The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Studies) Paperback – February 20, 2004

The Searchers is one of my favorite films of all time, and this book thoroughly explores why. The Searchers was initially panned by critics an audiences, seeming to be destined to being lost to the ages. Then in the 1960s and 70s the film school generation found this film, and it has slowly become more and more important to the film community. The film dares to examine racism in the West, in a time when so many films liked to paint the west as great time in our history. This book brings together tons of different perspectives on one of the most important films of all time.Some of the films greatest champions are George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Films like Star Wars and Taxi Driver owe a lot to this film. Towards the beginning of Star Wars luke returns home to find his dead and on fire, and runs into the doorway of the farmhouse, and sees something even more unspeakable, a direct homage to one of the scenes in the Searchers. Robert Dinero's character mirrors John Wayne's character in his twisted idea of heroism in Taxi Driver.While American audiences and critics panned the Searchers, French critics embraced the film as one of the greatest in of the Auteur films. John Ford uses John Wayne's character's psychosis in the film to highlight America's racist and schizophrenic Manifest Destiny. John Wayne is a man driven by hatred and racism, in a quest to rescue and kill his niece for having been defiled by native americans. He is driven on a years long quest over thousands of miles to track down and kill the niece he supposedly loves. Along the way he defiles the corpses of his enemies in a rage filled quest.John Wayne's characters rage and hate is dwarfed in an alien landscape, mostly shot in Monument Valley. It was shot in a film format that was only used a handful of times, who's color is beyond impressive. Recently film buffs like Quinten Tarrentino have brought it back with films like the Hateful Eight, but for a long time it was considered a failed format. The color and clarity, along with interesting shooting choices, gives the film a dreamlike quality when looking back on it after 60 years. It is amazingly beautiful, and some of the shots in the film are the best that have ever been done. I live near Monument Valley, and have watched it in dozens of films, and nothing comes close to The Searchers.The Searchers was long under-appreciated, especially by the AFI's top 100 list. But in the past decade film scholars have gone back and re-evaluated this film and realized that it is one of the most important films of all time. It has since jumped into the top 10, and I believe on the next round it could jump into the top 5. When this book was written, it was not even on the list. It has made an amazing comeback to become one of the most respected films of all time, with the help of people championing the film, like the editor of this book.John Ford's guilt and shame about how he viewed and used the Native Americans in his films before is evident in this film. John Wayne, in one of his few bad guy roles, also seems to be self critical for the only time in his career. It is the first western film to explore the growing sense of shame at what had been done in the west. It is interesting to have that type of shame in a genre that glorified killing Native Americans, and confused audiences, the vast majority of whom still believed in Manifest Destiny. It was a film way before its time, and struggles with issues that would not be explored on film for decades to come. It is an important film for understanding the first tremors of guilt, breaking the image of America in the 1950s.This film is a mainstay of modern film school, and this book is the perfect way to examine the film. From the famous shot of John Wayne in the doorway, hat brim casting most of his face in shadow, to the line of horses coming down the sand dunes with monument valley in the background, this film is one of the best examples of incredible cinematography ever made. There was even an event out a Joshua tree where they showed the film at one frame every minute, just to highlight how ever frame in this film tells a story. There is so much meaning packed into this film, with each shot it is incredible.The book really examines how this film came to be, and what it means to people after all these years through a collection of essays. Some of them are more accounts of the filming, others by filmmakers and how they were inspired by this film, and others just try to place the film in the context of what it has meant to audiences since its making. This book is for people who truly love this film, and want to get a deeper understanding of it. Anyone in film school should get this book, because this is the type of film that you can study in depth and get a real sense of what is most important in film.

I saw this movie in 1956. I have been in love with it ever since. I did not know why. Now I discover that so have alot of other people. Each time I see the film, I see something new. Each essay in this fine book also helped me to see this film once again, sometimes in a new way. Great film. Very fine book.

In general the book is fine, but at times with little more than a mere recitation of parts, based on the framework established by the writer. I taught English for 36 years at a sophisticated high school with many very talented students, and any one of these essays could have been written by them. The book is a good one, however, and gives me different insights that I had never thought of--- certainly worth a read for those interested in movies like this one. The book does plant the movie firmly in the pantheon of great films. But at a cost: until toward the end, it never addresses the racism and anti-semitism permeating nearly every minute of the film, and this is too important to be left out in so many of the essays. It is not enough to avoid these issues; it must call out and identify the levels of racism and anti-semitism in every minute of the film, and in every essay that avoids it. ALL of the characters are racists, with one exception: the adopted child who is part Indian, part Caucasian. But even his morality and desire to save the kidnapped child-- but kidnapped from what, and to what-- is just his search for his sister.

Academic hogwash.

This is an interesting and entertaining book on The Searchers.Read it and you'll never see the movie the same way again. A must have book for fans.

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This collection offers multiple perspectives on the classic Ford western, including one from a Native American writer that requires the reader to re-think the genre and an intriguing analysis of Ford's musical choices for the movie. Students of film will appreciate close analyses of Ford's cinematic techniques and reminders of the difference between film narration and history. Several essays address the historical context of the film's story as well as the possible connection between The Searchers and Brown vs. Board of Education.Be prepared for redundancies. After the fifth time I read that Ford's movie is about miscegnation and incest, my reaction was "yeah, yeah." Some of the arguments are convoluted as only academics could make them and not terribly convincing.Nevertheless, the book is "must read" for anyone who loves movies, loves Ford westerns, or who just loves this particular movie.

Having seen the movie several times (a John Wayne/John Ford classic), it was fun to read about how the movie was made. Having worked on some small TV specials done locally, it was interesting to see what it took to do a major motion picture in a rather inhospitable place like Monument Valley. John Wayne/John Ford fans will enjoy this book.

Quatre cent quarante pages : l'ouvrage le plus fouillé consacré au film de Ford, trois ans après les travaux de Jean Louis Leutrat et Edward Buscombe...sans compter la pléthore d'articles ou de chapitres épars dans tant de biographies du cinéaste, histoires du cinéma ou du western. Si The Searchers n'est probablement pas son chef-d'oeuvre absolu, le film cerne au plus près les remises en question rongeant la thématique fordienne dans ses vingt cinq dernières années, qui vont beaucoup plus loin que celles qui ont renouvelé le genre à partir de la fin des années quarante. S'illustrent ici les doutes démultipliés d'un homme et d'un artiste (fascinants rapports de l'un à l'autre chez Ford...), étroitement conjugués au cadre offert par un genre.The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western expose et explore tout aussi bien la suggestion des racines psycho-sociales de la violence et du racisme blancs que des portaits approfondis des protagonistes, à commencer par la figure d'Ethan Edwards. La construction cyclique du film, paradoxalement consolidant et minant sa dimension mythique( une porte qui s'ouvre sur un homme qui vient et se referme sur le même homme qui part,du noir au noir et Monument Valley entre les deux...) , son utilisation de la musique...bénéficient ici d'une approche à la fois vivante et éclairante.