The Searchers, the best Western movie ever made, and John Wayne's greatest performance. March 13, 2023

 

Today marks the sixty-sixth anniversary of the release of The Searchers. I first saw it when I was ten, and it immediately became my favorite Western film. I have always enjoyed that genre, but that gets better every time I see it. I like the name of the protagonist, Ethan Edwards, for obvious reasons, but even if that was not his name, I would still love the movie. 

 I am surprised The Searchers was not nominated for any Oscars, at least from what I heard. It was a hit when it was released, but it seemed like at first, most people saw it as just a fun Western. In the decades that followed, people started seeing how it was ahead of its time in some way. The main reason, being the racism in the story. Ethan's disdain for them, was clear from the beginning of the movie, with the way he ridiculed his brother's adopted son, who became his sidekick. Martin Pawley may have been inexperienced but was aware something bad would happen if Ethan found his niece the Comanche abducted. Contempt to Indians was not just confined to Ethan, however. Almost everyone in the movie, leaves the 'e' silent, when they say, Commanche. Even one of the gentler characters, Laurie Jorgenson, feels it would be better if Ethan killed his niece, now that she was a Commanche. Despite Ethan's bigotry, he seems to be well aware of Commanche customs. When he sees a buried warrior, he shoots his eyes out so he could not enter the spirit land and wonder forever between the winds. A short time later, he knows when their war chief, Scar, was going to charge them. Whether or not any of that is historically accurate, I am uncertain. 

There is another part of the movie, that speaks up to discriminating women. When Laurie griped at Martin for always washing his clothes, while he washed himself. Whether or not that was intended, is debatable. 

As for how it influenced my books, I googled that it was based on a story about a girl in the 1860s being abducted by Commanche. There are many details about what Ethan did between the Civil War and coming home at the beginning. It is implied that he fought in the Second Franco-Mexican war, but never stated. It is clear that he is in love with his sister-in-law, but there is not one word mentioned of it in the movie. Some critics and film historians, namely Roger Ebert, hypothesized that Ethan was actually looking for his daughter, but that is for you to interpret. Now that I told you all the story was parts, I will tell you how it influenced me in the action for the story. This is actually a homage to most of John Wayne's Westerns, in fact. In his Westerns, the Duke used his Colt revolver as often as he did his Winchester rifle. Therefore, in every one of the Covert Militia's campaigns, there will be at least one battle where Jack Stamper only uses his laser sword, Galahad, and his M-92F Beretta semiautomatic, and one where he only uses his sword and Colt/Armalite M-16A2 assault rifle. If a firearms expert tells me, Jack needs to upgrade to superior weapons, mainly when the saga gets to around 2010, I will do as they suggest. That can also be a homage to what Ian Fleming did for James Bond prior to writing Dr. No. Also, that is a throwback to how I got my idea to write, so I could have an excuse to play with my action figures as an adult, not that it matters. But if you would like to see what I am talking about, you can always download my book.