The Searchers: epic and beautiful

The Searchers is one of John Ford's most epic and beautiful movies. Winton C. Hooch's magnificent cinematography is already present in the opening scene of the movie when, from inside Aaron Edwards (Walter Coy) ranch, we see his wife Martha (Dorothy Jordan) open the door to the sunny Texas landscape of the year 1868.

Down the dusty road, we noticed, as if we were part of the scene, the arrival of Aaron's brother Ethan (John Wayne), a Confederate soldier who boasts of never being defeated and who for three years became a wanderer, raising suspicions about their activities.

Analyzing the movie today requires a reflection on the culture of that time, which saw the Indians as savages to be exterminated. Ethan's stance is racist, even discriminating against young Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), whom he rescued from an Indian attack, but who, having an "eighth Comanche blood," is not worth living with family, according to the war veteran. However, this stance will be reviewed by a few occurrences of the plot that will follow.

The big issue in the movie is a relentless search for Ethan's niece Debbie (adolescent Natalie Wood), kidnapped by the Comanche Indians, after murdering the entire family and burning the ranch.

Five years later, only two men remain in search, but for different reasons: Ethan intends to kill the girl, who would have become the prey of a Comanche buck. At the same time, his unwanted traveling companion, young Pawley, wants to rescue his foster sister at all costs.

Moreover, the coexistence of the two men of such different personalities serves to diminish the differences between them, and to add to the old cowboy some humanity, as well as to soften some aspects of his troubled mind.

When the expected confrontation with Chief Scar's (Henry Brandon) tribe finally occurs, Debbie runs into the despair of Uncle Ethan, whose path is barred by Pawley. The ending, surprising by the standards of the time, heralded a new era for western films.

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