THE SEARCHERS

"MOUNT!  M-O-Y-N-T MOUNT!"--Ward Bond in THE SEARCHERS

Today I went to see the John Ford western THE SEARCHERS with the Classic Movie Meetup at the Fairview Cinema's screening room. (There were seven of us.) That's the one where rootless Confederate veteran Ethan (John Wayne) visits his settled Texas brother and family, who get murdered in a Comanche raid, except for little niece Debbie--what a '50s name!--who gets kidnapped and adopted by the tribe, so he goes off on a long, relentless pursuit...

What a powerful movie THE SEARCHERS is!  That's one classic that's everything they say it is.  John Wayne is at his antihero best as the obsessive, frightening loner motivated by hate and vengeance.  Watch as he holds Debbie up by her armpits at the beginning:  he'll do the same at the end.  There's a great shot when he sees some other whites-turned captives-turned Indians.

Another character of interest is Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), the part-Indian youth adopted into the brother's family who joins Ethan's search, leaving behind sweetheart Vera Miles, but ends up anxious to prevent Ethan from killing Debbie when he finally finds her.  Ethan treats him remarkably badly, never letting him forget his prejudice against half-breeds and even using him as bait in a deathtrap!

THE SEARCHERS is a rare western with a sense of tragedy. (Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN and that AMC series HELL ON WHEELS also come to mind.) Sure, the comic parts are pretty broad, but the total effect is compelling, even beautiful.

I went home with Cecilia from Brazil again.  I taught her the word "thief," which is one of those words that foreigners are slow to learn: "stealer" would seem more natural.  I'd been telling her about WHAT A YEAR! and how JFK's father was a big investor who sold out before the 1929 crash and later was put in charge of the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate Wall Street, on the principle, "It takes a thief to catch a thief."