just weak, sexist and doesn’t add anything to the film (Scorsese disagrees and appreciates how unsettling this moment is) [I think it sets up the moment where they find her dead later on, it stops Martin from turning into Ethan, after embracing his hateful ways there when he feels regret]. There are many more things I’d put on the cutting room. The wedding scene is another drawn-out comedic setpiece and until we back to the outside with a dusty fight, it also feels like a waste. Apart from Wayne, Bond and (sometimes) Hunter, most of the characters encountered in the rest of the journey are incredibly obnoxious and portrayed by stilted actors. I get the comedy in the background characters is purposeful, Ford’s showing off the life that Wayne and Hunter are giving up and it always helps emphasise how serious Ethan is taking the search, a character always taking direction and seemingly a library of knowledge on Comanche ways (their songs, their spiritual customs etc..). Wayne and Hunter might be as happy to joke and fool around as the rest of this community if they could let go of their obsessions. It makes Wayne come off as a more talented performer but hurts the film having all these fools around. Vera Miles is talented but also turns in a weak performance. The overall journey is engaging, but there’s so much in the screenplay I just want to throw out (but it isn’t right to touch a film of this level).
I’m always ultimately won back after sitting through these irritating stretches, thinking back to the strength of the last act. We have the powerful and iconic moment of Wayne recovering his theorised daughter which is then watered down by following up with Ward Bond being stabbed in the buttocks (big waste of thirty seconds), then back to the glory with that final shot. It’s a mixed film with some content and performances that don’t work for me, but the highs are just mind-blowingly good. It’s not going in my top 10 but is undoubtedly a high-order masterpiece and almost the best desert has ever looked on film.
There’s negativity in my review but I really do appreciate this film more than ever. It’s great to sit down with and gets better the more I think about it. Even if I can’t get behind the humour here – it actually does act as a good counterpoint to the wilderness mentality of Ethan. For some people, it might be a balance to the darkness, but to me, the darkness is balanced by irritation.”
@Harry – Appreciate the back and forth and thanks for sharing. It is just a shame I guess that it occupies so much of your attention – happy to hear that in films like Rear Window, 2001 and Goodfellas and others it doesn’t.
@Harry – Just curious, if Ford had cut out the majority of the scenes that bothered you and instead of being 119 min was about 100-105 min where do you think you would place it? I realize some of the scenes are needed to establish the duality of the film with its nature vs civilization theme but had it cut out or significantly altered some of the goofier scenes how much do you think it would alter your position?
@James – if all that were gone then I’d raise the film and have it line where many other cinephiles have it. In between my top 10-25 I’d estimate.
I hear you and Harry, it could have been established in a less silly way. And me saying “It’s essential to the story being told and certainly is genius in theory, even if not 100% there in execution of course” is probably worded a little generously to The Searchers too. Some of those moments like the Wedding Fight are rough to watch. But like I said, the more I get away from films, the more the key moments stand out, and the key moments here are in the discussion for the greatest cinematic moments I’ve ever come across. It’s due for a rewatch though. For now I have 2001 ASO safely above, it has equal to or nearly equal to high moments in my opinion (Unplugging of HAL, the Stargate trip, Bone Toss, and the Rotating Ship set piece) without all the (or any) low points. I also feel similarly – but a little less confidently about Vertigo… it has the Hotel sequence with the green lighting and 360 shot, the finale with the dolly zoom innovation and the heart wrenching death, the Golden Gate Bridge photography and the really imaginative psychedelic sequences, all moments worthy of The Searchers high points, but of course they aren’t lacking the missteps that Ford unfortunately has
There’s also a couple films in Drake’s top 20 that I haven’t seen, including Joan of Arc (which seems to have risen up into the top 3-4 for Drake) and Tokyo Story, so I’m not saying 2001 and Vertigo are the only films that fit this description by the way
@Matthew – “he more I get away from films, the more the key moments stand out, and the key moments here are in the discussion for the greatest cinematic moments I’ve ever come across.”
well put, here is a great Kubrick quote I’ve come across in more than one article:
“When you think of the greatest moments of film, I think you are almost always involved with images rather than scenes, and certainly never dialogue. The thing a film does best is to use pictures with music and I think these are the moments you remember”
@Matthew- Great share here- thank you. Keep up the good work.
@Drake @James – I have just finished my fourth watch of the Searchers. I’m moving the film up roughly twenty spots, I have less issues with the humour now, I think part of that is realising how Wayne’s character never really partakes in the silly stuff, it somehow strengthens the film I think. The main critical area is the post rescue scene of Ward Bond, I think I can live with the other scenes and jokes now.
Was also wowed by a lot of the character blocking for the first time. I just don’t think this will ever be a top 10 film for me but it does get much better every time I watch it and the more I think about it.
@Harry- Love hearing this Harry- thank you for the update. You’re certainly putting in the work
My first viewing of The Big Trail (thankfully in the proper format) was a revelation in so many ways- one of them being that 9 years before Stagecoach– a time when the rules were just being written for what constituted good acting in a sound film– John Wayne was a natural. Breck Coleman is his first role but also a summative one, oddly enough- he is everyone that Wayne would make himself the most reliable box office draw in the country by portraying wrapped together: a charismatic folk hero, born leader, awkward in the company of women (and his undervalued comic timing was never more useful than in those scenes), etc. the only difference is that he is as beautiful as the girl he may or may not get…
Anyway this is a fine opportunity for me to ask you Drake if you have revisited it yet? I do not want to pester you and of course I do not know what your list looks like at the moment
i.e. watchlist
@Frodo- Yes! I caught it a few nights ago actually. It is undeniably brilliant – very happy I revisited it and will certainly be removing it from the “overrated” section here – and serve as an example of when I was very wrong.